10 Fantasy Books Like Game of Thrones (But Better)

Let's be honest: if you finished A Song of Ice and Fire (or binged the show) and immediately Googled “books like Game of Thrones,” you're not alone. George R.R. Martin cracked something open in the fantasy genre — a hunger for political intrigue, morally grey characters, and worlds where nobody is safe. The good news? Dozens of authors have answered the call, and some of them arguably do it better.

Here are ten fantasy books and series that scratch the same itch as Game of Thrones — with their own twists, their own worlds, and their own reasons to keep you up past midnight.

1. The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

If Martin cracked the door on grimdark fantasy, Abercrombie kicked it off its hinges. The Blade Itself introduces a cast of deeply flawed characters — a torturer, a barbarian, a vain nobleman — and puts them through a meat grinder of war, politics, and betrayal. The dialogue is razor-sharp, the action sequences are visceral, and Abercrombie has a gift for making you love characters you should probably despise. The follow-up Age of Madness trilogy adds industrial revolution politics to the mix, making it feel eerily relevant.

2. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Drawing on Chinese history — particularly the Second Sino-Japanese War — Kuang's trilogy starts as a military academy story and evolves into one of the most devastating explorations of power and genocide in modern fantasy. Rin is a protagonist who makes choices that will haunt you long after the final page. Where Martin shows you the cost of war through shifting perspectives, Kuang shows it through one woman's descent from idealism to something far darker. Essential reading for anyone who thinks fantasy should challenge as well as entertain.

3. The Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee

“The Godfather meets kung fu fantasy” is the elevator pitch, and it's accurate. Jade City follows two rival clans on the island of Kekon as they fight for control of jade — a magical resource that grants superhuman abilities. The political maneuvering is every bit as intricate as Westeros, but the setting draws on East Asian culture rather than medieval Europe, giving the whole series a freshness that the genre desperately needed. The family dynamics alone are worth the price of admission. All three books are out, so you can binge without waiting.

4. The Kingdom of Valdrath by Eva Noir

This indie series flew under the radar for a while, but readers who love Thrones-style succession drama are discovering it fast. The Exile's Return, the first of eight books, follows an exiled prince dragged back to a crumbling kingdom where three brothers are tearing each other apart over the throne. What sets Valdrath apart is the depth of its political systems — the author built an entire cultural database covering economics, religion, and social hierarchy before writing a single chapter. The result feels lived-in and authentic in a way that rewards attentive readers. If you want political fantasy where alliances shift every chapter and nobody is purely good or evil, this is your next series.

5. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Kay is the master of literary fantasy, and Tigana might be his finest work. Set in a Renaissance Italian-inspired peninsula, it follows a group of rebels trying to restore their homeland — a country so thoroughly conquered that even its name has been magically erased from memory. The prose is gorgeous, the moral questions are genuinely difficult, and the villain is one of the most sympathetic antagonists in all of fantasy. It's a standalone, which means you get a complete, devastating story in a single volume.

6. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

If Littlefinger were the protagonist and you had to watch him sacrifice everything he loved for political power, you'd get something like this book. Baru is a young accountant from a colonized nation who infiltrates the empire that destroyed her culture, planning to tear it down from within. The political scheming is next-level, the economics are surprisingly engaging, and the ending hits like a freight train. Dickinson doesn't flinch from showing the cost of revolution, and neither does Baru.

7. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence

Jorg Ancrath might be the most morally reprehensible protagonist in fantasy — and somehow you can't stop reading about him. Prince of Thorns drops you into the mind of a teenage warlord cutting a bloody path toward an empire, and Lawrence's terse, propulsive prose makes every page fly. The world has secrets that fundamentally change your understanding of the story, and the trilogy wraps in a way that's both satisfying and haunting. Not for the faint of heart, but neither was the Red Wedding.

8. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Here's the curveball. The Goblin Emperor has all the political intrigue of Game of Thrones — court factions, assassination plots, the machinery of governance — but it's told through the eyes of a genuinely kind protagonist thrust onto a throne he never wanted. Maia, the half-goblin emperor, navigates a hostile court not with swords but with empathy and stubborn decency. It's proof that political fantasy doesn't have to be grimdark to be compelling. Sometimes the bravest thing a ruler can do is simply be good.

9. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Fantasy heist meets political thriller. Locke and his crew of gentleman thieves operate in a Venice-inspired city, running elaborate cons on the nobility — until a mysterious figure starts killing off the criminal underground and Locke gets caught between rival powers. Lynch's dialogue crackles, the plotting is intricate without being convoluted, and the found-family dynamics give the story emotional weight. Think Ocean's Eleven set in a world where the Lannisters run the casino.

10. The Winnowing Flame by Jen Williams

Williams blends epic fantasy with cosmic horror in a trilogy that moves between political scheming, apocalyptic warfare, and genuinely alien threats. The ensemble cast is diverse and compelling, the world-building is creative (a parasitic alien queen, war-beasts grown from a mystical tree), and Williams isn't afraid to get dark when the story demands it. It's an underrated gem that deserves a much bigger audience.

What Makes Political Fantasy Work?

The best political fantasy shares a few qualities: consequences that stick, characters with competing moral frameworks (not just “good vs. evil”), and a world that feels like it would keep turning even if you closed the book. Martin set the standard, but the authors on this list have expanded the genre in directions he never went — from Kuang's unflinching look at colonialism to Lee's crime-family dynamics to the intricate power structures of Valdrath.

The common thread? Every one of these books trusts you to handle complexity. There are no easy answers, no purely noble heroes, and no villains who are evil just because. If that's what you loved about Game of Thrones, you're going to love what comes next.