Who writes the best fights?

[mmu1]

Hmm... Someone mentioned Steakley, and I do think Armor is a great book, but he just hasn't written enough to get the title.

Steven Brust does fights very well, he generally just throws out a few vivid images that give you a great feel for the action, rather than get bogged down in pointless detail, and manages to convey the chaos and speed of deadly combat perfectly.

George Martin does most things right when it comes to fantasy writing, including combat...

Salvatore, on the other hand (except for his earliest stuff) is simply awful - multiple ten-page fights in a 300 page book should be grounds for criminal prosecution... Anyone who resorts to describing every single sword blow and blood spurt to bulk up a story that could have otherwise easily been told in 50 pages is a hack.

 

[RedShirtNo5]

Zelanzy, Martin and early Salvatore are pretty good.

But my all time favorite scene is still Inigo Montoya v. The Man In Black. And I am now realizing that my copy of Princess Bride is loaned out. Arg!

-RedShirt

 

[blackshirt5]

You know, it's rather disconcerting to see Harry Potter saying stuff like this.

What's really scary is that if I said that in real life, it'd still look like Harry Potter saying that.

 

[blackshirt5]

Nice!

Well, in all fairness, I haven't read the Conan stuff, but the Wheel of Time fights are awesome.

Now you may have issues with the length of the series, etc. and so forth. I have my issues with Jordan too. But fight scenes are not one of them.

Alright; well, to be fair, I've never read the Wheel of Time(I haven't gotten around to it yet, and I've heard bad things) so what I know of Jordan is his "Conansex" series of stories.

Dragonblade, you know what an "8-ball" is, right?