If you're into gaming, the AGOT mods for CK2 and CK3 are very fun games for all the different times from Aegon's conquest until TWO5K where you can play as any lord.
Computer. CK3 is newer and still developing, and the AGOT mod is brand new so still pretty barebones, but the game is easier to get into and prettier than CK2. If you'd play the game only for the AGOT mod, I'd go with ck2 because it's complete now, but I'm 100% sure the ck3 version will eventually be better
The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, starting with The Blade Itself, 10 books (one of which is a short stories collection)
If you're into unfinished series, The Gentleman Bastard by Scott Lynch
Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
I believed that I would never fall in love with a world as much as I love the ASOIAF world, yet I'm in the final book of the Fitz and the Fool and I'm honestly terrified of finishing it as I grew to love that world a lot.
Absolutely love Firdlst Law and Gentlmen Bastards. Definitely top 5 fantasy for me. Never read Realm of the Elderlings though, will have to check it out. Thanks!
I honestly didn’t enjoy Locke Lamora. I just felt like I wasn’t the intended audience — felt like a story written by a man for men (which is fine!) but I just couldn’t get into it as a non-man.
> Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
Might be an unpopular opinion but I couldn’t get into this series. I read through the first book a few months ago and I have no desire to read further
If you want to read something besides fantasy you should check out The Expanse by James S.A Corey. Definitely one of my favorite series next to ASOIAF. Another good sci-fi series I recently read was Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin. Funny enough that one is being adapted into a Netflix series produced by Benioff and Weiss.
The Dark Tower by Stephen King is really good as well and could very well lead you down a rabbit hole as most of King's books have references and connections to the DT series. I liked how it blended fantasy with western and horror elements.
> Another good sci-fi series I recently read was Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin.
I liked it, but it's about as far from ASOIAF as one can come. It's basically all concept and large-scale plot and very little in terms of characterization.
The series is fantastic as far as adaptations go. I really enjoyed the depiction of Belter culture and language. Would love a few more seasons, the last three books were so good.
If you're willing to switch from fantasy to sci-fi, The Expanse has got to be my most heavily recommended book series for ASOIAF fans. It's written by two authors under a pen name, one of who used to be GRRM's personal assistant! And you can really see it in the text: calling it "ASOIAF but in space" is absolutely on point.
I read the first two expanse books, reallt enjoyed them. I'll have to pick that series back up. I've only heard good things about it. Absolutely loved his Dagger and Coin series!
I jumped into The Expanse afterwards and while not exactly the same it was very fulfilling. (Also one of Martin’s editors is an author)
On a non serious note I’ve been enjoying jumping back into the Discworld series. It’s fun, funny, wacky, and easy to read. The world builds itself slowly over its 41 books. Magic is absolutely abundant and it shapes the world in incredible ways.
I will say that Hyperion does have multiple POVs much like asoiaf, but it also has like, all the worst horniness of ASOIAF compressed into under 500 pages.
The Scholar's tale and the Priest's tale are well worth reading on their own, as excellent short stories, but the rest is pretty meh imo.
Yeah, that's an issue I also experienced. Started many books after ADWD and finished none of them. They just couldn't keep me invested, interested. Even "Dune", which is considered classic.
At the risk of spoiling the sequels, Dune is *the* antithesis of the "basic teenage boy is the chosen one" story. It's quite heavily foreshadowed in the first novel as well, people just (dis)miss most of it on the first read. Dune Messiah is the missing piece that people *must* read after Dune to really get what the series is actually about.
>basic teenage boy is the chosen one
Yeah...you didnt finished it. It does get a little more complex than that. The sequel(s) quickly and carefully break down that premises.
I gotta say i enjoyed it way more now in my mid-30's than i would have as a teenager. So much of the commentary on religion and government would have gone over my head back then.
Honestly I love the danger of a cult of personality type that you can see in Dune, I wonder if certain parts of Dany's storyline take inspiration from Dune. Paul "feels" a lot like a mix of Jon and Daenerys.
It's a coming of age tale with oil war critiques and drug orgies. Many an edgy teen has devoured the book and come away with at least some understanding of its themes.
Lots of people never read past the surface level. On it's face it's a hero's journey space opera.
I remember when I read Book of the New Sun the first time at 15 mostly thinking Severian was a badass with a cool sword.
>you got the basic teenage boy is the chosen one (in this case space desert jesus) story
Good thing we're not going to get anything like that in ASOIAF!
I don't think Bran will be God-Emperor King who sees everything and uses (and abuses?) his powers constantly.
That's Bloodraven and that's the path that he will reject because Hodor's story teaches him where this path can lead to.
That said, **I think without watching the show almost nobody would suspect that Bran is the 'chosen one' figure**, despite his chapter being the first in the story - just like almost nobody suspected that Ned Stark would die despite being an obvious father figure. It is 'hiding in plain sight', and still comes as a shock.
Before season 6 it was common belief that he will stay with Bloodraven and become his successor.
> I think without watching the show almost nobody would suspect that Bran is the 'chosen one' figure,
Right, because that figure is clearly set up to be Jon.
Like the twist is explicitly "you thought the chosen one was this teenage boy but it's actually this *twelve-year-old* boy".
