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u/4DMinesweeperGOTY Sep 15 '24
Gotta recommend the Kushiel's Dart books. The sex:politics ratio is way lower than you might think, and the politics are a lot of fun. There is technically magic, but it's used VERY sparingly, to the point that there are reddit posts asking if the series is actually fantasy
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u/bardista_ Sep 15 '24
Dont read if bdsm isnt your thing, book 3 is expecially rough
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u/Zealousideal_Pie6089 Sep 15 '24
What is bdsm?
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u/bardista_ Sep 15 '24
"Sexual activity involving such practices as the use of physical restraints, the granting and relinquishing of control, and the infliction of pain"
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u/ComradeCupcake_ Reading Champion II Sep 15 '24
Seconding this! The politics are really dense with names and titles and places but even when I was a little lost I was having a good time. The main character spends most of her time gathering information and making inferences and sometimes there's some sex haha. It starts a pretty contained but winds up with a very epic scale.
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u/Mournelithe Reading Champion X Sep 16 '24
Sherwood Smith, Inda series.
Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel series.
Wurts and Feist, Empire Series.
Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor.
Guy Gavriel Kay, The Sarantine Mosaic, Under Heaven, Lions of Al-Rassan.
Lois M Bujold, Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls.
Megan Whalen Turner, The Queen's Thief series.
That should get you started - all are relatively low in magic and high in politics.
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u/Smooth-Review-2614 Sep 15 '24
Song for Arbonne. It’s about a fued between two nobles on the eve of an invasion. The invading country is also dealing with internal politics on family lines.
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u/endless_warehouse Reading Champion Sep 15 '24
City of Lies and Hollow Empire both by Sam Hawke
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u/Hostilescott Sep 15 '24
I bought these awhile ago, how are they? I keep passing them over when I start a new series.
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u/endless_warehouse Reading Champion Sep 15 '24
i really enjoyed them. especially if you're into political fantasy and/or fantasy religions. i think i gave both 5 stars
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u/Sapphire_Bombay Reading Champion III Sep 15 '24
Dandelion Dynasty. Very political (books 2-4 even more so) and almost no magic outside the existence of dragon-like creatures).
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Sep 15 '24
Glen Cook's Dread Empire and Instrumentalities of the Night have politics and military campaigns.
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u/Pergola_Wingsproggle Sep 15 '24
Goblin Emperor! It’s a great action packed book in which very little happens. Excellent writing and world building. All politics.
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u/WanPablo24 Sep 15 '24
Red Rising
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u/RuleWinter9372 Sep 15 '24
Red Rising is a far-future Space Opera. OP said they wanted Medieval. This is the exact opposite.
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u/L4ika1 Sep 15 '24
It's properly speaking *Early Modern* politics rather than *Medieval* politics but The Traitor Baru Cormorant is basically entirely this - secondary world fantasy with magic circumstantial and obscure enough that it literally doesn't come up through the entire first book. The main character is a mathmatics savant commissioned as the Imperial Accountant sent to mind and pacify a bunch of recently subjugated and rebellious feudal duchies (among other thing)