Books Similar to Game of Thrones 2026: 12 Epic Fantasy Series Worth Reading Next

The best books similar to Game of Thrones are Joe Abercrombie's *The First Law Trilogy* for moral ambiguity and political cynicism, Maurice Druon's *The Accursed Kings* for medieval dynastic scheming (Martin's own cited predecessor), and Robin Hobb's *Farseer Trilogy* for character depth and court intrigue. All three are fully published, unlike Martin's own series, and all three punish naive idealism in the same way Westeros does. ## Why Game of Thrones Is So Hard to Replace Most epic fantasy has a structural promise: a chosen hero, a dark lord, a final confrontation where good triumphs. George R.R. Martin broke that contract deliberately. His stated goal was to write a fantasy series where nobody had plot armor, where political power worked the way it actually works (through money, fear, and marriage), and where magic was strange and uncanny rather than a convenient weapon. That combination is rare. There are thousands of epic fantasy series. There are very few that combine all four elements Martin mastered: an enormous cast of point-of-view characters with competing moral claims, political intrigue rooted in realistic medieval economics and dynastic competition, a willingness to kill anyone without warning, and world-building that rewards close attention. The books below were selected specifically on those four criteria. Each one matches at least three of them. Some exceed Martin in specific areas: Erikson in sheer scale, Hobb in character psychology, Druon in political realism, Abercrombie in grimdark cynicism. ## The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie *The Blade Itself*, *Before They Are Hanged*, and *Last Argument of Kings* form the tightest three-book analog to Game of Thrones available. Abercrombie shares Martin's affection for characters who are morally compromised in interesting ways: Logen Ninefingers is a berserker war criminal with a genuinely terrifying past, Glokta is a torturer who is also the most honest man in the room, and Jezal dan Luthar begins as a vain idiot and ends somewhere more complicated. What Abercrombie does better than most: his plot resolutions are deliberately disappointing. Characters sacrifice everything for an outcome that doesn't deliver what they were promised. The political structure of the Union is as cynical as anything in Westeros. There are no clean moral wins. Abercrombie has since written four more books set in the same world, all of which stand alone: *Best Served Cold*, *The Heroes*, *Red Country*, and a second trilogy *The Age of Madness*. All are complete. You can read the entire First Law universe right now without waiting for anything. **Who it's for:** Readers who specifically want the grimdark, morally ambiguous tone of Game of Thrones. Not for readers who found Game of Thrones too bleak. ## The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon George R.R. Martin called this series "the original Game of Thrones" and recommended it publicly. That endorsement is earned. Druon wrote seven novels in the 1950s and 1960s chronicling the fall of the French Capetian dynasty in the fourteenth century. The sequence begins with *The Iron King*, in which Philip IV of France suppresses the Knights Templar, seizes their wealth, and burns their grandmaster Jacques de Molay at the stake. Molay's dying curse on the royal line then plays out across the rest of the series as the French succession collapses through a sequence of adulterous queens, ambitious uncles, and conveniently timed deaths. This is not technically fantasy. Druon based his novels on actual historical events, and most of the major plot points happened. The scheming is real medieval court behavior, not invented. The reason it reads like Game of Thrones is that Game of Thrones is based on real medieval history (particularly the Wars of the Roses) filtered through exactly this kind of narrative sensibility. **Who it's for:** Readers who prefer the political realism of Game of Thrones over the magic. Also ideal for anyone interested in the real medieval history behind Martin's world. ## Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams Martin has named this trilogy (*The Dragonbone Chair*, *Stone of Farewell*, and *To Green Angel Tower*) as a primary influence on A Song of Ice and Fire. Williams published it between 1988 and 1993, and it represents a generation-defining turn toward serious, politically complex epic fantasy. The plot follows Simon, a scullion in a medieval castle, whose world falls apart when the king dies and two princes compete for the throne. But unlike standard fantasy, the elder prince is the villain while the younger prince is weak and ineffective. The political situation worsens not because of a simple dark lord but because of the accumulated weight of history, old grudges, and terrible decisions made by sympathetic people. Williams is also responsible for changing how fantasy sequences handle time and logistics. His characters actually travel long distances under realistic physical conditions. Winter is actually cold. Sieges actually starve people. These details influenced Martin directly. **Who it's for:** Readers who want to understand where Game of Thrones came from. Slower paced than Martin but deeply rewarding. ## Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson If Game of Thrones is vast, *Malazan* is planetary. Steven Erikson's ten-book sequence (*Gardens of the Moon* through *The Crippled God*) features hundreds of named characters across multiple continents, a magic system with genuine internal logic, and a timeline that spans hundreds of thousands of years of in-world history. Erikson does not explain his world to you. The first book (*Gardens of the Moon*) begins in the middle of a military campaign with no introduction, and the reader is expected to build context from observed behavior rather than exposition. This makes the opening 150 pages genuinely difficult. Most