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After ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3, Read These 5 Palace Intrigue-Style Fantasy Books
House of the Dragon Season 3 is over, leaving us with a two-year wait before we can pick up the story of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and her struggle for power. As always, some of us will fill the time by re-reading George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire series, or rewatching HBO‘s Game of Thrones for a taste of Westeros. We can also pick up other series, but the world of fantasy is vast, and finding stories that connect with our specific tastes can be a struggle — especially if we want to avoid major spoilers in the process. The five book series below have all the right things in common with House of the Dragon, and they’ll resonate with fans at this point in the story.
Game of Thrones was comprised primarily of political drama and palace intrigue, with most of the warfare taking place off-screen, and the magical, fantastical elements looming as a distant threat. House of the Dragon actually balances these ingredients much more evenly — at this time in Westeros, dragons are a tangible part of every day life, and war is front and center in the story. The series below are similar in that their plots are driven by politics, espionage, and human relationships, without sparing anything in the way of action.
5
‘Between Earth and Sky’ by Rebecca Roanhorse
If you love the idea of flying but hesitate over dragons’ fiery breath and viciousness, Rebecca Roanhorse‘s Between Earth and Sky trilogy is for you. This is an epic fantasy series, but rather than medieval Europe, its setting is inspired by pre-Columbian Native American culture. The story jumps between several point-of-view characters much like Game of Thrones, giving us a wide view of this world and all its wonders without sacrificing personality and heart. We follow a sailor with magical powers named Xiala, a mysterious blind young man named Serapio, and the unlikely young Sun Priest Naranpa as their stories slowly converge.
Between Earth and Sky was published between 2020 and 2024, and is comprised of three books — Black Sun, Fevered Star, and Mirrored Heavens. The series has won several prominent awards, including the Hugo for Best Series last year upon its completion. You can find all three books now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
4
‘Memory, Sorrrow, and Thorn’ by Tad Williams
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams was a major inspiration on Martin when he first wrote A Game of Thrones, and the similarities are pretty glaring when you first pick it up. This series follows a teenage boy named Simon who works as a servant in a castle called the Hayholt, the capitol of the most powerful kingdom on the continent. He yearns for adventure, but when he is thrust into it, he finds it to be more than he bargained for.
The scope of the series expands naturally as it goes on, eventually painting an incredibly vivid picture of this fictional land, Osten Ard. Williams is brilliant at introducing a magical power or monster that the reader wasn’t expecting, then undercutting the awe by questioning what exactly this magic can do for the world. Tolkien’s influence is clear in the worldbuilding, as Williams writers dragons more like Smaug and less like Balerion. However, the other magic of this world more than makes up for it, so die-hard dragon fans should not skip this one.
There are four books in the original Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, but Williams has since completed a sequel series called The Last King of Osten Ard, with the last volume published in 2024. All of them are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
3
‘The Realm of the Elderings’ by Robin Hobb
Whatever you love about the fantasy genre, there’s something in The Realm of the Elderings series for you. This 16-book-long epic by Robin Hobb is actually a collection of four trilogies and one quadrilogy, all following related stories in the same setting over the course of years. The first trilogy, Farseer, follows a royal bastard named FitzChivalry growing up in Buckkeep Castle. He’s not exactly allowed to be a part of the court — or the royal family — yet he’s not allowed to stray too far either, lest he become a threat. All the while, a bizarre wave of naval incursions grows, until Fitz finds himself coming of age in an all-out war with magical powers he doesn’t quite understand.
The story is heartbreaking but impossible to put down, even when it drastically changes perspectives in subsequent trilogies. Hobb has a gift for writing about nature, trauma, and the inner lives of her characters. She utilizes various forms of psychic links between humans and animals throughout the story, and much like Martin, her magic comes at so high a cost it may not be worth using at times. This is a must-read for fans of dragons, but also fans of fantasy politics and the optics of power. All 16 books are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
2
‘Elric of Melniboné’ by Michael Moorcock
Die-hard fans of A Song of Ice and Fire should put the Elric of Melniboné series on their TBR lists simply because it was one of the biggest influences on Martin growing up. The series was written by Michael Moorcock, but it did not begin as a set of door-stopper novels. Elric first appeared in a story published in 1962 in the magazine New Edge Sword and Sorcery, and his stories were scattered across other magazines, novelettes, and novels for years. Fortunately, now is a great time to pick up the series, as it has been collected into four volumes published by Saga Press in 2022. They are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
The titular hero, Elric is the 428th Emperor of Melniboné, an island nation of advanced sorcerers, dragon-riders, and despots. For generations, Melniboné has preyed on the surrounding nations of ordinary humans, but Elric is uncharacteristically sympathetic to their plight. Born anemic and physically weak, Elric needs magical drugs to stay alive and project strength to seize the throne, and his enemies never stop scheming against him. Enacting reforms will be nearly impossible in this world of entrenched violence, even if Elric is willing to sacrifice his health and lifespan to make it happen.
All that may sound a bit familiar. Martin’s extinct dragon-rider civilization Valyria clearly took a lot of cues from Melniboné, and there are several prominent Targaryen characters modeled after the tragic hero Elric. In his memoir Dreamsongs, Martin drew a distinction between “high fantasy” like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and “heroic fantasy” like Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. Elric falls somewhere in the middle, and arguably, A Song of Ice and Fire does as well.
1
‘The Green Bone Saga’ by Fonda Lee
Finally, Fonda Lee‘s trilogy The Green Bone Saga is a must-read for fans of fantasy that balances power with authentic politics. The three volumes of the series — Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy — were published between 2017 and 2021, introducing fans to the island of Kekon and its magical jade. Those with the right genetic predisposition can gain enhanced physical abilities by wearing jade, but tradition mandates that they go through intense training first, then swear themselves to a clan.
At first glance, this setting has little in common with House of the Dragon. It’s an industrial world which recently weathered a “Many Nations War” analogous to World War II, and the isolationist island of Kekon is clearly inspired by East Asian culture. However, the struggles for power within jade clans and between them would resonate with any Targaryen claimant, and the impossible choices these characters face would make any Hand of the King blanch.
The Green Bone Saga trilogy is available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats, along with a prequel novella and a collection of short stories set in the same world. The A Song of Ice and Fire series is available now in all three formats as well, and House of the Dragon is expected to conclude with one more season on HBO and HBO Max.
- Release Date
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August 21, 2022
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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George R.R. Martin
- Directors
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Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel
- Writers
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Gabe Fonseca
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Fabien Frankel
Ser Criston Cole
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