Top 5 Action-Adventures

Welcome (back) to my unapologetically casual top-5 series. Follow the tag ‘Top 5 2023’ for more. There are no stars and no metrics. The only criteria is how much I enjoyed the book, and how well its strengths place it primarily in a given category. Yes, books can appear on more than one list if they fit.

Action-Adventure:

Is there anything more iconically fantasy than adventure? If we were to play a round of Family Feud for ‘words associated with the fantasy genre,’ ‘quest’ would definitely be in the top two. And what is a quest? You got it kids, an adventure. For my money, fantasy is the most escapist fiction. The world can be whatever you want, with protagonists doing anthing you can imagine… so why not make those things the most extreme, ridiculous, heart-pounding things our readerly hearts can conjure? Each of these titles represents that spirit of pure I-wish-I-was-there fun in their own way. Check out the full reviews for details. Ok, on to the list…

Top 5:

5. Lives of Tao  – The author of this series is a martial artist and former stuntman, and it shows in the action scenes of this sci-fi paranoia thriller. Invisible, possessing aliens ride humans like video game avatars as they pull them into their proxy war for the fate of the Earth. 

4. The Aeronaut’s Windlass – Steampunk-but-crystals. Airships, cutlasses, pirates, monsters, and mad wizards. TAW is a fast-paced classic adventure that is sure to delight. 

3. Jade City – Eastern-inspired wizard-ninja duels abound in the gang wars of the Green Bone Saga. That says it all really. You’re either fully out or rushing to your book distributor of choice right now. 

2. The Rage of Dragons – The intense magic system which I cannot tell you about because it would be a major spoiler makes the wall-to-wall action of this revenge epic all the sweeter. Plus, if you’re looking for a departure from generic pseudo-european fantasy, this dragon-powered empire in fantasy Africa may be the answer. 

1. Mortal Techniques Series – This series takes the action prize by doing a better job than anything I have read of filling a story with beautiful, detailed action scenes which simultaneously drive character development and plot. Yes, all of the books in this list do this to some extent, and most do it excellently, but the practitioners of Techniques take this to another level. Action is story and story is action. 

Honorable Mention – The Witcher – fans of the video game or television series may wonder why this genre classic is not higher on the list. However, fans of the books will likely agree that while this series does feature plenty of monster-slaying action, the real heart is the dramatic turmoil of worldviews colliding.