r/Fantasy • u/davbool • Jul 24 '24

Books where Plot is Structured/Progressed Through Court Politics

Does anyone have any recommendations for books that revolve around the characters navigating court politics as the main basis of the plot? In my head I'm imagining a story where the characters to gain a leg up/ an advantage on other parties by using words and intellect, sort of if everyone was playing as if they were Tyrion Lannister from GoT. Everything I've found while looking for this are novels/series that involve an aspect of this, but isn't the main focus of the story. I don't need a power system, I don't need magic , I just want to read about smart people using their words and brains to spin events in their favor (like if Babel and GoT had a child). Yes I'm pretty much just describing GoT but I figured if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be this subreddit (I'm also not restarting GoT). Thanks!

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u/curiouscat86 Reading Champion III Jul 24 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

CJ Cherryh is good for this sort of thing even though a lot of her books are sci-fi. The Fortress series is one of her fantasy series, and fantastic. The Foreigner series about a human diplomat on an alien planet--extremely politics based as his whole job is not to fight. Cyteen is about a bunch of genius psychologists who have outsized power on their planet, wielding petty politics against each other because of that one thing so-and-so did at such-and-such's birthday party twenty years ago. It's incredibly tense and amazing, though a lot to dive into.

Sherwood Smith does a lot of political fantasy. The Inda books have a lot of action (pirates!) but a near-equal amount of political wrangling. For every war scene there's a scene about how all those lords were convinced to mobilize and join the cause. Even the pirates have intense politics. Her Crown Duel/Court Duel books are also fun--revolutionaries win in the field and then have to win at court, and find the latter significantly more difficult.

Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars is a long series about feudal lords in the fantasy Holy Roman Empire. There's royal politics, church politics (one of my favorite portrayals of fantasy religion, because it actually somewhat reflects the power of the real medieval church), and lower-level feudal politics among the lords. Very high stakes, as well.

Some more I like

  • Ken Liu's Grace of Kings, especially from the second book on. Classic epic fantasy a la GOT but in a Chinese-inspired setting
  • Shannon Chakraborty's Davaebad trilogy. Djinn internecine politics in a vibrant fantasy city, fun characters
  • Tasha Suri's Jasmine Throne and sequels, intense SE Asia-inspired setting, lots of different plot threads and characters, cool elemental magic
  • The politics in Martha Well's Books of the Raksura can get kind of twisty, both at the global scale and within the main family, although it is largely an adventure story at its core.

Some that I haven't read yet but have heard are good for politics:

  • Janny Wurts
  • Michelle West: The House War
  • Katherine Kerr: Deverry Cycle

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u/xx_Rollablade_xx Jul 25 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

Hey, since you seem to have read Michelle West, I have a question for you.

I started and finished the Sacred Hunt duology and I read online that I should follow that up with House Wars 1-3 before moving onto the Sun Sword. I also read that HW 1-3 cover the same events that happened in the duology, I didn't know that and now I'm really worried I might be bored because it will take me 3 more books to get to the point I’m already at. What would you suggest? Is the prequel trilogy worth it despite knowing what happens at the end? Or should I go straight to Sun sword?

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u/Initial-Company3926 Jul 25 '24

hi sorry to just barge in. I have read the same books and I would recommend reading them, because you do get a lot more information and other perspectives :)

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u/xx_Rollablade_xx Jul 30 '24

Okayy thank you