Books/series where the good guys don't win

[Zakle]

I have never read a book where the antagonists are victorious. For some odd reason I'm obsessed with military based fantasies, so that would be awesome to see that included.

I'd prefer science fiction or fantasy but I'll read anything at least once. The characters, besides the thing noted above, can be anything -- I don't care. Also I'd like if the main character was male and if not that an interesting female character that's not too shallow or headstrong.

[Ashley]

Prince of Thorns

[Zakle]

Ashley wrote: "Prince of Thorns"

Thank you! I have that one in my to-read list.

[Peter]

The Black Company books by Glen Cook are definitely military fantasy. I'm not sure if the bad guys win or not, because there really aren't much in the way of good guys.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Villains by Necessity is kind of what you are looking for. Fantasy novel from the POV of the "bad guys". Not sure if you are looking for a book where the bad guys win, or if the winner is whoever is the foe of the MC's. If it's the good guys not winning--this is it. If it's the antagonist winning, not it.

[Zakle]

Still looking for recommendations!

[Justanotherbiblophile]

(view spoiler)[Daniel Abraham started a set of 4 books, and the first 3 are all about the protagonists losing... (hide spoiler)] but I'm hesitant to recommend the series as I've never seen the last book, and getting only part of the story is a bummer.

Brandon Sanderson has a set of books about what happens after the Hero of Ages loses - and doesn't save the world. Protagonists are fighting the all-powerful bad dude... (view spoiler)[they eventually bring him down, but that just increases their problems (hide spoiler)].

And now I can't remember the name or author (last name in the A-Bs), that I really wanted to recommend...

[Juels]

(view spoiler)[ Inferno by Dan Brown (hide spoiler)]

[Tytti]

The Winter War, it's military but unfortunately very much based on reality.

[Pamela]

The Draka series by S.M. Stirling is military SF where the villains definitely win. It starts with Marching Through Georgia. Marching Through Georgia

[Sophie]

Game of Thrones? :P

[Justanotherbiblophile]

Dang, Pamela beat me to my other suggestion.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Well Bring the Jubilee is speculative time travel history in which the South has won the Civil War; the book begins in the 1930s. All of the benefits of winning a war have accrued to the South, which is wealthier than the North. MC is male, living in the North; near the end of the book he goes back in time to the Battle of Gettysburg. I won't say what happens.

[Deeptanshu]

Check out the Warhammer 40k universe. There are plenty of books from the perspective of the villains. Plus its hard to find any genuinely good people as they dont tend to last very long.

[Ingo]

Timetravel sparked a memory, how about
Vaterland?
Vaterland - Alternate Reality, Germany has won the war, Hitler died sometime in the 1950ies or 60ies due to illness/old age.
And you can truthfully say, the bad ones won...
Rather bleak dystopia. The issue with the Jews was swept under the carpet, few knew, some suspected but remained ignorant (the bliss of more important things to do), but one German and an american journalist try to dig up the truth.
The ending, as far as I remember (view spoiler)[was not really closure / good, more or less implied that the information about the Konzentrationslager (concentration camps) and the mass killings would become public knowledge (hide spoiler)].
In the Movie Rutger Hauer played the German.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

So, I just got this one solved :P
_When Heaven Fell_ by William Barton

[Ingo]

For the click:
When Heaven Fell

[Krystal]

Try Banewreaker and Godslayer - though it's been a while and I don't remember 100% who actually comes out victorious in the end, these books do have the best play on good vs. evil that I've ever read. The "bad guys" in this series are portrayed in the most interesting way. Without giving too much away, the series is about an epic showdown between two sides, one obviously good and one obviously evil. But turns out, the evil side isn't all that evil and the good side might not be that good. It all kind of boils down to ancient misunderstandings and the like. I'm probably not describing it all that well, but trust me, it was fascinating. Anybody looking for a standard good vs. evil battle royale that's actually not that standard, check this series out.

[Michele]

The Man in the High Castle

In Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, starting with Lord Foul's Bane, the bad guys win again and again and again (though I can't remember who ultimately wins at the end of the series).

[Justanotherbiblophile]

The bad things happen in the Daybreak series, but the MCs are the survivors so they 'win', in the sense that (most of them) keep surviving, even though a lot of people died, and a lot of bad things are happening, and look like they'll keep happening.