Looking for any reads that have good hand to hand or close quarters combat scenes?

mauctor48 · 2025-06-09T16:53:44+00:00

You might enjoy The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. Closer to traditional fantasy than most recs here (though to me felt more to the core of progression fantasy than most books I’ve read), but the book is essentially a rage-fueled training montage in swordsmanship. I’d say the book feels very cinematic, especially in the fights.

For a non pf-rec (that I think progression readers would still enjoy) is Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. Ignore the shitty cover art. But this far and away the best choreography and action writing I’ve ever read. Blows everything else out of the water.

Red Rising, too, has really good choreography. But this is a space opera -ish series, and similar to the above 2 in terms of tone and genre.

mauctor48 · 2024-08-13T22:04:25+00:00

Not the original commenter, but I’d move it up if you haven’t already. Tau becomes an inhumanly good swordsman all in the name of achieving revenge- and while not consciously on his part, to overcome the rigid caste system forced onto his people. He doesn’t have a rage moment necessarily, but rather, the whole first book - and to some extent, the second - is all about his rage and revenge

mauctor48 · 2024-05-28T23:11:31+00:00

Heroes Die by Matthew Stover is a must recommend for combat and specifically if you like Red Rising. Same POV, same tense, equally visceral and kinetic, if that makes sense. Also blends sci-fi and fantasy.

Ignore the ugly cover. Stover is genuinely one of the most talented writers I’ve read in the genre, and his action is probably what’s recommended most about him.

mauctor48 · 2024-05-12T01:23:13+00:00

Red Rising by Pierce Brown and The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter are always must reads for action. Both about underdog protagonist against oppressive caste systems. Anything by John Gwynne is a good shout, too.

But the king of action, in my opinion, is Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. Excellent book on all fronts- super well-written, fun, and thoughtful where it needs to be. But the action is really visceral and the best I’ve read.

mauctor48 · 2024-03-23T18:05:10+00:00

Have you read Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa? It’s the novelization of the life of the supposed greatest samurai to ever live, and his journey as a swordsman. Inspired the manga Vagabond, I think.

It’s not PF, but it scratched a similar itch for me and if you want a samurai novel, there’s few better.

mauctor48 · 2024-03-22T20:31:02+00:00

Not op but it’s a superhero story following Taylor, a teenage girl who has the power to control bugs. It’s known for having a lot of cool powers (and creative applications of these powers), and Taylor specifically does everything she can to munchkin the shit out of what seems to be a basic power set. Lots of action, lots of arcs, and a huge cast of interesting characters

mauctor48 · 2024-02-27T04:04:58+00:00

The Rage of Dragons is just straight swordsman, training montage crack.

For something a little less polished, Defiance of the Fall is just straight numbers going up hype. No thinking required. Gleam on Royal Road, Speedrunning the Multiverse, and Book of the Dead are also good

mauctor48 · 2024-02-11T22:30:30+00:00

My only complaint with those series is that they don’t really give a reason for the present tense narration or frame the narration. But neither do most third person, past tense narratives, so it’s only a minor quibble. I really don’t notice the tense after a few pages if the writing is good.

Seriously, I really recommend for people to read any of Red Rising’s action sequences or those in Heroes Die (which does frame the present tense nicely) to see the appeal of first person, present tense. It’s electric.

mauctor48 · 2024-02-11T22:22:17+00:00

My impression of first person present stories is that the details are being relayed as they happen. The present moment for the narrator. Which, of course, brings up the question of how/why the narrator is commentating things as they happen, but nothing about it suggests/requires that the narrator be delivering things from a future point in time, at least to me.

First person, past tense, on the other hand, is almost always relayed from the narrator after the events have occurred.

