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Books similar to The Song of Ice and Fire books? (Game of Thrones)


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I LOVE George R.R Martin's series of books and am looking for something similar to fill my time whilst I wait for the next one to be released!

 

Fantasy, with a medieval setting perhaps, or in the same sort of time frame - I'm a sucker for kings and queens and courtly goings on so even a good historical setting will sort me out.

 

Thanks!

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Maybe The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

I liked it, not one of my favourites, but neither is The Game of Throne series, so you could give it a try. And in contrast to George R.R. Martin´s books the series gets better with each book and not worse (only my opinion, the last two from Martin were disappointing).

 

Furthermore I can recommend The Dwarves by the German author Markus Heitz. It´s about kings and stuff, dwarf style. But I can´t say if the English translation is any good, because I only read it in German.

 

Oh, and I should mention The Lord of the Rings ;)

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Joe Abercrombie: The first law ( trilogy ) and the stand alone books that are set in this world. Dont start in the stand alone books if you have not read the first trilogy.

Steven Erikson: Malazan book of the fallan.

Robert Jordan: The wheel of time. (the moral and value system is much more conservative but its a incredible work)

Raymond E. Feist :read Magician first and explore his world from there.

 

The writing style most similar to G.R.R.M.'s would be that of Joe Abercrombie.

Raymond's is really oldskool 80's fantasy and Magician was my first Fantasy book. I never forgot the world of Midkemia. Robert Jordan and his Wheel of time guided me trough my adolescent life. Just this year its finished after more than 20 years. For me absolutely epic.

 

Euhr Tolkien is not similar with G.R.R.M.  but a shame for anyone to come forth and say: i did not read Lotr. 

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I didn´t say that Tolkien and Martin are comparable, but since lotr contained all the things she asked for (medieval, kings, queens) and is genuinely awesome, I had to post it.

 

Oh, and I can remember Martin being praised as "The American Tolkien", which certainly has no meaning nowadays. I think on half of the fantasy books I own there is a comment about "the new Tolkien".

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I recently read "the new Tolkien of Sci-Fi" on the back of the cover of "The left hand of darkness" by Ursula K Le Guin. The book is a absolute masterpiece but it has clearly nothing to do with Tolkien and his world building. 

 

 Journalists and there frantic hyping 

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I LOVE George R.R Martin's series of books and am looking for something similar to fill my time whilst I wait for the next one to be released!

 

You'll need a lot of books to fill that time, given how long it's likely to take him to finish The Winds of Winter :D

 

 

Fantasy, with a medieval setting perhaps, or in the same sort of time frame - I'm a sucker for kings and queens and courtly goings on so even a good historical setting will sort me out.

 

Thanks!

 

Do you mean that you'd like to read historical fiction as well as fantasy?

 

My favourites are Erikson and Abercrombie, but I'm not sure they'll contain enough kings/queens/courtly goings on for your liking so, in addition to those already mentioned, I'll throw in:

 

Guy Gavriel Kay's historical fantasy novels meet your criteria in a lot of ways, although they're largely based on European history - have a look at 'A Song for Arbonne', 'Tigana', or the two-part 'Sarantine Mosaic' 

 

Robin Hobb's 'Farseer' trilogy and Brandon Sanderson's 'Mistborn' trilogy (not among my favourites but, again, they seem to meet your criteria)

 

Alternatively, you might get some ideas from:

 

http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/

 

http://bestfantasybooks.com/best-fantasy-series.php

 

:smile:

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The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell straddle the fantasy/historical fiction divide. They're a kind of historically realistic version of the King Arthur legends. I also really love his Saxon Stories, but then I'm a sucker for Vikings!

 

On the kings and queens theme, you could try Philippa Gregory. It's quite a different type of book, but I find them really gripping, all about the swirl of politics in the middle ages and with some great female lead characters. And on the plus side, there's also a BBC tv spin off :)

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The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell straddle the fantasy/historical fiction divide. They're a kind of historically realistic version of the King Arthur legends.

 

 

Ooh, good call, they are fantastic books! :smile:

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thank you everyone for your help! It's much appreciated  :D I am off to search all your suggestions and links and start a list as it's my birthday on the 22nd and I'm hoping for lots of books from my family  ;) 

 

Although these will be put on hold as I have the dreaded English Literature coursework reading to get through, although some of it is Margaret Atwood, who I love, so it's not all bad!

 

 

You'll need a lot of books to fill that time, given how long it's likely to take him to finish The Winds of Winter :D

 

 

 

Do you mean that you'd like to read historical fiction as well as fantasy?

