What to Read After Game of Thrones

Whether you’ve finished the books, the show, or both, Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire leaves a specific kind of gap: epic scope, political intrigue, morally complex characters, and no guarantee anyone survives. Here’s where to go next.

If You Want the Same Grimdark Tone

The First Law Trilogy — Joe Abercrombie

The closest match in tone and intent. Abercrombie writes grimdark fantasy — morally bankrupt characters, no clean heroes, brutal violence, and plots that subvert every fantasy convention. The Blade Itself (First Law Book 1) introduces one of fantasy’s great characters in Logan Ninefingers and one of its great villains-who-might-be-a-hero in Bayaz.

Abercrombie has continued the world across multiple standalone novels and a second trilogy (The Age of Madness). The full First Law universe is substantial and consistently excellent.

Start with: The Blade Itself (First Law Book 1)

The Prince of Thorns — Mark Lawrence

Jorg Ancrath is thirteen years old and extraordinarily violent. If GRRM’s willingness to put children in danger disturbed you, this may not be for you. If you found it compelling, Lawrence pushes further.

Start with: Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire Book 1)

If You Loved the Political Intrigue

A Little Hatred — Joe Abercrombie

Abercrombie again, this time his second trilogy (The Age of Madness) set in the same world as First Law but during an industrial revolution. The political complexity — class conflict, revolution, the consequences of the first trilogy’s events — is particularly rich.

The Poppy War — R.F. Kuang

Military fantasy based on 20th-century Chinese history. A scholarship student from the provinces enters a prestigious military academy and discovers that her country’s history of atrocity is about to repeat itself. Dark, historically grounded, and morally unsparing.

Start with: The Poppy War (Book 1 of the Poppy War trilogy)

If You Loved the Depth and World-Building

The Stormlight Archive — Brandon Sanderson

Where GRRM is sprawling and digressive, Sanderson is structured and systematic. The world of Roshar — shaped by apocalyptic storms, with a magic system based on captured light — is the most elaborately constructed secondary world in current fantasy. Each of the five books is 1,000+ pages.

Start with: The Way of Kings (Stormlight Book 1)

The Malazan Book of the Fallen — Steven Erikson

The other candidate for most ambitious fantasy series currently published. Ten massive novels, hundreds of characters, multiple continents and timelines. The first book (Gardens of the Moon) is notoriously difficult — Erikson drops you in with minimal orientation. Many readers find it impenetrable; many others consider it the greatest fantasy series ever written.

Start with: Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book 1) — with patience

If You Loved the Character-Driven Drama

Farseer Trilogy — Robin Hobb

GRRM’s political fantasy and Hobb’s emotional fantasy are very different books, but readers who loved the humanity underneath GRRM’s brutality often find Hobb next. FitzChivalry Farseer is a royal bastard navigating court politics — but the real subject is identity, loyalty, and what we sacrifice for duty. Devastating in ways that sneak up on you.

Start with: Assassin’s Apprentice (Farseer Book 1)

If You’re Waiting for The Winds of Winter

You and everyone else. While waiting, the most natural choice is to read George R.R. Martin’s other work — particularly Fire and Blood (Targaryen history, adapted as House of the Dragon) and the Dunk and Egg novellas (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), which are set a century before ASOIAF and are considerably lighter in tone.