The very best Historical fiction series I've read are the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian, that start with "Master and Commander". It is about the career of Jack Aubrey, a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars, and his relationship with his friend Stephen Maturin, a surgeon.

The quality of the writing is fantastic and the details about warships and life on them during the Age of Sail is nothing short of amazing. Highly highly recommended.

edit: grammar

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Historical fiction (novels)

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The last historical fiction novel I read was Fire in the East, the first book in the Warrior of Rome-series by Harry Sidebottom, a historian and expert on Ancient Warfare at Oxford University. The novel follows Roman officer Marcus Clodius Ballista and his retinue as attempts to defend Arete, a city on the eastern fringes of the empire, from the encroaching Sassanids. While the events of the book are largely fictional, it is by all means a great book, and its depiction of siege warfare is second to none.

Apart from that, you really cannot go wrong with Bernard Cornwell. My favourite book by him are Azincourt, following the journey of an English archer before and during Henry V's campaign in 1415. A close second is the Grail Quest, yet again featuring an English archer during the Hundred Years' War, although these ones are set in 1346. They're a bit more focused on the protagonist's personal quest of finding the Holy Grail, as opposed to Azincourt which primarily recounts the Agincourt campaign.

Finally, I would recommend The Lion Wakes by Robert Low, which is the first book in a series focused on a Scottish knight during the Scottish Wars of Independence, also featuring characters like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.

Most recently, I read a book called "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York" by Deborah Blum. It follows Dr. Charles Norris (a book can't be bad if it stars "Chuck" Norris, right?) and how he was trying to shape forensic medicine in the wake of prohibition. It was very interesting to read about how bathtub gin and the like were a major force for change in forensics. Excellent read! I've already read it a few times, and PBS recently came out with a TV version.

Edit: Here is a link to the PBS special. I'm watching it now--also great! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/poisoners/player/

Edit2: Apparently it is non-fiction! I knew it was based on true events, but I thought it was dramatized. Another suggestion that is perhaps more fitting for this thread would be Pillars of the Earth. It's a classic!

I very much enjoyed reading the Harry Flashman series, by George MacDonald Fraser. The books are historical fiction following the fictional character of Harry Flashman, an officer in the British army, who is a coward and a terrible person, but is also very handsome and lucky, and who by sheer luck continually stumbles into looking like a hero at British (and other) conflicts from the 1840s up until his death in 1915.

For example, Flashman is unwittingly part of the Charge of the Light Brigade, and is at Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn, both of which he survives by sheer blind luck. The series is well written and very funny, but also has a large number of excellent historical footnotes on various points throughout the books, with some of the books also containing small essays on certain conflicts to provide context- for example, the Taiping Rebellion, or the British retreat through the Khyber Pass.

Here is the wikipedia writeup if you're interested.

On a similar note, Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, more commonly called the "Master and Commander" series, is an equally good though somewhat less humor-based series about a fictional British navy captain, "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, and his friend Stephen Maturin, an Irish-Catalonian physician, naturalist, and spy. They take place between 1800 and 1815, mostly covering the British navy's various conflicts with the French, American, Spanish, and Dutch navies, as well as various other isolated incidents. The books go heavily into technical detail about various naval points of the time, including naval maneuvers and combat, the trade winds, various concepts of movement, and the many factors affecting a ship and her crew whilst at sea and aground. However, Maturin provides a good outsider perspective, having things frequently explained to him as the usual token "lubber." I can't recall, but I want to say this series also has a lot of good footnotes.

I also understand Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books are quite good. I've seen the TV series, where Sean Bean plays Sharpe, and I enjoyed it a lot. It's similar to the above two series, but this time focusing on Richard Sharpe, a rifleman in the British Army whose career starts in India, going on to participate in much of the Napoleonic Wars, up to the series's end at the battle of Waterloo.

Sharpe is an enlisted man who, due to competence and luck (saving Wellington's life heroically), is "raised from the ranks," becoming an officer in various units. The series follows Sharpe both in combat, and in his personal life and career, as he, a rough, poorly educated man, tries to gain acceptance from both his men and fellow officers, as well as his Irish friend and subordinate Patrick Harper.

