Epic Fantasy as genre is pretty much guaranteed to have military elements, large scale (one might say epic) battles, and overarching strategies. Epic fantasy deals in earth shattering changes, deep histories, and complex characters in a fantastical world of magic, monsters, and mayhem.

So, if epic fantasy is the sport, like say fishing, then military fantasy is like fly fishing. There is significant overlap, and both have the same goal (catching fish). (Don’t roll your eyes, I said I liked fishing on the Home page). But Military fantasy is going to focus on slightly different things and has its own set of tropes. What’s the biggest difference? Pure military fantasy has most of the characters in the military. Battle immersion is another major trope of this subgenre. The reader should be experiencing the battles through the eyes of a character on the battlefield.

Military fantasy and political fantasy are both sub genres of Epic fantasy, so they are both catching fish, (or readers wink wink). But while political fantasy like A Song of Ice and Fire or The Dragon Riders of Pern Series, include armies, battles and strategy. Military Fantasies often feature characters in military roles, exploring themes of leadership, tactics, and the psychological costs of war. There is a lot of debate about which books fail into which subgenre but a few fairly well agreed upon examples are: The Black Company by Glen Cook, The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher, The Malazan Book of the Fallan Series by Steven Erikson, The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie, and The Jackal of Nar by John Marco. (If you email me to tell me I’m wrong, X book isn’t really Mil Fantasy and Y book is a better example, you are ethically required to read my book first.)

If that sounds interesting to you, or if you have read and enjoyed the books mentioned, please click the button below to learn more about my upcoming Mil Fantasy book. You can also join my newsletter or follow me on my socials to receive updates when The Chosen One’s Substitute is available for purchase.