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Fantasy Battles

Fistandantilus

Fistandantilus

New Member
Favourite Fantasy Battles

What is your favourite fantasy battle scene? Who do you think is the best for writing them? I think that Raymond E Feist is the best authour for battles and I especialy loved the small battle in Magician where the Tsurani attacked Crydee
 
I think that David Gemmell has done some absolutely astounding battle scenes - his forte, I believe. I would recommend Legend particularly, simply because of the cracking underdog element to the battle.
 
Robert E. Howard, baby. No one kicks butt like Conan does. He can't be beat once he's backed into a corner you know. ;) He doesn't always expect to live, but he at least tries to do as much damage as he can before going down!
 
Hi all my first post.

Its been a while since I read it, but I remember the Drizzt vs Artemis fights were intense, Salvatore always wrote good battle scenes.
 
can you name some of his books? if he is better at battles than Feist, i want to read his books.
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I think his best work is Blades of Tyshalle. I don't think highly of Feist so it wouldn't mean much if I said he was more capable then Feist.

Karl Edward Wagner's Kane work is classic dar, dword/sorcery with lots of battle, David Gemmell is incredibly formulaic and repetitive, but there is a lot of scenes dedciated to battles. Nightshade books has collected his various works in collections.

Steven Erikson has a lot of duels/battles in his fine epic series (one of the few in that sub-genre that can make that claim) Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Someone mentioned Robert Howard, and hi sConan work, he also wrote about otehr characters like Solomon Kane (collected in The Savalge Tales of Solomon Kane), and Bran Mak Morn.

My personal favorite battle scence may have been from Patricia Mckillips Riddlemaster trilogy, China Mieville has some nice depictions in The Scar, Erikson is full of them- most of my favorite battle scenes have nothing to do with the action depicted however. George R.R. Martinahas some wonderfull emotional duels.

Big battle scenes don't do much for me admittedly, right now however I think Stover is the best at it.
 
The reason I like Fiest's battles is that they are detailed to a point where they paint a perfect picture in your head. Fiest uses terminoligy like he was there, using fencing terms for one on one combat such as lunge, parry and riposte.
 
Bookwyrm said:
I enjoy Feist's battle scenes very much, especially the siege of Crydee by the Tsurani.
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This is my favourite also. I enjoyed the shirmish between Arutha's Party and The Moredhel, especially when Baru fought Murad.
 
Fiest uses terminoligy like he was there, using fencing terms for one on one combat such as lunge, parry and riposte.
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Those are pretty basic/common terms IMHO, and hardly not uncommon, in fact I would think the oposite.:)
 
Ainulindale said:
Those are pretty basic/common terms IMHO, and hardly not uncommon, in fact I would think the oposite.:)
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Ok, the terms might be common, but Feist uses them to their maximum potential and makes a battle scene that you feel like you have a sword in your hand and are just waiting for orders! :)
 
Ainulindale said:
Without question, Matthew Stover - nobody is close right now.
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I never would have thought aout buying a Star Wars book, but I do hear lots of good things about Revenge of The Sith.
 
I'm not a huge fan of battle scenes - if they fit with the story and ensure continuity that's great, but often times they're long and drawn out with a lot of bloodshed and too much description that seems out of place with the rest of the book.

David Gemmel leapt immediately to mind - I recall reading Legend a long time ago perhaps when it first came out. The battle scenes made up most of the book! I prefer more adventure and less formulaic battles - for example a guerrilla warfare style fantasy book would be cool, simply because I haven't read anything like that. All that being said, Goodkind has produced a few battle scenes that I really enjoyed.

One thing I do admire is an author's ability to implement somewhat complicated battle strategies and have the reader understand them. Can't think of specific examples right now, but I know I've read some that have made me think - "how'd they come up with that?!"
 
I've got to go with Lord of Chaos when the A'Shaman rescue Rand al'Thor from his imprisonment at the hands of the rogue Aes Sedai and then proceed to open a mega can of tainted Saidin whoop-ass :cool:
 
The battle of Helms Deep with Legolas & Gimli keeping score was excellent. Have to agree with the Feist posts. I also thought Artemis & Drizzt were entertaining. Mandorallen riding into battle chuckling in the Belgariad brings a smile to my face.
 
when i think of battles then the detailed Lord of the Rings comes to mind. But great fight scenes - Salvatore does it for me with Drizzt.
 
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