Swords & Spaceships

5 Great Fantasy Books with Royal Intrigue

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Liberty Hardy

Senior Contributing Editor

Liberty Hardy is an unrepentant velocireader, writer, bitey mad lady, and tattoo canvas. Turn-ons include books, books and books. Her favorite exclamation is “Holy cats!” Liberty reads more than should be legal, sleeps very little, frequently writes on her belly with Sharpie markers, and when she dies, she’s leaving her body to library science. Until then, she lives with her three cats, Millay, Farrokh, and Zevon, in Maine. She is also right behind you. Just kidding! She’s too busy reading. Twitter: @MissLiberty

Shakespeare once said, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” although it is often misquoted as “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” (Which gave us the great Tracy Jordan quote, “Heavy is the head that eats the crayons.”) Sure, if you’re a queen or king, you’ve got a lot of privilege and riches. But you also have to make hard decisions and people are always plotting to take your throne and trying to kill you. Which is what makes royalty such a great subject for SFF novels!

There are a ton of fantastic SFF books about assassination plots, secret royalty, evil royalty, battles for the throne—but with magic, or creatures, or outer space. And sometimes all three! Personally, I don’t even want to be in charge of making microwave popcorn, but I love a royalty-related read. It’s fun to try and figure out who is the backstabber and who will be the throne-grabber. (Lawyer: Objection! That word is a reach.” Judge: “I’ll allow it.”) Here are five fantasy books filled with political intrigue set in other worlds that I love, and I hope that you will as well!

cover of The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson; cracked humanoid face mask on the ground

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

This fantastic debut is the first in a completed trilogy about an evil empire and a young woman who vows to bring it down. Baru Cormorant joins the Empire of Masks after it conquers her country and kills one of her fathers. She wants to get revenge by taking the empire down from the inside, so she joins the civil service and is sent to Aurdwynn, a faraway colony. There Baru discovers that a rebellion is brewing, involving dukes and duchesses, and decides to use her position as an Imperial agent to help the political unrest in her favor. But will she survive to see the end of her long game?

cover of The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem; gold metal design of a sphinx with its wings extended

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

This is another exciting debut. It’s inspired by Egyptian mythology and a hidden heir. A decade ago, the Nizhal destroyed the kingdom of Jasad, murdered the royal family, and took over the land. But the Nasad were mistaken—one member of the royal family survived. Sylvia has been in hiding since her family was killed, trying to evade the Nasad army as they search for Jasad rebels. But when her magic powers (but not her identity) are accidentally revealed in front of the Nizhal heir, Asin, he says he will spare her life if she helps him find the rebels. Can Sylvia figure out a way to keep from actually betraying her people or revealing her identity while saving her own life?

cover of Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher; photo of a woman covered in ivy with her back to the camera

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

This is my favorite T. Kingfisher novel, which is saying something because they are all great! It’s about Marra, a princess from a teeny kingdom. To keep a much larger kingdom from conquering them, Marra’s parents agree to a marriage between her older sister and that kingdom’s prince. But it turns out he really sucks. Like, he’s Joffrey-bad. So Marra decides to leave the convent where she has been living and kill him. She knows the evil prince is protected by a spell placed on him by his fairy godmother. To get around it, she gathers a witch, a (different) fairy godmother, a bone dog, a warrior, and a demonic chicken, and heads to the kingdom to destroy the prince. Because he totally deserves it. This is a darkly funny fantasy adventure you won’t soon forget. (Did I mention there’s a demonic chicken?)

cover of The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon; illustration of a white castle tower with a blue dragon wrapped around it

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Assassins, and dragons, and queens, oh my! This epic fantasy has a queen, Sabran the Ninth, who has failed to give birth to a daughter, which is needed to keep her kingdom safe. Ead Duryan is a secret mage and lady-in-waiting who vows to keep the queen safe from assassination attempts. And Tané is a dragonrider across the sea. An ancient evil will bring them together, exposing them to parts of the world they’ve never seen, and uniting enemies and strangers. This doorstopper is a richly detailed fantasy for lovers of exquisite world-building.

cover of The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri; image of a young woman in a red dress on the steps of a stone building

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

And last, but not least, a novel of an imprisoned princess and a servant with a secret. Malini is a princess held captive in the cliffside ruins of the Hirana by her power-hungry brother. Hirana was once filled with magic but is now just a shell of itself. Malini’s only visitor in her prison is the servant Priya, who is hiding the fact that she is actually a priestess. But the magic of the Hirana brings out Priya’s powers, and Malini sees them and begins to scheme. Can they work together to free Malini, take down her brother, and save Priya’s family?

For even more fantasy with that royal touch, check out these eight fantasy royalty books.

Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the Book Riot podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.

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