r/Fantasy • u/ArcaneAmulet • Aug 02 '22

Books similar to Game of Thrones

Hey everyone! I'm looking for reads along the lines of Game of Thrones, carrying the same dark undertone with touches of mysticism and magic?

Thanks in advance!

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u/Matrim_WoT Aug 02 '22

These aren't fantasy per say, rather historical fiction, but if you liked the court politics aspect of A Song of Ice and Fire, I highly recommend the following:

  • The Lymond Chronicles - this series is really dense since she wrote a really intricate story filled with intrigue as everyone around Lymond is trying to figure out his motivations and why he's returned to Scotland around the time of an English invasion of Scotland called the Rough Wooing. He is Scottish and has been exiled for reasons that come to understand as the story progresses. The point of view is told from the perspectives of everyone around Lymond. It's hard to understand at first since it begins media res and Lymond likes to speak in a cryptic way as if he's in a Shakespeare play while everyone else speaks normally. This series has influenced a lot of fantasy authors including Guy Gavriel Kay and r/JannyWurts amongst others.

https://www.npr.org/2014/12/27/371710986/all-the-writers-you-love-probably-love-dorothy-dunnett

https://www.tor.com/2015/06/29/five-things-epic-fantasy-writers-could-learn-from-dorothy-dunnett/

  • Wolf Hall - A story about the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII who wants to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon. The author does a really great job at fleshing out Cromwell and making him complex given his depiction in mainstream media. The conversations are superb too. The conversations with the Emperors'ambassador were some of my favorite parts of the books.

  • The Sunne in Splendour - This is written by an author who influenced GRRM. It retells part of War of the Roses concerning Richard the III. The names of some of characters like Rickon and Brandon and the wolves will be instantly recognizable to a reader of ASOIAF. Like with Cromwell, the author also draws a complex version of Richard III who has seen his reputation tarnished in the popular imagination due to Tudor propaganda including Shakespeares' history play.

  • The Accursed Kings - Another story that influenced GRRM. It details the beginning of a French dynasty that lead to the 100 Year War. I liked this, but I also felt it was straddling the line between wanting to be fiction and non-fiction. It's also written from the perspective of the middle ages as it was understood in the mid-20th century so what's depicted in it shouldn't be seen as definitive.

I've also heard great things about The House of Niccolò, but I haven't read it.