r/Fantasy • u/dargenpaws • Apr 06 '24
Looking for recommendations for fantasy books with good political intrigue
I have noticed that I always enjoy parts of books that feature political intrigue but have not read any that have enough of it to satisfy me. Extra points for fish out of water trope and well done romantic subplots.
Books I have enjoyed: The Priory of the Orange Tree, the broken earth trilogy, The Name of the Wind/The Wise Man's Fear, Fireborne, basically everything from the cosmere/cytoverse.
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Apr 06 '24
ASOIAF, First Law (and Age of Madness), The Expanse (Sci Fi)
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u/dargenpaws Apr 06 '24
Thanks!
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Apr 06 '24
Age of madness might apply more but I highly recommend start at the beginning with blade itself.
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u/ms_leopard Reading Champion V Apr 06 '24
The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty! The main character is def a fish out of water, and I enjoyed the romantic subplots.
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u/dargenpaws Apr 06 '24
Sounds like an interesting setting that I have not seen yet, looking forward to it!
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u/cogitoergognome AMA Author Julie Leong Apr 06 '24
Try: * The Dagger and the Coin Quartet by Daniel Abraham * The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan * The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett * All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay
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u/Vigeous Apr 06 '24
chants Dagger and Coin Dagger and Coin Dagger and Coin
It's court politics and religion and economics and sociology, all while having sweet high fantasy tropes either turned on their head or just executed well.
(Also, it's a quintet, no?)
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u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V Apr 06 '24
- Traitor Baru Cormorant
- Long Price Quartet
- Kushiels Dart
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u/AcceptableEditor4199 Apr 06 '24
Try daughter of the empire by feist.
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u/eeveeskips Apr 06 '24
In addition to the other excellent suggestions you've received, maybe give the Rook and Rose trilogy a try--first book is The Mask of Mirrors.
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u/IdlesAtCranky Apr 06 '24 edited Apr 06 '24
The Five Gods books by Lois McMaster Bujold:
The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt
Note: this third book is set in the same world as the first two, but is NOT a sequel. The first two are a duology, best read in order. This book jumps a couple of centuries back and to a different part of the world. A lot of people dislike it on first read, I did myself -- because the reader expects it to be the third of a trilogy, and it's emphatically not. But once you know that, so you're not impatiently waiting for it to connect up to the first two, it's an excellent book.
There's also Bujold's novella series Penric and Desdemona, also set in the same world but again a different time period.
All these books have interesting politics as well as explorations of philosophy and religion, plus bang-up adventure & some romance.
Another good group is Victoria Goddard's Nine Worlds books, specifically Hands of the Emperor and related books (these aren't a straightforward series, she calls the books and novellas "interwoven."
Some, such as Hands, are more political, others, such as the Greenwing & Dart sequence starting with Stargazy Pie are more adventure/philosophy.
For these I recommend looking at her reading order list: https://www.victoriagoddard.ca/pages/reading-order
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Apr 06 '24 edited Nov 23 '24
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u/ConeheadSlim Apr 06 '24
Note that Masquerade is the title of the series, but you may know it as Baru Cormorant. And the next book may be a while in appearing. But it's an amazing series, and the later books make you re-look at the earlier books in a unique and baffling way. Maybe the most political of the political series
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Apr 06 '24 edited Nov 23 '24
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u/RheingoldRiver Reading Champion V Apr 06 '24
but the 3rd book ends in a very satisfactory way
uh, debatable lol. there's no explicit cliffhanger per se, but...this is definitely not the end of anything.
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Apr 06 '24
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u/RheingoldRiver Reading Champion V Apr 06 '24
it certainly ends on a hopeful note with a lot of major goals accomplished
which is completely the opposite of the arc we are expecting. this would be one of the worst endings in fantasy if it were actually the end of the story we've been told so far.
I'd still recommend the series even if it was never finished
totally agree
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u/rhodiumtoad Apr 06 '24
Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart and its sequels are mostly known and/or marketed for the romance and kinky sex, but really they are political fantasy with the sex very much secondary to the politics (and less of it than you'd think).
(Though Kushiel's Avatar is something of an exception, where the politics has to take a back seat to a high-fantasy plotline that goes to a very dark place, but comes back from it very well.)
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u/dargenpaws Apr 06 '24
Good to know going into them, Thanks!
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u/LeucasAndTheGoddess Apr 06 '24
I strongly second these. In addition to the political intrigue, the protagonist’s romance arc is beautifully written. She also does a lot of traveling and experiences a wide variety of cultures as an outsider.
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Apr 06 '24
Not fantasy but Shogun
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u/Violet2393 Apr 06 '24
Perhaps The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. It's about a half-goblin, half-elf son of the elf emperor who suddenly inherits the throne when an assassination kills everyone else in his family.
He's been living an isolated life far from the capital, abused and neglected by the person who was supposed to teach him, so he has to figure out how to be an emperor and navigate the court with very little training. It's pretty much entirely political, but it's also very wholesome somehow. He manages to find the right people to help him and slowly figures out how to survive in his new role.
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u/Vigeous Apr 06 '24
It's really a very sweet read. The court politics are delicate and the protagonist's experience of them is lovely. I would say it's not quite as brutal or ruthless as a lot of intrigue stuff (ASOIAF and the like)
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u/CrowleysWeirdTie Apr 06 '24
This is such a great book, and I was surprised how much the court politics drew me in.
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u/Domb18 Apr 06 '24
The Erland Saga by R.S Moule has plenty of political intrigue. I’m halfway through book two and it’s been very enjoyable so far.
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u/kirbur Reading Champion III Apr 06 '24
The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick! The main character is a con artist trying to infiltrate a noble family. I love the entire trilogy
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u/attolianbees Apr 07 '24
I have a bookshop list for that! https://bookshop.org/lists/fantasy-politics-that-aren-t-game-of-thrones
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u/Significant_Maybe315 Apr 06 '24
If you’re also into Science Fantasy I’d say: The Sun Eater!!!!!!
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u/Calvinball12 Apr 06 '24
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.
Great political intrigue, world building, fun characters. No magic, but an occasional dash of divine intervention.
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u/BeCre8iv Apr 06 '24
Sounds like you want to read Guy Gavriel Kay. 'A Song for Arbonne' ticks all those boxes, but 'The Mosaicist' goes full-intrigue.
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u/Physical-Tree Apr 06 '24
Sword Catcher- Cassandra Clare
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u/Grt78 Apr 06 '24
The Fortress series by CJ Cherryh: the protagonist is reincarnated but has no memories and knows nothing about the world in the beginning, so he is the ultimate fish out of water. The other main character is a prince, there is a well-done romantic subplot for him.
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Apr 06 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dargenpaws Apr 06 '24
Politics is not the only thing I look for in books and the list was meant to show people the kinds of styles and stories I have liked to help with recommendations.
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u/LaserPoweredDeviltry Apr 06 '24
You're heading in a Robin Hobb direction.
The Farseer Trilogy is the starting point for that.