readers who persist past book two find the series among the most rewarding fantasy ever written. The moral tone is even more unsparing than Martin's. The Malazan series is particularly focused on what warfare does to soldiers and civilians, and on the question of whether the gods who govern Erikson's world are worthy of the pain they cause. It is the most philosophically ambitious series on this list. **Who it's for:** Readers who want the broadest possible scope and are willing to invest 10,000+ pages. Not for readers who want quick payoffs or conventional narrative structure. ## The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb *Assassin's Apprentice*, *Royal Assassin*, and *Assassin's Quest* follow FitzChivalry Farseer, a royal bastard raised in the stables and trained as an assassin by his king. The court politics of the Six Duchies are as treacherous as Westeros, the king is dying, the heir is weak, and a succession crisis is developing while a coastal attack threatens the kingdom. What Hobb adds that Martin doesn't prioritize is psychological interiority. Fitz is one of the most carefully observed first-person narrators in fantasy literature. His grief, his loyalty, his bad decisions under pressure, and his inability to protect the people he loves are all rendered with unusual emotional honesty. Hobb is also more interested in the cost of violence than the spectacle of it. The bad news: this trilogy ends in a specific way that many readers find devastating. The good news: Hobb has written fifteen novels set in the same world, so there is always more. The Liveship Traders trilogy and The Tawny Man trilogy are the immediate sequels. **Who it's for:** Readers who respond most to Game of Thrones' character work rather than its action sequences. Particularly strong for readers who found Tyrion or Arya's viewpoint chapters the most compelling. ## The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence *Prince of Thorns*, *King of Thorns*, and *Emperor of Thorns* are narrated by Jorg Ancrath, who begins the series as a thirteen-year-old leading a murderous bandit gang and proceeds to get worse. Jorg is the most deliberately unpleasant protagonist on this list. He is also one of the most compelling. Lawrence's world is a post-apocalyptic Europe set a thousand years after a catastrophic collapse, and the medieval setting turns out to conceal a science fiction backstory that reveals itself slowly. The magic system has real internal rules. The political structure of the Broken Empire -- dozens of petty kings jostling for the high throne -- maps closely to the political structure of Westeros. If you were disappointed that Game of Thrones didn't go dark enough: this is the series for you. If you found Game of Thrones already quite dark, this is probably not your next book. **Who it's for:** Readers who want the most aggressively grimdark option on this list. Also for readers who enjoy unreliable narrators. ## She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan This 2021 debut follows a girl in fourteenth-century China who takes the identity of her dead brother to escape poverty and rises through the ranks of a rebel army to challenge for the Mandate of Heaven. It shares Game of Thrones' preoccupation with what power costs, its ambivalence about who deserves to win, and its willingness to explore how gender and identity function as political tools. Where it differs: the prose is more controlled and literary than Martin's, and the moral questions center specifically on what it means to want power when you have been denied any. Parker-Chan is interested in the Chinese dynastic transition (the fall of the Yuan and rise of the Ming) the way Martin is interested in the Wars of the Roses: as a case study in political violence and its human cost. **Who it's for:** Readers who want the political scope of Game of Thrones with more literary prose and a different historical tradition. The sequel is *He Who Drowned the World*. ## The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss *The Name of the Wind* and its sequel *The Wise Man's Fear* follow Kvothe, a legendary figure who is telling the story of his own life in an inn while hiding from a world that believes him to be something much larger than he currently appears. The magic system (Sympathy) is one of the most rigorously thought-through in fantasy, and Rothfuss's prose is unusually accomplished. The warning: Rothfuss has not published a third book since 2011, and there is no confirmed publication date. The story is unfinished. If that frustration sounds familiar from waiting for *The Winds of Winter*, this series may produce the same feeling. **Who it's for:** Readers who prioritize prose quality and magic system depth. Not recommended for readers who cannot tolerate an unfinished series. ## A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons Jenn Lyons' five-book series (*The Ruin of Kings* through *The Discord of Gods*) is complete and features the most structurally unusual approach on this list: multiple unreliable narrators, nested timelines, and an annotation system where characters comment on each other's accounts of events. The world features warring immortals, dynastic politics, dragons, and a prophecy that may be a manipulation rather than a genuine vision. The first book requires patience during its opening hundred pages while Lyons establishes the structure, but readers who commit to the series frequently describe it as among the most rewarding fantasy of the 2020s. **Who it's for:** Readers who want something formally inventive as well as politically complex. Also for readers who want a fully published series with a real ending. ## The Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley Three siblings rule an empire after their father is assassinated. One is a monk trained to suppress emotion. One is a soldier. One is an administrator. All three make catastrophic decisions across three books (*The Emperor's Blades*, *The