Epic fantasy with political intrigue, morally grey characters, war, and consequence. What to read while you wait for The Winds of Winter — and what to read instead of waiting.
What made A Song of Ice and Fire different from the fantasy that preceded it: characters die when they should. The moral universe doesn't guarantee good outcomes for good people. The political maneuvering is as interesting as the magic. The world feels historically grounded rather than cosmetically medieval. These 20 books share one or more of those qualities.
Camorr is a Venice-like city-state, and Locke Lamora is the leader of a band of con artists who steal from the nobility. Lynch writes the Gentlemen Bastards with GRRM's ear for character voice and a plot that keeps reversing expectations. The best fantasy debut of the 2000s. The dual-timeline structure reveals the characters' formation alongside the main plot.
Get The Lies of Locke Lamora →The trilogy that defined grimdark. A war between kingdoms, a barbarian warrior, an inquisitor who tortures for the state, a crippled wizard who manipulates everyone. Abercrombie deconstructs epic fantasy tropes systematically — the hero who isn't, the villain who has reasons, the war that nobody wins. The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings. Start with book one; the ending of book three is ASOIAF-level brutal.
Get The Blade Itself (First Law Book 1) →Kvothe — the most legendary figure in the world — is hiding as an innkeeper and telling his story. Rothfuss writes with a precision rare in epic fantasy; the prose rewards close reading in a way Martin's does. The Kingkiller Chronicle is unfinished (two books published, third delayed indefinitely), but the existing books are exceptional. Best for readers who prize writing quality over plot volume.
Get The Name of the Wind →Sanderson's Stormlight Archive is the most structurally ambitious epic fantasy currently being written. The politics of Roshar are as complex as Westeros; the magic system has more internal logic; the plotting is more reliable (Sanderson finishes his books). Different in tone — less nihilistic than ASOIAF, more traditionally heroic — but comparable in scope and investment required.
Get The Way of Kings →Set 35 years after the First Law trilogy, in a world undergoing an industrial revolution. New characters, old wounds, the same moral universe. Abercrombie writes the Age of Madness trilogy as a comment on progress — the world is getting better and worse simultaneously, as it does. The best grimdark series currently being written.
Get A Little Hatred →The Black Company is a mercenary unit that has been fighting for whoever pays them for 400 years. Cook writes from inside the company, with no omniscient moral authority. There are no heroes. There is just survival, camaraderie, and the weight of what the company has done. GRRM has cited Cook as an influence. The most direct predecessor to ASOIAF's moral framework in fantasy.
Get The Black Company →Jorg is 13 years old and leads a band of murderers through a Europe that has forgotten its past and descended into neo-medieval tribalism. Lawrence writes one of the most genuinely disturbing protagonists in fantasy and the Broken Empire trilogy builds to something more complex than it initially appears. Not for readers who need likeable protagonists.
Get Prince of Thorns →The largest epic fantasy series in existence: 14 volumes, completed by Sanderson after Jordan's death. Five young people from a small village are drawn into the fate of the world. Less politically dark than ASOIAF; more traditional in its moral universe; more consistent in its world-building. The investment is enormous; the payoff is proportional.
Get The Eye of the World →GRRM has said he started writing ASOIAF partly in response to Williams's trilogy. A kitchen boy becomes entangled in a war between kingdoms over a magical sword. Williams writes with unusual patience — the world-building is dense, the characters are human rather than archetypes. The most direct precursor to ASOIAF in spirit and the best answer to "what should I read to understand where Martin came from?"
Get The Dragonbone Chair (MST Book 1) →Ten volumes, each around 1,000 pages. The most ambitious epic fantasy ever written in terms of scope. Erikson drops the reader into an ongoing war in an ancient world with no introductions — you learn the history as you go. The first 200 pages of Gardens of the Moon are famously disorienting; by the end of the first book most readers are committed for life. Not accessible; incomparable in scope.
Get Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book 1) →Fitz is the bastard son of a prince, raised as a court assassin. Hobb writes character interiority with unusual depth — Fitz is one of the most fully realized protagonists in fantasy, which means his failures and bad decisions are proportionally painful. The Farseer trilogy is the most emotionally devastating epic fantasy series ever written.
Get Assassin's Apprentice →The unexpected fourth son of an emperor becomes emperor after his family is killed in an accident. He's never been at court, doesn't understand the politics, and is genuinely decent in a world that expects the opposite. For readers who want political fantasy with similar complexity but less nihilism. One of the most beloved standalone fantasy novels of the decade.
Get The Goblin Emperor →Thomas Cromwell rising through the court of Henry VIII. Mantel writes the Tudor court with the same density and moral complexity as ASOIAF — characters navigate power with intelligence and compromise, good and bad outcomes don't track with good and bad behavior, and the atmosphere of constant threat is palpable. For readers who want the political DNA of Game of Thrones without the magic.
Get Wolf Hall →The building of a cathedral in 12th-century England, told across multiple generations. Follett writes with the same broad-canvas ambition as GRRM — the cathedral is both a literal and metaphorical project, and the politics of church and state provide the backdrop for personal stories of survival and ambition. ASOIAF readers who want the medieval realism without the fantasy elements often land here.
Get The Pillars of the Earth →A caste-based society on terraformed Mars, told from inside a revolutionary rising. Brown writes action with the best pacing in current genre fiction and the political complexity of ASOIAF in a science fiction setting. The first trilogy is complete; the sequels continue. Often described as "ASOIAF meets The Hunger Games" but better than that summary suggests.
Get Red Rising →Based on 20th-century Chinese history — the Second Sino-Japanese War transposed into a fantasy world. A girl from the south passes the imperial exam and attends a military academy where she discovers she has shamanic powers. The second half of the book is among the most unflinching depictions of wartime atrocity in fantasy. ASOIAF readers who want historical density and moral darkness will find it here.
Get The Poppy War →A Roman-inspired empire; a Scholar girl and a Martial soldier whose fates intersect. YA — less explicit than ASOIAF — but the political violence and the moral cost of survival are rendered with unusual seriousness for the category. The series escalates in darkness across four books. Good for readers who want ASOIAF's political tension in a more accessible form.
Get An Ember in the Ashes →The Dark Lord won. The caste system is permanent. The revolution is impossible. Sanderson uses this premise to write a heist novel inside an epic fantasy — tighter and faster than ASOIAF, with a magic system that has the same internal rigor that GRRM's political systems have. Different in tone but comparable in how seriously it takes its world.
Get Mistborn: The Final Empire →Sanderson's most direct ASOIAF equivalent in scope. Four books published, six more planned, with a complexity of world and cast that will take years to complete. Read this if you're prepared for the long haul and want the same feeling of investment in an unfinished story — with the reassurance that Sanderson does finish his books.
Get The Way of Kings →Not fantasy — science fiction with the scope and political complexity of ASOIAF. A galactic civilization's factions war over a technology that could destroy the universe; on a low-tech planet, a human family is taken hostage by dog-like aliens with a pack-mind. Vinge writes large-scale conflict with moral nuance. For ASOIAF readers whose interest is in the political complexity rather than the medieval setting.
Get A Fire upon the Deep →