Newsletter 1

35 of Your Favorite Books About Magic and Politics

S. Zainab Williams

Executive Director, Content

S. Zainab would like to think she bleeds ink but the very idea makes her feel faint. She writes fantasy and horror, and is currently clutching a manuscript while groping in the dark. Find her on Twitter: @szainabwilliams.

This Riot Recommendation is sponsored by Dark Horse Comics, publisher of The Legend of Korra by Michael Dante DiMartino.

The official continuation of The Legend of Korra!

Relishing their new relationship, Korra and Asami leave the spirit world . . . but find nothing in Republic City but political hijinks and human vs. spirit conflict!

A pompous developer plans to turn the new spirit portal into an amusement park, potentially severing an already tumultuous connection with the spirits. What’s more, the triads have realigned and are in a brutal all-out brawl at the city’s borders where hundreds of evacuees have relocated!

Written by series cocreator Michael Dante DiMartino and drawn by Irene Koh (Secret Origins: Batgirl), with consultation by Bryan Konietzko!


Even in the world of fantasy you can’t escape politics, but it is so much more fun reading about political intrigue in fiction…with creatures, and sorcery, and fantastic settings, and strange powers. We asked you to tell us your favorite books about magic and politics and you responded! Here are 35 of your favorites!

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

First Law Series by Joe Abercrombie

October Daye series by Seanan McGuire

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone

My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

Bookworm by Christopher Nuttall

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Winner’s Curse by Marie Koslowski

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastards #3) by Scott Lynch

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

The Fury series by Jim Butcher

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Farseer series by Robin Hobb

Kushiel’s Legacy by Jacqueline Carey

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Mistress of the Empire series by Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman

Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson

The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Amber series by Roger Zelazny

Imager Portfolio & Saga of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

The Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks

Save

Save

Save

Save