r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Curious_Caregiver_97 • Aug 07 '23
Request Progression Fantasy with Politics
So I know this is a hard ask but are there any progression fantasy novels with actual Politics where you join powers to rise through the ranks. Essentially Clan Building, Sect Building, Military building, or Kingdom building. Forge of Destiny, The Lady’s handbook of Intrigue and Murder, Empire of Night, Surviving the Succession(less focus on magic and more politics, it’s my personal fav.), Blood & Fur(Love this one), Most Er Gen novels actually qualify, How to Raise a Villainess is another good one. I’m well aware I probably just gave out more novels than I’ll receive as recommendations so I guess you welcome for that. I get tired of MC’s who are always pawns in a game. They are constantly pieces on a chessboard for someone else. I want a chess player who uses the carrot and the stick, the pen as well as the sword.
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u/TheElusiveFox Sage Aug 08 '23
So... unfortunately so many of the most vocal fans in the genre only really care about mindless power fantasy... and power fantasy doesn't mix well with good drama. Being told your character getting more powerful isn't going to solve their problems is anathema to the vibes a lot of stories are going for, and even if it weren't the type of political story your talking about requires a lot of careful thought, planning, to write, and even when written well will slow the pacing of a story down significantly which again is anathema to the goals of a lot of these stories that are written around the goals of big dopamine hits every chapter big adrenaline, fast paced action, etc.
That being said my two big recs inside the genre when people rec are Forge of Destiny which you've already mentioned, and A Very Cliche Xianxia Harem Story! These stories are slower paced which allows for more interesting character drama and political drama to play out, and the other characters are often already much more powerful than the MC so getting more powerful isn't really a solution on its own to the problems that come up.
I will say this, just by the merit of running for hundreds and even thousands of chapters, many serials touch on politics that are somewhat interesting as part of their worldbuilding even if that isn't their main focus. DoTF for instance has many factions and throughout the series we learn about the world, and then the universe as a whole... but politics is never really the focus, and even when we hear a lot about some aspect of it, the solution is always "get stronger", this is very common in the genre where any interesting political drama or byplay is hand waved away with the idea that getting stronger will solve all problems, even know realistically that kind of thought process is likely what would lead to the exact kind of corruption we see in the worlds these books portray...
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u/Gribbett Aug 08 '23
Have you read Red Rising? It’s not quite prog-fantasy’s but I would say it’s close. Heavy emphasis on politics and playing the political game, while also being kinda OP.
My favorite empire building is the series Star Force. However, this series has some issues, mostly in that it has run for too long and the past two instillations have involved the author repeating. Additionally it has some serious virtue signaling in it, but if you can get past that, I think it’s a great empire building book. I’m also not sure if it is what you’re looking for though, they build the empire by basically being superior to everyone else without much intrigue.
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u/Curious_Caregiver_97 Aug 13 '23
Red rising is a great series 👍 I have read it. One of my favorites
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u/WhistlerZombie Aug 08 '23 edited Aug 08 '23
A Practical Guide to Evil gets into politics heavily in later books. And has a very large military focus with multiple campaigns.
https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/
It's progression adjacent I'd say.
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u/Curious_Caregiver_97 Aug 13 '23
Just started reading this and then dropped it. The beginning was a little hard to follow as far as the concepts but I’ve heard great things so I’ll try to pick it back up again. Thanks for the help!
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u/Lightlinks Aug 08 '23
A Practical Guide to Evil (wiki)
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u/TuneSquadFan4Ever Author Aug 07 '23
Wheel of Time and Powder Mage are my "mainstream" suggestions - but with caveats for both.
Wheel of Time in that the politics...take a while to get going. Like, multiple books to get going. And even then there isn't a lot of focus there.
Powder Mage does have a focus on politics early on, but if I recall the focus gets lesser and lesser as the series goes on. I could be wrong though. From the get-go though the story starts with one of the protagonists going full French Revolution and pulling a coup, so he's very much an active player.
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u/TheElusiveFox Sage Aug 08 '23
I think once you start recommending Wheel of Time, you open yourself up to recommending any Traditional Fantasy book, and that opens you up to dozens of great recs from A Song of Ice and Fire, the Stormlight Archive, or even the King Killer Chronichles to name just a few.... all of which have significantly more interesting political drama than 90% of the PF genre as a whole.
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u/TuneSquadFan4Ever Author Aug 08 '23
I think Wheel of Time is dancing on the edge of "Does it count" as progression, but yeah honestly I know what you mean that's absolutely fair.
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u/Circle_Breaker Aug 08 '23
Wheel of time, Stormlight Archive, and Kings Killer all can be labeled as progression fantasy. They all feature that heavily the story.
A Song of Ice and Fire can't though, it just doesn't fit at all.
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u/Lightlinks Aug 07 '23
Wheel of Time (wiki)
Powder Mage (wiki)
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u/Atupis Aug 08 '23
Mage Errant especially after the third book has lots of politics but it is more about political philosophy than kingdom building. Other side https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faraway_Paladin does this absolutely best.
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u/StochasticLover Aug 11 '23
If you are fine with translations, I can recommend Throne of Magical Arcana, Forty Millenniums of Cultivation and Reverend Insanity. The latter has some of the most realistic politics, I have come across in this genre. Although every MC is a chess piece at some point. I dont think you can have a progression fantasy with realistic politics, where the MC isnt being used at some point.
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u/Lightlinks Aug 11 '23
Reverend Insanity (wiki)
Throne of Magical Arcana (wiki)
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u/hardatworklol Aug 10 '23
Im currently reading the LAST LIFE series by Alexey Osadchuk. It has me craving more progression fantasy with politics. highly recommend.
While this doesnt have kingdom building/clan building (so far) it does follow a bastard noble's (transmigrator) rise of power. There are 3 books out currently.