 

My favourites are Erikson and Abercrombie, but I'm not sure they'll contain enough kings/queens/courtly goings on for your liking so, in addition to those already mentioned, I'll throw in:

 

Guy Gavriel Kay's historical fantasy novels meet your criteria in a lot of ways, although they're largely based on European history - have a look at 'A Song for Arbonne', 'Tigana', or the two-part 'Sarantine Mosaic' 

 

Robin Hobb's 'Farseer' trilogy and Brandon Sanderson's 'Mistborn' trilogy (not among my favourites but, again, they seem to meet your criteria)

 

Alternatively, you might get some ideas from:

 

http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/

 

http://bestfantasybooks.com/best-fantasy-series.php

 

:smile:

 

 

I know, I'm so sad that it's taking him so long, but I am happy to wait if it means it will be as good as the rest - I do agree with Tobi that the first few are better (or at least my favourites) - the Arya storyline is a major grating point for me, I don't know why but I just hate it and the direction its going in! 

 

Thanks, yeah I love historical fiction so I will check those out, and European history is something I haven't read about before so would be interested to look into. And I'll have a browse through those links!

 

 

 

The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell straddle the fantasy/historical fiction divide. They're a kind of historically realistic version of the King Arthur legends. I also really love his Saxon Stories, but then I'm a sucker for Vikings!

 

On the kings and queens theme, you could try Philippa Gregory. It's quite a different type of book, but I find them really gripping, all about the swirl of politics in the middle ages and with some great female lead characters. And on the plus side, there's also a BBC tv spin off :)

 

The Warlord Chronicles sound good! I find Vikings a bit taxing, my boyfriend says I should give them more of a chance but I'm such a sucker for time periods such as the middle ages that I find it hard to branch out, haha  :smile:

 

I've read a lot of Philippa Gregory (although not sure if I've read all of them) and I love the show! I read the White Queen as a proof copy and knew it would do well as it gripped me too - so happy it has! Thanks  :smile:

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I know, I'm so sad that it's taking him so long, but I am happy to wait if it means it will be as good as the rest - I do agree with Tobi that the first few are better (or at least my favourites) - the Arya storyline is a major grating point for me, I don't know why but I just hate it and the direction its going in! 

 

Yeah, the last two books have been pretty poor. 

 

 

Thanks, yeah I love historical fiction so I will check those out, and European history is something I haven't read about before so would be interested to look into. And I'll have a browse through those links!

 

Bear in mind that the Guy Gavriel Kay books are fantasy, just based on European history.  There's a thread about historical fiction here  :smile:

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I have only read the first book (A Game of Thrones), however I do think there are other fantasy books that are somewhat similar. However, most of the ones I've read contain some form of magic whereas in A Game of Thrones (the first book) there wasn't a lot of magic to be found.

 

If you like dragons (which played a minor role in the first book, not sure what will happen after, rather not have it spoiled!) but not magic, the only series I recall is the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, which I've read some books of but not others yet, but the world isn't that similar to the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. It's about a planet where 'thread' falls onto, and the people on the planet fly dragons to burn up the thread before it falls to the ground. It's not as complex as A Song of Ice and Fire, though.

 

If you don't mind a bit of magic, then there's plenty of fantasy books or series I could recommend. For example, in terms of complexity, with names and such, Robert Jordan's (and Brandon Sanderson's) Wheel of Time series is quite complicated and a bit 'political'-drama-y too. But it does have forms of magic in it so if you don't like that then it may not be for you.

 

Well, I'll have to read more of the Song of Ice and Fire series to make a better recommendation I think! I plan to read the second book not too long from now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The majority of other fantasy stuff seems a little too childish after reading A Song of Ice and Fire. Basically nothing compares, you'd do yourself a favour just re-reading Ice & Fire.

 

The Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan) - The storylines and plots are predictable and the romance is as if written by a ten year old boy. Has none of the grittyness of Westeros. I gave up after the first book.

 

Malazan Book of the Fallen (Steven Erikson) - I managed to get two books into this series before giving up. It is set in a massive world, with a lot of different storylines going on at once. It can be quite confusing but after a while it is a little interesting. However a lot of the scenes are repetitive and basically he uses too many words to say something which could have been said in a fraction. Just too long-winded for me. You might find five pages of every 300 to be interesting.

 

The Riftwar Saga (Raymond E. Feist) - I got about 50 pages in to the first book of this series. It is written like a childrens book. I may have judged it too soon, but personally I am confident in my judgement that this author will never reach/has never reached the level of Ice & Fire.

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle (Patrick Rothfuss) - Nowhere near the standard of Ice & Fire, but the best of the rest in my opinion. Has a unique/refreshing spin, although he does go a little 'God mode' with his main character. The series is set for three books and then I assume he'll go on to another 'Chronicle' from another characters perspective as the world he is building, you get the impression he has barely scraped the surface and he's already two books down.

 

J.R. Tolkien - The majority of his fantasy work was written with his small children in mind as the target audience. Tells you everything you need to know.

 

These are my personal opinions and you may find that you enjoy some of these books. I set out on a similar path as you once finishing book five of A Song of Ice and Fire, and so far I've found nothing but disappointment.

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