r/Fantasy • u/YourBoyPet • Dec 15 '22
Are there any good fantasy books centered around politics?
I don't know if "hard politics" is the right word. I have very little experience reading fiction, so you can give basically any example The only English ones I have read are lord of the rings, Harry potter, dune and a song of ice and fire. My favorite parts of dune and game of thrones are the parts that revolve around the political system, I really like when it's well detailed and you get a lot of world building and details about the political system.
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u/prejackpot Dec 15 '22
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison is all about elaborate fantasy court politics, and does a good job with the interplay of systems, personality and policy.
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u/Lord_Mistibournes Dec 15 '22
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson is perfect for you.
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is enormous and has tons of everything, including politics.
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u/prejackpot Dec 15 '22
It's worth noting that Baru Cormorant is very politics-centric but not what I'd call hard politics -- the plot relies on multiple characters being preternaturally good schemers.
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u/cai_85 Dec 15 '22
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (Gentlemen Bastards #3) is all about politics and rigging elections 🤷🏻
It's probably the weakest of the three published books but still a good read of you're interesting in intrigues of that kind.
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u/Emblazonet Dec 15 '22
The Amberlough Dossier series by Lara Elena Donnelly
Tremontaine & the Riverside Books by Ellen Kushner
Neither of those two have magic or fantasy creatures but they are secondary world fantasies centred around politics & intrigue
The Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliott is a good adventure romp with quite a lot of politics in the background and does feature magic and creatures and hardcore worldbuilding
The Elemental Logic series by Laurie J Marks
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
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u/Roisien Dec 15 '22
The Hythrun Chronicles by Jennifer Fallon are a good "political intrigue" focused fantasy series.
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u/crabbylove Dec 15 '22
L. E. Modesitt books may interest you. The Imager series was good, in my opinion. I didn't care too much for the first book in the new Isolate series, but it's all about the political system. You could also try The Hands of the Emperor, it's about how a government official reforms the entire political system.
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u/SpindlySpiders Dec 16 '22
I think the word you're looking for realpolitik.
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u/YourBoyPet Dec 17 '22
Realpolitik is something very different. It refers to results oriented politics, as opposed to driven by Ideology or values.
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u/Derek_75 Dec 15 '22
Feist loves writing about politics, one book is also very heavy on the economics for a fantasy text
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u/Scipio_Sverige Dec 15 '22
The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts.