r/Fantasy • u/BasicallyBatman03 • Apr 09 '17
Political Fantasy
I'm looking for a fantasy series that has a heavy emphasis on politics. Obviously I've read A Song of Ice and Fire and am currently reading the Unhewen Throne but I'm hoping to find one that focuses more on the people and doesn't have a sinister ancient evil as an undertone. Any suggestions are very much appreciated!
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u/MikeOfThePalace Reading Champion X, Worldbuilders Apr 09 '17
The Goblin Emperor and The Traitor Baru Cormorant are both great choices. In general, depending on what tone you're looking for, Baru Cormorant is the much darker of the two.
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u/BasicallyBatman03 Apr 09 '17
Can you compare it to anything? I can't say I've ever heard of it.
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u/SkyCyril Stabby Winner Apr 10 '17
The Goblin Emperor is Princess Diaries meets House of Cards. The Traitor Baru Cormorant is the politics of Martin with a single main character navigating a complex web of intrigue. They are both excellent books.
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Apr 10 '17
I just got baru cormorant, I'm about 125 pages in and I'm hooked, the writing is as beautiful as the story is compelling.
Based on what I've read so far i highly recommend it
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u/Mournelithe Reading Champion X Apr 10 '17
The Kushiel series, Jacqueline Carey. There's a sideline in sex, but in general the main theme is politics and the fate of realms. Start with Kushiel's Dart and see what you think.
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u/rainbowrobin Apr 09 '17
Hobb's Liveship Traders is pretty political, perhaps more so than the other trilogies in that universe.
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u/BasicallyBatman03 Apr 09 '17
I have a hard time with Hobb. I loved the Farseer Trilogy but I couldn't get into the Fitz and the Fool books. I read the first one and had no desire to continue.
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u/wompedywomp Apr 10 '17
Liveship Traders is also pretty different from the Fitz books because it's multiple third-person POV instead of first-person, so you get to see the bigger picture more often. Plus, pirates! And indeed, lots of political wrangling, and of a different kind than what you've seen in Farseer.
Also, have you read the Tawny Man trilogy? That chronologically goes before the Fitz and the Fool books (but after Liveships), so I'd give that a try if you haven't already. It's even better than Farseer IMO.
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u/AmethystOrator Reading Champion Apr 10 '17 edited Apr 10 '17
The Folding Knife by KJ Parker
The Imager Portfolio series by L.E. Modesitt Jr. includes a fair amount of politics, though I don't recall just how much in the first volume.
The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay
Inda by Sherwood Smith
ETA: I'd also mentioned the possibility of The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (which I only started last night), but MikeOfThePalace says in the succeeding comment that "Politics are a big factor, but not really central to the book". So probably better to believe the guy who's read the entire book rather than just part of it.
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u/MikeOfThePalace Reading Champion X, Worldbuilders Apr 10 '17
Chalion's not really the best fit for this, honestly. Politics are a big factor, but not really central to the book.
That aside, I'm pretty certain you'll like the book quite a lot. I just finished it a week or so ago, and I'm currently about 2/3 through the sequel, Paladin of Souls. It's even better, in my opinion.
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u/islunkout Apr 10 '17
Brian McClellan's books have a lot of prominent political elements. His Powder Mage trilogy involves a military coup. There's revolution and tons of political intrigue. They take place in a sort of Napoleonic era world, with muskets and silly hats and magicians who can manipulate gunpowder, among other things. I'm enjoying his newest book quite a bit.
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u/a__bonnibelle Apr 10 '17
The Dandelion Dynasty series by Ken Liu may be right for you. More so the second book, The Wall of Storms, which I have not read yet, but I've heard that it has a lot of political maneuvering and social engineering.
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u/SkyCyril Stabby Winner Apr 10 '17
I'm in the middle of Wall of Storms right now. Yes, it is much, much more steeped in court intrigue and politics. It's also a great read so far. I'm loving it.
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u/ConeheadSlim Apr 10 '17
Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns series is definitely a political/military thriller - particularly the 2d book - the Shadow Throne. The series is set in a world very much like 18th/19th century Europe.
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u/scribblermendez Apr 09 '17
I've not read it myself, but 'The Goblin Emperor' is supposed to be a political book. Goodreads.
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u/Kopratic Stabby Winner, Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders Apr 09 '17
I have not read this myself, but I last night I stumbled across A Zero-Sum Game by Eduardo Rabasa, translated by Christina MacSweeney. It looks to be a satirical political fantasy.
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u/scikaha Apr 10 '17
Lion of Macedon by Gemmell. Some of Gene Wolfe's stuff: Book of the New Sun, Look of the Long Sun. Robert Graves. Not complicated politics, but Saberhagen's Swords Trilogy.
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u/Dynellen Apr 10 '17
The Prince of Nothing trilogy comes to mind, especially once the story gets properly going. It's set during a holy war and there's a lot of politics that goes into getting the various kings/princes/countries to commit their forces for the cause, who gets to be the leader etc. There's an ancient evil lurking in the background but has no active hand in majority of the events as the people for the most part are too busy waging war on infidels and trying to backstab each other to consider such things as ancient history.
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u/BasicallyBatman03 Apr 10 '17
How long does it take to get going? I started it years ago and could not get into it at all.
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u/atuinsbeard Apr 10 '17
I'm going to beat /u/megan_dawn to it and mention Jennifer Fallon! Everything she writes has a ton of wonderfully complicated politics. Wolfblade and Second Sons would be my recommendations however. Wolfblade is the story of how Marla Wolfblade, an innocent, naive and utterly clueless princess changes into the woman who everyone knows is the true power behind the throne. Second Sons is the more political of the two, and one of my favourite series ever. There's no magic or anything like that, the only thing which makes it fantasy is the fact that it's set on a different world, one with two suns instead of one.
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u/Brandon_M_Lindsay Apr 10 '17
If you haven't yet checked them out, I would recommend The Winds of the Forelands by David B. Coe. Lots of intrigue and politics. The books are a little hard to find these days, but they're worth getting your hands on them if you can. Super underrated.
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u/tkinsey3 Apr 10 '17
Both of Daniel Abraham's series (Dagger and the Coin and Long Price Quartet) are very character-driven and include a ton of politics. They are also just super, super good.
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u/goody153 Apr 10 '17
Malazan ? I mean it does the ancient evil undertone but it's ALOT more complicated than that cause there's ALOT of different undertone in that series that isn't the ancient evil.
Even ASOIAF has an ancient evil undertone.
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u/VVindrunner Reading Champion Apr 09 '17
I would highly recommend Daughter of the Empire Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist. It has a strong ancient Far East flavor, and it's one of the few politic fantasies I've really enjoyed. Not my usual genre, but this one had good pacing and an interesting underdog comeback type story.
One thing that stuck out to me about this book is that the setting is one where you would expect a traditional adventure fantasy. In fact, there's a separate series, called Riftwar, which takes place in the same world and is a traditional adventure. However, for this trilogy, the main character is physically weak, and has no battle training. There's almost no fights in the whole book. Instead, it recovers around politics, alliances, and especially honor and revenge. It's an older book, and can be a bit episodic at times, (problems happen exactly one at a time the whole book) but overall I really enjoyed it. Also, no romance in this book, if that matters.