Sam Larson's favorite fantasy book series that have the best fight scenes

What I loved about the battles and fight scenes in this series was seeing how magic, ordinary weapons, and dragons combined together on the battlefield and created really interesting dynamics and strategy.

Think about what it would be like to face soldiers who’ve been enchanted to feel no pain or to move superhumanly fast. Or think about having to fight armored soldiers while magicians are trying to break into your mind with mental magic. Imagine two dragons dueling in the skies, while their riders fight each other with magic and swords.

That’s the feel of this series, and it’s awesome. I also loved that Paolini dives into the tactical details of a swordfight or skirmish, making it feel visceral, real, and like you’re right there with the characters. 

I loved the medieval-type fight scenes in this series.

From knights in armor fighting from horseback to longbow experts using deadly archery skills to large battles with lots of cool tactics, this series has all that. It was clear to me that Flanagan did his homework or had some prior knowledge of this stuff, and that made all the fight scenes feel really authentic and credible, while still serving the story and not detracting from it.

I loved seeing how the characters have to learn to wield these weapons and watching them improve over time, then seeing them apply what they’ve learned in battle. 

Any fans of The Three Musketeers or fencing are going to love the action in this series.

It’s a bit more stylized and cinematic than the previous two, making it feel slightly less realistic, but that is also part of its charm. I loved that it’s written in first-person point of view, with an amazing narrative voice, so when the main character is in a swordfight, the reader gets almost like a running analysis and commentary of the fight from the perspective of an elite fencer with years of experience to draw on.

And it’s hilarious too. I loved that these books can make you laugh and hold your breath in the same scene. I also loved that the author does an excellent job constantly raising the stakes of each fight. The characters are often wounded, tired, outnumbered, or forced to fight at a disadvantage, making the reader constantly wonder how they are going to get out alive.  

I loved the fight scenes in this series because the main character, Merle Corey, is both an expert swordsman and a powerful wizard—and he’s forced to use both abilities, often in tandem, to defeat his opponents and stay alive as he tries to uncover what or who is behind the multiple attempts on his life.

I loved that Zelazny gives Merle’s magic abilities just enough limitations that he isn’t able to use it to overpower everyone. The writing keeps things fast-paced during the sword fights, while still describing a lot of detail in the tactics and mechanics of what’s happening in the fight. Zelazny also throws in some classical fencing terms, which was a lot of fun to read as a fencer myself. 

This series would make for such fun movies.

There is a great mix of different creatures and weapons, magical powers and magically imbued weapons and objects, which keeps the fight scenes interesting and different enough from each other to not feel too repetitive. I loved how each main character has a different way of fighting that suits their strengths and abilities.

Salvatore is probably one of the most detailed writers in terms of giving the “play-by-play” of a fight or battle, but it worked for me. One thing that stands out is how Salvatore makes the small one-on-one fights feel just as epic as the giant battles, particularly Drizzt’s duels with the assassin Artemis Entreri.