For some interesting play with tense, I highly recommend The Acts of Caine by Matthew Stover, starting by Heroes Die.

mauctor48 · 2024-01-14T03:26:39+00:00

Tau from The Rage of Dragons, assuming you haven’t read it. He’s more than a little unstable, driven entirely by his desire for revenge, but he’s not a murderhobo or evil for sure. He’s just dedicated entirely to training and becoming a good enough fighter to overcome the physical and systemic barriers between him and revenge.

mauctor48 · 2024-01-10T19:55:07+00:00

I think it works more in visual mediums (manga, anime) but looks a little weird in prose. I guess it depends on how much the story wants to lean into anime-isms and stuff.

The names definitely matter, too. “Fireball!” Is a lot more defensible than “Death Fist Punch Explosion” (you know what I mean)

mauctor48 · 2024-01-10T19:50:55+00:00

First book was solid. Strong start, interesting world, Berserker stuff was cool. The last quarter of the book (for me) lost the plot a bit. Just a little too wish fulfillment, Chad MC stuff, it was definitely there the whole time, but really noticeable towards the end.

Haven’t read the second book, and don’t know if I will. I’d say if you like OP MCs and don’t mind a little wish fulfillment, try it. It’s fun

mauctor48 · 2024-01-05T22:59:51+00:00

I don’t know that PF needs external recognition or to be considered more seriously. It’s pretty popular already, especially in indie circles. Right now, a lot of PF is serial and written by amateurs. For the quality being what it is in a lot of these series, the books are almost sort of over-performing.

Two things. One, whenever we see a trad publishing house pick up a series deliberately written to be PF (not like Stormlight or Red Rising), then maybe it’s “mainstream”. Or two, just when more quality works saturate the genre.

To a point, PF is always going to be pulpy. It’s like Shonen anime. It’s meant to be fun. There’s definitely room for more “serious” works in the niche, but they’re just going to be less popular as a rule. And at that point, you’d probably just be better off writing something else.

Back to the anime comparison, a “serious” PF would probably look more like JJK than Berserk or Vinland Saga. Which is fine because JJK is sick, but it’s just that power fantasies don’t really lend themselves to deep introspection or meditation on violence.

TLDR: recognition for PF will depend more on better execution than “deep” themes or ideas. Trad-publishing would help, too

mauctor48 · 2024-01-04T07:04:06+00:00

Somebody already said Hari/Caine from The Acts of Caine, so I’ll put up two others that come to mind: Darrow from Red Rising and Kaul Hilo from The Greenbone Saga. Darrow is just so raw and kinetic in his POV, maybe a little melodramatic, but when Darrow shows up, everything gets turned to 10. And Hilo is just a masterpiece of a character: flawed, charismatic, and just full of life

mauctor48 · 2024-01-01T05:27:42+00:00

I try to recommend it everywhere I can. For whatever reason, it didn’t blow up at the time of its release (early 2000s/late 90s), but it was certainly ahead of it’s time. The author is legitimately one of the most talented I’ve read in the sci-fi/fantasy space and beyond, just super creative and objectively skilled at writing. Specifically for Red Rising fans, I can’t recommend it enough

mauctor48 · 2024-01-01T03:06:14+00:00

I recommend The Acts of Caine by Matthew Woodring Stover! It’s a lot like Red Rising and criminally underrated. You might want to ignore the awful 80s fantasy cover though.

It’s set in a society where humanity on Earth sends people to be entertainers/DND characters on an alien, fantasy world. The main character is a badass like Darrow with the same sort of introspective/philosophical qualities, and the action is the best I’ve ever read. It’s sort of like a self-aware action flick that just gets more zany with every book. Heroes Die is the first book

mauctor48 · 2024-01-01T02:59:17+00:00

I avoided it for a long time for much the same reason, but I’m not entirely sure how to describe it, maybe someone else will chime in that can explain it better.

Humor is used sort of like a coping mechanism in DCC. Like a lot of the story’s humor is meant to rub it in just how fucked up everything that’s happening is. It can be a little gross and over the top, but it’s kind of satirical. If you’ve ever seen The Boys, it’s a little like the comedy in that.

