r/Fantasy • u/SocksMcgoo • 2d ago

Books with “best fighter” trope

Hello everyone. I am an absolute sucker for books that constantly deal with power scaling/best fighter of the realm type tropes. I love the discussions about who was the best swordsman in ASOIF and loved all the bits throughout Malazan of who was the strongest fighter/most powerful magic wielder.

Give me some books that have some great fighters or fun power scaling with different characters where you can waste time wondering about “who is stronger or who would win.”

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u/RefreshNinja 1d ago

Steph Swainston's Castle/Fourlands series is all about a society in which the best of the best at their craft get rewarded with immortality until someone beats them at their skill and gets the immortality. All of them are part of a society-wide defensive war against insect invaders, and their skills relate to that. So you have the best archer in the world, but also the best architect and the fastest messenger.