Non-magic battle/fight scenes in fantasy novels

[Duarh]

Does anybody know novels in which subj. are fairly developed?

In most I've read, they're all the same - some roundhouse swipes, stumbling back and forth, some rolling, thrown daggers, etc, etc. Battles - terrible din, clash of weapons, chaos, nothing developed. Sometimes, when reading fantasy, I feel like Selma (Bjork) in I've seen it All (literally) (Dancer in the Dark)

Duarh

 

[Rob B]

John Marco may have the best battle (armies) scenes, cinematic in scope, very intense. Tad Williams battle scenes in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn were very good. And of course, GRRM's ASOIF.

As for fight (mano y mano) scenes, I would have to go with Matthew Stover. Considering the guy has some sort of color belts in the martial arts, he knows what he's talking about.

Jordan is alright with the sword fighting, but gets wonky with names of the sword-moves.

 

[Duarh]

Hlo.

'As for fight (mano y mano) scenes, I would have to go with Matthew Stover. Considering the guy has some sort of color belts in the martial arts, he knows what he's talking about.'-heh, getting a color belt is no problem. Go to the nearest store and buy one for 8$. seriously, even yellow-orange belts don't take THAT much time to get in most martial arts, and it still doesn't meant the holder has very much knowledge of fighting.

'Jordan is alright with the sword fighting, but gets wonky with names of the sword-moves. '-you bet, Cat Crossing the Courtyard, and Heron Wading in the Rushes aren't exactly my ideas of brilliant kata names, especially since I've got no idea what a heron looks like

especially when he's wading in rushes

'John Marco may have the best battle (armies) scenes, cinematic in scope, very intense. Tad Williams battle scenes in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn were very good. And of course, GRRM's ASOIF.'-er, (a lack of education on my part) what did Marco write? As to williams, it's the problem of getting books where I live again. They have only parts TWO and THREE of the Otherworld series in bookshops in Riga, and those in quantity, and that just plain SUCKS. You'd think a shopkeeper would have enough sense to order all parts of a series, or at least the first one for sure.

Anyway, do have a nice day,

Duarh

 

[Rob B]

Correction on Stover, according to the interview he did @ SFSITE he's a superheavyweight kickboxer. Whatever the hell he is, the fight scenes in his 2 OVERWORLD books are awesome.

Marco wrote the Tyrants and Kings trilogy:
The Jackal of Nar
The Grand Design
The Saints of the Sword. Here is my interview with him for the site

 

[Alucard]

R.A. Salvatore is kind of known for his choreographing of his fight scenes. I thought they were good, not fantastic, but above average. You might would like to try some of his books out.

Good analogy though. Dancer in the dark was a great movie.

 

[BoxingGriffin]

While I agree that Jordan's fight choreography can be a tad cheesy, I dig the kata names he uses - I assume he's trying to emmulate Tai Chi and other such Asian martial arts that use similarly descriptive names (Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain, ect). Doesn't GRRM do a bit of this as well, in his scenes with Arya?

Can someone tell me more about this Matthew Stover guy? Being a kickboxer myself, you have me intrigued.

 

[Barbarossa]

Salvatore's fight scenes good?
Well tastes vary a lot I guess.
I found them repetitive, totally over the top and far too exaggerated to be able to visualize them.

John Marco does good battle scenes, though some things he did didn't make sense to me.

The best duell-scene would be propable in Bernard Cornwell's Excalibur, vol. three of his Warlord trilogy. That trilogy has some very good battle scenes too.

 

[Rob B]

BoxingGriffin:

Check out a great interview with Matthew Stover here.

Also, in the detailed recommendation post, I gave a quick summary of Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle HERE. It's the 8th post on the page, 1/2way down.

I did a review of of Blade of Tyshalle for the site that should be posted soon, check back.

 

[Eventine]

I think Janny Wurts does some interesting battle sin her first three Wars of Light and Shadow books. More for the traps Arithon sets up than anything else.

 

[Rob B]

Boxing Griffin: Here is the Blade of Tyshalle review

 

[allanon]

Battles between Midkemians and Tsurani in "Magician".

 

[neologik]

"BoxingGriffin:
Check out a great interview with Matthew Stover here.

Also, in the detailed recommendation post, I gave a quick summary of Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle HERE. It's the 8th post on the page, 1/2way down.

I did a review of of Blade of Tyshalle for the site that should be posted soon, check back."


I have it on good authority (Matt called me) that he is now (as of Tuesday) a brown belt in the Degerberg blend of kickboxing.

--gabe chouinard
matt's pal, and the guy that DID the interview!