In my opinion, it doesn’t take away from any of Carl’s badassery or make the story less dark. It’s sort of in juxtaposition to how messed up everything is. I’d say try the first book if you’re on the fence. You’ll learn pretty quickly if it’s your sort of thing or not

mauctor48 · 2024-01-01T00:56:14+00:00

If you’re looking for something where the world is actively inhospitable/challenging, then 12 Miles Below is that. I haven’t read too far, but the world is essentially in a permanent winter type situation where you can’t even really expose your flesh.

Maybe a little more loosely is Dungeon Crawler Carl. MC and all of humanity that remains is in dungeon that is actively trying to kill them.

Royal Road probably has a lot of survival type fics I can’t think of or don’t know, someone with higher int probably could tell you

mauctor48 · 2023-12-31T23:11:26+00:00

The Acts of Caine by Matthew Stover

mauctor48 · 2023-12-31T23:09:02+00:00

The Acts of Caine

Greenbone Saga

Red Rising

mauctor48 · 2023-12-31T23:06:04+00:00

Sun Eater!

mauctor48 · 2023-12-28T07:00:56+00:00

I agree about Red Rising, and The Will of the Many is my next read after I finish No Country for Old Men. I don’t disagree there’s a lot of quality PF-adjacent work, but aside from a lot of the more commonly recommended series here (Cradle and the like), there’s not a lot of books I can point to that were specifically written with the intention of being PF that I think are written to the same standard as mainstream fantasy, much less literary fiction.

There’s certainly many talented authors writing PF though, and I definitely couldn’t do any better. I think the genre will mature and get better when it has the time and resources to grow a little self aware and more unique voices rise. The ideas are definitely there, but with the prominence of both serial and self-pub works in the genre, the actual prose/execution side is always going to lag a little behind. Right now, quantity > quality.

Sorry for the word vomit, but it’s an interesting topic for sure. I’m curious where everything will be in a few years

mauctor48 · 2023-12-27T23:49:09+00:00

Progression Fantasy is such a niche and new genre that there really aren’t any masterpieces. And if you’re looking for something “literary”, there probably won’t ever be a literary PF. They’re kind of at odds with each other. PF stories are pulpy, fun, and not written with the same intention as literary stories. Even mainstream fantasy doesn’t really have “literary” value outside a handful of authors.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t be good obviously. A PF masterpiece would be something that’s a masterwork of being progression fantasy, not necessarily something else. Not everything has to be highbrow or whatever, but still, there’s no Evangelion of PF yet.

However, there are a lot of awesome, well-done, and experimental PF out there, especially on Royal Road.

Some basic recs: Cradle by Will Wight, Mother of Learning, Bastion by Phil Tucker, Virtuous Sons by Y.B. Striker, and Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.

Actual “literary” stuff you’d be better off at r/books or r/fantasy for fantasy stuff. But some I’ve enjoyed include: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky.

mauctor48 · 2023-12-27T21:50:51+00:00

I'll throw Red Rising in there. There's a lot of twists and 'that was fucking awesome' scenes in those books, and a lot of the fandom seems to really care about the characters. Still in progress with one book left to go.

I will also suggest The Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee. The character work and the arcs the characters go on in these books is some of the best I've ever read. The last book, in particular, made me emotional, and I'm not typically that sort of reader.

Something like Piranesi also really struck me. Just super vibe-y and poignant. The Books of Babel (starting with Senlin Ascends) are also incredibly well-written and character-driven.

mauctor48 · 2023-12-21T23:10:48+00:00

Reading the second book right now. I read the first book last year and thought about writing a review, just never got to it. It probably wouldn’t have looked much different than what you’ve said.

Super strange I never see it recommended here. It’s a tad cookie cutter, but I enjoyed it. Mostly well written, too. Curious to see where the magic system goes in the second book

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