Providence of Fire*, and *The Last Mortal Bond*), and none of the outcomes are clean. Staveley shares Martin's interest in what political power actually requires of the people who hold it, and his plotting is tight enough that scenes set up in book one pay off across three hundred pages later in book three. The empire's theology -- gods who may or may not exist, divine contests that may be manipulations -- adds a metaphysical dimension most series on this list don't have. **Who it's for:** Readers who want a complete trilogy with consistent pacing and serious political stakes. Probably the most straightforwardly plotted series on this list after Abercrombie. ## The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan Robert Jordan's fourteen-book series (*The Eye of the World* through *A Memory of Light*, with the final three books completed by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death) is the most widely read secondary-world fantasy series after Game of Thrones. It shares the scope, the enormous cast, and the world-building ambition, but it is tonally different: this is a story in which the heroes are recognizably heroic and the dark lord is unambiguously evil. The series is worth including because it represents what Game of Thrones was reacting against. If you want to understand what Martin was doing differently, reading Wheel of Time alongside it clarifies the contrast. And if you find Game of Thrones' relentless grimness exhausting, Wheel of Time provides the epic scale with more heroic resolution. **Who it's for:** Readers who want the scale and world-building depth of Game of Thrones with a more traditional fantasy moral framework. ## Reading Order for Game of Thrones Fans If you have finished all five published Game of Thrones books and want to read next in priority order: 1. *The First Law Trilogy* (Abercrombie) -- closest in tone, fully published 2. *The Accursed Kings* (Druon) -- Martin's own cited predecessor, starts with *The Iron King* 3. *Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn* (Williams) -- Martin's stated influence 4. *The Farseer Trilogy* (Hobb) -- for character depth 5. *She Who Became the Sun* (Parker-Chan) -- for a different historical tradition 6. *Malazan Book of the Fallen* (Erikson) -- if you want the largest-scale option ## What to Avoid If You Want Game of Thrones' Specific Appeal Some fantasy series are commonly recommended alongside Game of Thrones but don't actually deliver the same experience: **Terry Pratchett's Discworld** is brilliant but comic and not at all grimdark. The political satire is there but the tone is entirely different. **Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings** is the foundational text of the genre but is the opposite of Game of Thrones in almost every way: clear moral hierarchy, noble heroes, evil as a metaphysical force rather than a political calculation. Read it for what it is, not as a Game of Thrones substitute. **Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive** has the epic scope and intricate world-building but is more optimistic and its magic is more central and heroic. Worth reading but a different emotional register. ## Frequently Asked Questions **What is the best book to read after Game of Thrones?** The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie is the closest match in tone and execution. It shares Game of Thrones' moral ambiguity, political scheming, and willingness to kill major characters without warning. Start with *The Blade Itself*. **What book series is most like Game of Thrones?** The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie most closely replicates the feel of Game of Thrones, with The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon being the closest in terms of political realism. Martin himself called it "the original Game of Thrones." Both series punish naive idealism and reward political cunning. **Are there books similar to Game of Thrones but finished?** Yes. The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie is complete at three books plus four stand-alone novels. The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson is complete at ten books. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb is also fully published. Unlike George R.R. Martin, these authors finished their series. **What did George R.R. Martin say inspired Game of Thrones?** Martin has cited Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams as a key influence, calling it "one of the most important works of fantasy ever written." He has also praised The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon as "the original Game of Thrones." Both are worth reading as direct predecessors. **Is The Wheel of Time similar to Game of Thrones?** The Wheel of Time is similar in epic scale and world-building complexity but less similar in tone. It is less morally ambiguous and lacks Game of Thrones' political cynicism. It is also far longer at 14 books. Readers who want the epic scope but prefer clearer moral lines will enjoy it; those who want the grimdark edge should look at Abercrombie or Mark Lawrence instead. **What fantasy books have the same political intrigue as Game of Thrones?** For political intrigue, the best matches are: The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon (medieval French dynastic politics), The First Law by Joe Abercrombie (Machiavellian scheming with no clean heroes), and The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (court politics through the eyes of a royal bastard). All three prioritize political maneuvering over magical spectacle. **What makes Game of Thrones different from typical fantasy?** Game of Thrones differs from traditional fantasy in three main ways: it treats power as genuinely corrupting rather than heroic, it kills protagonists without plot armor, and its magic is rare, costly, and uncanny rather than a convenient problem-solver. The best books similar to it share at least two of these three qualities.