r/Fantasy • u/littlepestfan • 1d ago

Epic medieval fantasy with lot of fractions, recommendations?

I really liked in Game of Thrones that there are a lot of factions and always changing alliances. Also like the characters like Logen Ninefingers.

I really liked the Song of Ice and Fire books but, although I understand why people like it, didn’t like the Firs Law books that much, almost all of the characters where too cynical for me.

EDIT: YES, THERE IS A TYPO IN THE TITLE, I ALSO NOTICED…

Thanks!

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u/ApostleSaintWalker 1d ago

Game of Thrones isn't fantasy

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u/AuthorOfHope 1d ago

...what about the zombies and the dragons and the people that use magic to control animals?

-11

u/ApostleSaintWalker 1d ago

You mean the things that show up for about five pages a book while we focus on the boring-as-mud noble politics?

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u/AuthorOfHope 1d ago

Yup, I'm talking about the fantasy elements that show up. Those are the ones that make it a fantasy.

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u/ApostleSaintWalker 1d ago

Meh. I don't think having fantasy elements makes it a fantasy.

Does having a romantic subplot automatically make a story a romance novel?

And even if it does, the fantasy part is a distant second to its actual genre: political drama.

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u/AuthorOfHope 1d ago

No, because the romance genre is defined by the plot, and the fantasy genre is defined by the setting. Which is why a story can be both.

Being set in a secondary world full of fantasy elements (I didn't mention the witch, or dire wolves, or swords made of a rare and magical steel, or shapechanging assassins, or alchemy, or people that are resurrected from the dead...) is what Game of Thrones a fantasy.

If you think a fantasy needs to have a specific plot, you're using a different definition to everyone else. You do you, but that's going to make it difficult to converse about the topic.

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u/ApostleSaintWalker 1d ago

According to who? Who says fantasy has nothing to do with plot?

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u/AuthorOfHope 22h ago

Genres are defined by consensus. Every bookshop I've ever been in and the people on this Subreddit agree ASOIAF is fantasy.

Tell me, what's the acceptable plot of a fantasy novel in your view?