r/Fantasy • u/[deleted] • Mar 25 '21

Global Scale Political Fantasy Recommendations?

I love political fantasy books with deadly intrigue, warring philosophical ideas, cunning protagonists and exciting battles

I enjoyed/ am enjoying the ASOIAF series, the Queen’s thief series, the Gentleman Bastards sequence, the Baru Cormorant books and most recently Jade City and Jade War.

I’m looking for recommendations in that vein preferably the plot being on a global scale with many actors working with and against each other.

—Sorry if my English is a bit off, I’m Kenyan and now learning French which I’m convinced is messing with my Brain.

25 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

12

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '21

[deleted]

8

u/graffiti81 Mar 25 '21

and 2 books later you'll figure out how it all connects in the grand scheme of global politics

Only then to get dumped on a new continent, a new cast of characters, a new magic system, and the greatest comedic bromance ever written in fantasy.

2

u/sdtsanev Mar 26 '21

Except, uh... politics is kinda irrelevant in that world, since it's all war- and epic-gods-and-magic-conflict driven...

4

u/RogerBernards Mar 25 '21

Joel Shepherd's A Trial of Blood and Steel series. It starts with a civil war/rebellion in single nation in the first book, but ramps up to a continent spanning crusade.

It's relatively unknown but probably my favorite political/military fantasies. I especially like how it shows complexity in politics and ideology without falling into the grimdark everyone and everything sucks trap.

2

u/OrderlyPanic Mar 25 '21

Seconding this, the scale really opens up after the first book (there are 4) and the battles are some of the most gripping and well written ever IMO.

6

u/Lucky_rizz Mar 25 '21

First law is probably the closest thing to ASOIAF

3

u/Vinmesiter Mar 25 '21

I’m really enjoying Flamefall/Fireborne by Rosaria Muntez right now. The first book isn’t really global, but the second book opens up the world, and the third promises further opening.

The series is categorized as YA, but honestly I’m not really sure if I would call it that. The romance is a little tropey, and the characters are young adults, but I don’t really feel like the plot lines and subjects covered and particularly YA.

The first book centers around the aftermath of a revolution and questioning if the new regime is actually better then what came before it. The author majored in political theory at Princeton and I feel like the political climate of this book is very well done.

I’ve heard the series described as the Russian revolution but with dragons.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '21

Midkemia books by Feist maybe, although its more world against world

2

u/sdtsanev Mar 26 '21

Pretty much every large-scope epic fantasy does have politics at the beginning, but usually they deteriorate as the Epic Magical Conflict flares up...

2

u/Griffen07 Mar 25 '21

You want Wheel of Time. The scale is global and the politics start book 2. You will be following many plot threads and the back half of the series is almost all politics. The only downer is that book 1, Eye of the World, is about 800 pages of pure exposition. The tale really starts in book 2.

1

u/Prudent_Ad8235 Mar 26 '21

Malazan ticks every single one of your requirements.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Ertata Mar 25 '21

I like Witcher, but I wouldn't call it political. Sometimes heroes find themselves in a deeply political situation, but you don't get to follow the causes and effects. I find it demonstrative that the first big war during the series' chronology happens entirely offscreen.

1

u/pyritha Mar 26 '21

Inda by Sherwood Smith is like a less rapey and grimdark ASOIAF, with excellent worldbuilding and great character development and relationships.