Donald Trump is president-elect, and I am surprised by the number of Ugandans who actually care.
I suppose Ugandans are more political than I realized. If you count yourself among that crowd, allow me to recommend some fantasy novels with extensive political intrigue that you may enjoy. Let me start by getting the obvious picks out of the way.
The Wheel of Time (Robert Jodern) is a 14-volume series in which the forces of good and evil are vying for ultimate control. That description does not sound particularly political, but here is the thing.
The Wheel of Time is saturated with factions, some of which wield political powers, and most of them are fighting on the good side. However, they vehemently disagree on the best way to save the world, which puts them into conflict with one another.
Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire) is technically low fantasy. Magic only exists in minute quantities on the fringes of George R.R. Martin’s world, and the primary thrust of the story is the political scheming behind the scenes to control the Iron Throne.
I have always described Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series as ‘Game of Thrones, but better.’ It has everything you want from a George R.R. Martin novel: morally questionable heroes, a gritty setting, and plenty of political intrigue. However, Abercrombie does not burden his books with unnecessary padding.
Instead of an Iron Throne, various kingdoms are fighting to conquer one another. Some use magic. Others prefer to scheme. Here is a hot take: Abercrombie’s Glokta is better than Martin’s Tyrion. I was tempted to highlight Guy Gavriel Kay’s Under Heaven, in which the son of a renowned General, living in a fictional version of Tang China, becomes the center of attention when a rival Kingdom’s Empress blesses him with a powerful gift.
Once a nobody, Shen Tai becomes the most important man in the nation, with every political force in the country fighting to gain his favour. However, you would be better off reading Kay’s entire bibliography. The author does political intrigue better than most of his peers. I would have ignored Wizard of the Crow if I had seen the novel in a bookstore.
The author (Ngugi wa Thiong’o) is an exiled novelist and poet from Kenya. The cover art does not scream ‘Fantasy.’ However, Wizard of the Crow has surprisingly strong reviews. Critics have used the term ‘Magical Realism’ to describe it.
The novel explores the various parties fighting for the soul of the Free Republic of Aburiria, including a corrupt Christian ministry, a despotic leader, the Global Bank, and a self-proclaimed wizard.
The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison) gets a lot of hype for obvious reasons. The protagonist is the half-goblin son of the Emperor. When His father and three half-brothers die, the half-goblin, who spent his life in exile, must take the throne.
The fact that he has no friends or advisors and knows next to nothing about court politics is the least of his worries. People think Maia is an abomination. And yet, despite receiving significant mental, physical, and emotional abuse, Maia is the perfect underdog.
Someone mentioned Brandon Sanderson the other day in a conversation about fantasy with political intrigue, and I initially disagreed. But then I remembered that one of Sanderson’s protagonists spends an entire Mistborn novel fighting to win an election in a city that recently replaced its dictator with a democratic system operated by individuals just learning to think for themselves.
So, yes, I will recommend Mistborn, although I have only read the first Era. The same goes for The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch), which follows an ambitious orphan navigating his city’s criminal underworld. Locke thinks he can outsmart anyone. But then a new force emerges to challenge his confidence.
Happy Reading.
katmic200@gmail.com
Source: The Observer
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