So. There we are! Sorry for the length. However, I should say, if you're at all interested in these time periods, I'd say you mustn't miss these series. I've read all but Sharpe, which I've seen the TV adaptation of, and I really loved all of them.

Bernard Cornwell's SAXON SERIES which starts with THE LAST KINGDOM. England around 870 and the Danish invasion.....quite good. It is particularly adept at describing shield wall combat.....

Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, about the end of the Roman Republic, are some of my favourite books--I've read the entire series three times now and will likely do so again in the future. She did an enormous amount of research into the period and it shows. The books point out both how much civilization has changed... and how much it hasn't.

The years of rice and salt by Kim Stanley. It follows the life and subsequent reincarnations of two survivors of the black death which in this book killed 99% of Europe. It unique in that with reincarnation it covers a wide range of societys and time frames while using the same characters. Absolutely my favorite book of all time, only thing I've ever read twice

This isn't straight up historical fiction. It's an alt-history fantasy series, but I love them. The Temeraire series by Naomi Novak takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, but with a twist:

There be dragons.

Basically, dragons function as a kind of airforce for various nations, and it's been that way for a long time. The aviators are seen as the sort of "bad boys" of the Royal forces, because, for various reasons, they aren't held to the same standards of etiquette as other officers and soldiers. In British society, they're seen as a less honorable, but necessary, part of the military.

The story itself is about a Royal Navy captain who, upon capturing a French transport in the Atlantic, discovers that it's carrying a dragon egg. Awesome! Dragons are an extremely valuable resource, and taking one from the French is a big deal. But, what ends up happening is that the dragon hatches before they make it back to England, and it imprints on the Navy captain. He's suddenly thrust from his position of honor and prestige into a role that he has been taught to have nothing but contempt for.

It's really cool. I highly recommend it.

"The Afghan Campaign" by Steven Pressfield. Follows the life of a young recruit during Alexander's invasion of Afghanistan. Draws some insight into later invasions of Afghanistan without ever explicitly stating it.

The Afghan Campaign is a historical novel by the American writer Steven Pressfield. It was first published in 2006 by the Broadway division of Random House.[1] It is the story of Alexander the Great's invasion of the Afghan kingdoms (the Afghanistan of today) in 330 BC through the eyes of Matthias (Μαντίθεος in Greek), a young soldier from Macedonia, who narrates the adventures of the Macedonian army against the Eastern warriors. Matthias fights for Alexander the Great's infantry confronting ferocious people who, determined to defend their homeland, follow tough war methods.

The baroque cycle by Neil Stephenson is a bit out there, but I found it very enjoyable. Cryptonomicon is also interesting.

I can't recommend "Baltasar and Blimunda" enough. It's by Jose Saramago, who is brilliant, and it deals with 18th-c. Portuguese royal politics, the Inquisition, class conflict, fantasy, love and humanity. Really a tremendous work of real literature.

'The Guns of the South' by Harry Turtledove is a splendid read. It covers the Confederacy's history and the outcome of men with mysterious clothing and weird accents supplying the entire Confederate army with a brand new 'repeater' rifle. I really really enjoyed it, and I've read it a few times so far.

I, Claudius is probably my favorite. I also liked Soldier in the Mist.

I was told that the book by Patrick O'Brien was excellent. Master and Commander

Either Wolf Hall or Bring Up the Bodies By Hilary Mantel paint brilliant portraits of Tudor history and are brilliant reads, Wolf Hall especially.

1. The Birth House by Ami McKay. If you're into women's history or history of medicine, it's an interesting look at the switch from midwifery to hospitals and doctors in rural Nova Scotia.

For something completely different: 2) The Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough (she also wrote the Thorn Birds). If you want to sink your teeth into 500-600 page epics, I LOVED these. I read them as a teenager, and they made me decide to study history. They start from the time of Gaius Marius and Cornelius Sulla, and end with the rise of Octavian. I'm really not sure how 100% accurate they are, but she goes into a LOT of detail and has done extensive research. Battles, politics, intrigue, sex, and history! Who could ask for more?

It's kinda alt fiction if I understand the difference:

1632 by Eric Flint.

I really liked the translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" called "The Red Chamber" by Pauline Chen. There are some MINOR wobbles, but it's otherwise extremely well done. If you are interested in Chinese social studies, this is an excellent novel.

