Books Like A Game of Thrones
Waiting on Westeros and craving more feuding houses, shifting alliances and characters nobody is safe from? These books share A Game of Thrones' political intrigue, gray morality and sprawling casts.
Jim's Picks
Dune
by Frank Herbert
The Way of Kings
by Brandon Sanderson
The Lies of Locke Lamora
by Scott Lynch
The Eye of the World
by Robert Jordan
Leviathan Wakes
by James S.A. Corey
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon
The Cruel Prince
by Holly Black
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
Why Each Pick
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Great houses, a feud between them, an emperor playing both sides and a trap laid for a noble family: Dune's opening could be Westeros in space. Paul Atreides' story shares Martin's interest in how power, religion and inheritance shape people. It follows one main character rather than many, and the tone is grand and philosophical rather than gritty.
- The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
- Another huge epic with several viewpoint characters, rival highprinces scheming while a war drags on, and an ancient threat returning at the edge of the world. Like Martin, Sanderson builds a world with deep history and politics. The magic is far more prominent and rule-based, the tone less bleak and the content less explicit. At 1,007 pages, it opens a planned ten-book series.
- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
- For readers who liked Tyrion and Littlefinger's cunning more than the battles. A gang of con artists swindles the nobles of a fantasy Venice until a gang war and a mysterious rival threaten everything. It shares Martin's grit, violence and sudden losses, but on a city scale, and it is funnier, with sharp banter and an elaborate heist plot.
- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
- The other giant of epic fantasy, with a vast world, many viewpoint characters in later books and a dark power stirring in the north. It is more traditional than Martin, built around a quest and a clear fight between good and evil, with much less sex and brutality. The fourteen-book series is complete, finished by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan's death.
- Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
- Westeros-style faction politics moved to a colonized solar system, with Earth, Mars and the Belt as rival powers. The connection is direct: James S.A. Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham, who has collaborated with Martin, and Ty Franck, who worked as Martin's assistant. It is science fiction with two narrators, faster paced, and the nine-novel series is complete.
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
- For readers who liked the medieval-feeling realism of Westeros: Scottish clans, feuds, political plotting before the Jacobite rising, and a violent, unsentimental eighteenth century. A World War II nurse falls through time to 1743 and into the life of Jamie Fraser. It is a romance at heart, with explicit sex. Content note: sexual violence. It is 850 pages.
- The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
- Court intrigue for younger readers. A mortal girl raised in the deadly High Court of Faerie schemes her way into power as royal heirs maneuver for the throne, and alliances shift as fast as they do in King's Landing. It is a young adult novel with one narrator and a central romance, shorter at 370 pages, and opens a trilogy.
- The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
- The real-world handbook for the kind of power politics Westeros runs on. Writing in 1513, Machiavelli advises rulers to be feared rather than loved if they cannot be both, and to break their word when it serves them, ideas that Tywin Lannister would have endorsed. It is a short nonfiction treatise, only 144 pages.
What to Read After A Game of Thrones
If the scale and the cast of viewpoint characters were what you loved, The Way of Kings and The Eye of the World are the big epic fantasies to try next, both with deep histories and long series. If it was the politics, the great houses and the backstabbing, Dune is the closest match outside fantasy, and The Expanse brings the same factional power struggle to space.
If you mostly loved the schemers, The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Cruel Prince put cunning characters at the center, one in a criminal underworld and one in a royal court. Outlander suits readers who loved the historical texture of clans, feuds and hard medieval life, and The Prince is the nonfiction answer for anyone curious about the real-world thinking behind Tywin and Littlefinger.
Finished Series and Content Levels
A Song of Ice and Fire is still unfinished, with its sixth book unpublished. For readers who would rather start something complete, The Wheel of Time (fourteen books) and The Expanse (nine) are finished series, and Dune stands on its own as a single novel even though sequels follow. The Way of Kings and Outlander are ongoing, and The Cruel Prince is a completed trilogy.
On content, Outlander is the closest to Martin for explicit sex and sexual violence, and The Lies of Locke Lamora for gore and profanity. The Way of Kings, The Wheel of Time and The Cruel Prince are much milder. The Prince is the shortest pick at 144 pages, and The Way of Kings, at 1,007, is the longest.