7 of the Best Military Fantasy Books You Don't Want to Miss
Military Fantasy Book Reviews by Author Aaron D. Schneider
The Military Fantasy genre might just be the closest to my heart, and so in loving it so much I can’t imagine letting you live without knowing about these most exceptional works which have inspired and challenged me throughout the years. Given the subject material most of these are not to be taken up lightly, but for those with the grit and steel to brave their pages you’ll find a prize worth the fight in these military fantasy novels. Enjoy!
These Are The Military Fantasy Books I’ve Reviewed On This Post:
Legend
Author: David Gemmell
Furies of Calderon
Author: Jim Butcher
The Black Company
Author: Glen Cook
Prince of Thorns
Author: Mark Lawrence
Elric Of Melniboné
Author: Michael Moorcock
DWARVISH DIRTY DOZEN
Authors: Aaron D. Schneider and Michael Anderle
The Warring Realms
Author: Aaron D. Schneider
1. Legend
Author: David Gemmell
A classic from the storied times of the 80s this is Gemmell’s first book in the Drenai saga and it is in a word: awesome. The birth of a new empire threatens to plunge the old world order into bloody chaos and the crowning birth pang culminates in the siege of Dros Delnoch, the gateway fortress. Outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and doomed by the weight of fate and history the defenders are beyond all hope… and then a man, a hero, a titan strides through the gates. Now we’ve got a fight on our hands, the likes of whose telling will become legend!
With a world that is familiar enough to be our own, and yet different enough to entice you with its mysteries Gemmell’s prose is bleak and beautiful, and populated with characters that are as flawed as they are heroic, and you’ll find yourself loving, cheering, and weeping with the likes of Druss and Rek even as you keep turning page after bloody page.
2. Furies of Calderon
Author: Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Series is a fixture of Urban Fantasy but it seems he wasn’t satisfied rocking one genre and so he set his sights on conquering the world of epic military fantasy with his own brand of snarky imagination.
The Codex Alera is a series that doesn’t so much try to reinvent the wheel so much as take the tried and true wheel and then spruce it up with some new and fascinating ideas. Butcher’s skill at weaving story-telling and world-building takes the reader through a thrilling story where Elemental Furies fuel potent magics and brutal conflict is simmering everywhere you look. All this would be exciting enough, but the story centers around an everyman who is not the focal point of incredible power (like say a trenchcoat wearing wizard) but rather is a man of wit and keen instinct in a world of creatures with terrible magic. With humor, punchy writing, and great action sets this is a work you don’t want to miss.
3. The Black Company
Author: Glen Cook
While others weave stories of grand heroes and epic battles of mind-beggaring import, Glen Cook was interested in asking the question “What if it was just another day in the office?” Enter the Black Company.
The Black Company is about the titular band of mercenaries just going about their business and that business just happens to be killing people for money. They aren’t heroes, they aren’t even really anti-heroes, they are just a bunch of blokes who have a job to do and this sort of workaday attitude comes through even in the direct, almost plain writing, though it’s often punctuated here and there with dark and grim humor. The epic and grandiose schemes and conflicts of legendary figures wind about them, but for the Black Company it’s just Tuesday, and that means more blood, steel, and coin.
4. Prince of Thorns
Author: Mark Lawrence
If you like ‘em dark and jagged then the tale of Jorg is just what you are looking for. When the story starts with a village being burnt down and its denizens tormented by your protagonist then you know you are in for a grim ride, and that is exactly what the first book of the Broken Empire series promises. Driven by a main character whose morality hardly ever rises above the darkest shades of gray it is still a striking and engaging reflection on the nature of humanity and our relationship with shame, guilt, power, and purpose.
This is a gritty epic fantasy series that is certainly not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. The Prince of Thorns explores a broken world within the remnants of a more advanced civilization where science and magic bred together to make horrors and wonders that still trouble a struggling world. And striding across this world, ruin and revenge walking in his wake, is a young man who never had a chance but to be a monster, but it might be possible that he could make the world a better place… if he could just keep from killing everyone he encounters.
5. Elric Of Melniboné
Author: Michael Moorcock
Another classic military fantasy series from the ancient days before the Berlin Wall fell. Elric is the prince of a dying race who, while mighty as any power which has claimed their place in the world, is now in decline. As might seem fitting for this decadent and decaying people the titular character is a wan, morose champion whose albinism and frailty leaves him dependent upon esoteric alchemy and dark magic, yet for all that he seeks to do what is right.
A tragic and moody hero, Elric has the deck stacked against him despite his lofty station; he is at odds with just about every standard fantasy hero you might think of, but that is in part what makes his story so interesting. Elric’s story is a tale of contradictions, honor and madness, doom and defiance as he rages against the dying of the light that is the end of his people. If this were another book, Elric might be a villain, but the influence he has made upon the cultural conscience of the doomed hero is impressive and so you owe it to yourself to have a look.
6. The Dwarvish Dirty Dozen
Author: Aaron D. Schneider and Michael Anderle
Do you like bloody battles and dire straits? Do you like warriors who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty? Is the best way to honor the fallen is with a singing axe and a hearty swallow of ale?
If you answered yes to any of these then the fantasy world of the Dwarvish Dirty Dozen series is for you. The stout warriors of the Bad Badgers are dwarves without a home and without hope, yet their hands are steady on the hilt and their faces set in grim smiles. They don’t fight for glory, for gold, or even for king and country. They fight for the dwarf on their right, the dwarf on their left, and the hope that at the end of the hellish gauntlet of war they’ll earn that most impossible and costly of rewards: redemption.
You can get this entire series on Amazon and start reading today!
7. The Warring Realms
Author: Aaron D. Schneider
If I may, I wanted to give a final plug to another one of my own series in the Military Fantasy genre. The Warring Realms was one of my very first stories I wrote for my readers. This military fiction series has guts, glory, and plenty of bad guys our hero Luce has to face off with.
The stories follow Luce from the real-world battlegrounds of Afghanistan to the just-as-real battlefields of Other Realm. Luce gets drawn from our reality to a world of magic, monsters, and danger. He has nothing but some Army know how and a give’em hell attitude, but that will have to get him through to the end!
You can check out this trilogy series on Amazon, and get War Born, War Torn and War Sworn as a complete boxed set for less.
Thanks For Reading My Reviews on Military Fantasy Books; There Are More Books To Discover Together!
I write fantasy books to share my stories that maybe, just maybe, are your stories too.
My childhood was filled with fantasy worlds the likes of Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), Shakespeare, Salvatore and other literary greats. It was also touched by struggle, trial, murder and sorrow. These influences shape every story I author or co-author.
So where others can paint their portraits within the bounds of decency and good sense (and honestly I applaud them for it) I’m afraid I color outside the lines a bit.
My stories will curse in anguish, shriek in terror, and bleed from ragged wounds. There is horror and corruption and ignorance and cruelty to be found here, plumbing depths of ancient fears and the evil men do.
Yet these pitch black shades bring out the raw lines of light of courage, hope, perseverance, and redemption. Dirty faced and world worn tales of the lowly exalted, crooked made straight, and the lost being found.
If that sounds like the kind of fantasy books you want to read, I invite you to join me on these journeys dear reader. You can see all of our published books on this website or on Amazon. Come, take and read!