Some stuff that's popular, but not good history would include Jean Auel (Clan of the Cave Bear) and Phillipa Gregory's work (with, IMO, the exception of the Other Boleyn Girl -- I actually read that one for a college class and contrasted it with known documentation. It was rather good, though still fiction.

I just read a book titled Gods, Kings & Slaves: The Siege of Madurai - which is about Malik Kafur's campaign in South India. The story revolves around Malik's younger days and the kings of Madurai. It is written in an exciting & riveting style and exposed me to a side of Indian history I knew very little about.

There is a very well researched series on Vikings by an author known as Judson Roberts called The Strongbow Saga. It is set during the reign of Horik, king of the Danes, and focuses in part on a slave known as Halfdan. I absolutely love this series, not just because of the subject matter, but also because it is a very well written set of books. Here is the Amazon page if you are interested.

Master and Commander Series, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Last of the Mohicans.

Any of Mary Renault's novels. My favorite is Last of the Wine set in 400 bc Greece.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Wine-Novel-Mary-Renault-ebook/dp/B00DCGJ6XQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394845280&sr=1-3&keywords=mary+renault

I loved Andrea Levy's Small Island, about West Indian immigrants in Britain in the 1940s.

The Egyptian

The Etruscan

The Roman

All three novels by Mika Waltari

Creation, by Gore Vidal. Set in the 5th century BC, at the height of the Persian empire. The main character, and narrator, is the grandson of Zoroaster and a deeply religious person, who befriends Xerxes, travels to India, where he meets the Buddha, and to China where he meets Conficious and Lao Tze. Excellent book that will make you want to know more about that period in history.

Deneys Reitz - Commando
It describes the Anglo-Boer war (South Africa 1899-1902) very accurately

From the amazon description

"(Revised in May 2009) Deneys Reitz was 17 when the Boer War broke out in 1899. Reitz describes that he had no hatred of the British people, but "as a South African, one had to fight for one's country." Reitz had learned to ride, shoot and swim almost as soon as he could walk, and the skills and endurance he had acquired during those years were to be made full use of during the war. He fought with different Boer Commandos, where each Commando consisted mainly of farmers on horseback, using their own horses and guns. Commando describes the tumult through the eyes of a warrior in the saddle. Reitz was fortunate to be present at nearly every one of the major battles of the war. Commando is a straightforward narrative that describes an extraordinary adventure and brings us a vivid, unforgettable picture of mobile guerrilla warfare, especially later in the war as General Smuts and men like Reitz fought on, braving heat, cold, rain, tiring horses, and lack of food, clothing, and boots."

http://www.amazon.com/Commando-Deneys-Reitz/dp/1920265686

War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk. Awesome book. Also The Hope and The Glory. Two separate books, about the foundation of Israel.

Edit: Also By Herman Wouk.

The Lethianvan Series by Scott Westerfield is great. It's more steampunky than many other historical fiction novels. It covers WW1

James Clavell and his Asian Saga are a sure bet Taipan and Shogun in particular. Set in honk Kong during the opium wars the former, Japan during the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate the latter.

On the same vein Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa is a must

Not yet mentioned:

HHhH (Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich, don't worry; it's translated in all kinds of languages, it refers to an apocryphical phrase among the SS, basically saying: 'Himmler's brain is named Heydrich).

The book consists of two parts that are told interchangeably. The first part is the reconstruction of the assassination of high ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, 1942. The second part details the authors quest to uncover the historical truth, and how writing the narrative forces him to impose fiction upon historical reality.

It's really good, and (unbeknownst to the author) an excellent exercise in narrativist philosophy of history.

I'd recommend "Piece of Cake" by Derek Robinson. It tells the story of "Hornet Squadron", a fictitious RAF Hurricane Squadron from the outbreak of WWII to the end of the Battle of Britain. It's an older book and may be a bit more difficult to find, but it is immensely readable, well written with a great amount of wit and likable characters. Robinson's work is very well researched and based in fact, and raises some good arguments on the effectiveness of Fighter Command and even the actual likelihood of a German invasion of Britain.

I recommend the Falco Series by Lindsey Davis. They're set in Vespasian's Rome with a 'gumshoe detective' main character. I'm not sure how historically accurate they are, but I loved her writing.