If you know kids who like fantasy fiction a lot, you may want to have a look at the
Redwall series by Brian Jacques. Jacques began writing the series when he drove the milk truck that delivered to a school for blind children. He wrote for the kids there so he really knows how to create pictures with words.
If kids take to this series, they become completely immersed. There are kids who don't like it because the characters are animals. Depends on who the kid wants running his fantasy fiction I guess. I think the animals fight some pretty good fights, maybe some wars even.
Here's a link to the author's website.
http://www.redwall.org/dave/jacques.html
Boomer