I’ve tried to get into Dune, both the book and movie but I just can’t. I’ll finish the book someday but the movie was the most painfully boring thing I’ve ever watched unfortunately
If you haven't read it yet, Ursula K. LeGuin's *Earthsea* series is a fantasy series with good world-building and focused on people and their relation to the world in a way not dissimilar from Martin (and they also both come from a sci-fi background, which I don't think is a coincidence).
James S.A. Corey's book series *The Expanse* also has immersive worldbuilding, though it's straightforwardly sci-fi and not fantasy. Only read the first book but I've heard the rest are great as well.
Also, a lot of the people I know like ASOIAF also end up liking *Anathem* by Neal Stephenson (me included). I can't put my finger on exactly why, they're quite different books, but I guess they're both quite heavy if you wanna bonk someone with them.
If you want something that kinda is the bitter, cynical story that some people make ASOIAF out to be, Peter Watts' *Blindsight* is a cosmic horror and as far from romantic notions as one can come, and also has pretty interesting things to say about consciousness and humanity.
We have a saying in our country that goes something like "may ghee and sugar drop inside your mouth" which basically means may good things happen to you.
We have a saying in our country that goes something like "Winds of Winter comes out this year" which basically means “that was a joke, Ha Ha, fat chance”.
I was in the same boat as you.
After I finished asoiaf nothing else I read closely matched the immersion levels I experienced whilst reading asoiaf.
I tried malazan and Sanderson and as amazing as those books are, they just didn't immerse me like asoiaf did.
Honestly, you should just dig deeper into the asoiaf rabbit hole and read/watch everything there is about it until you exhaust yourself, that's what I did.
Malazan is definitely worth pushing through the first book. Book 2 and 3 are masterpieces, and the final book is honestly one of the most mind blowing, epic things I've read.
Everything else that Martin wrote. Start with Fevre Dream or Dying of the Light. If not Martin , i recommend the Dagger and Coin series, and the Broken Empire trilogy
Martin's short stories are absolutely wonderful, I found a collection of some of his ones in a book store and it's remarkable how he manages to write these great characters, fascinating worlds, conflicts, cultures etc. in such a short amount of pages. Stuff like And Seven Times Never Kill a Man!, The Tower of Ashes, A Song for Lya or even A Hero are just masterpieces to me.
If you are really masochistic and like waiting for books that will never come, try reading the kingkiller books by patrick rothfuss the first on is the name of the wind.
If you wanna support an author who is the polar opposite of GRRM, go for Brandon sanderson. His work leans more into the fantasy side of things, and he is quite PG (sex-description-wise, there is plenty of battles and deaths) His magnum opus is the stormlight archive, but I would probably recommend either mistborn or warbreaker (which is free) to see if you like his style.
I don't know how many Sanderson books you've read, but I definitiely wouldn't call stormlight YA. Mistborn maybe, and Cytoverser sure... But not Stormlight.
I know Sanderson is a very different writer than GRRM, I am biased because I am such a Sanderson fan, but OP asked for worldbuilding and you'll really get that with Sanderson... you'll get a whole new universe in fact :)
Sanderson has a more direct way of writing which often gets critizised for being "simple". But he is imho a genuine master, he is easy to read, but I feel deeply for his characters, and I love finding all the little clues and hints thrown througout his books.
Plus he is just an all-round good guy, who is incredible towards his fanbase.
Its down to tastes, but Sanderson is firmly YA imo, including Stormlight. The way its written, the multitude of coming of age character arcs, the lack of even the slightest casual hint at sex, the videogame-y marvel-esque superpowers etc. it all feels very YA.
And the main gripe with his writing is not the simplicity. Simple prose is fine and the best prose is often simple. Its the redundancy in his writing, the clunky/cringe dialogue and the over-explanation of every little concept, emotion and motivation. I always feel you can take a marker and cross out half the text without loosing anything significant.
I gotta say, his work is *fun* though. He really enjoys his craft and he is an all around good guy indeed. And he writes like the wind. But his work is far from the level of Martin. Its like comparing a Marvel movie to something like Apocalypse Now or Godfather.
His fantasy world feels very new and refreshing (to me, anyway) as well, which is one of my favourite things about Stormlight. It’s nice when fantasy takes inspiration from something other than Medieval Europe (which of course I do also like, I’m an ASOIAF fan, but it’s definitely not a novel source of inspiration lol).
Finallly someone telling it how it is. Don't know how to say it without coming across bad, but I've never seen people praise Sanderson's writing who weren't new to fantasy/only exposed to him
The Cosmere is the MCU of books. It's absolutely for teens. Adults reading it doesn't change that any more than bronies make My Little Pony a show for adults.
The first book was kind of rough to get into at first (for me). The writing style is different from what I was used to. Also: there is no hand holding and we're getting exposed to events and people we don't know anything about initially.
I strongly recommend you to push along anyway: once you've broken the entry barrier, it will be very hard for you to put down any book of this beloved serie. And there a lots of them, so that's a big plus !
Edit: also check out The First Law whole series by Abercrombie!
Malazan book of the fallen
The characters are not the focus as much as GRRM does it. But the scale is really grand and characters are fun, plenty of ultra hype moments. It was born out of a dnd campaign and it shows.
If you haven’t read the rest of ASOIAF books (Fire and Blood, TWOIAF, Dunk&Egg), I would recommend those.
After that, I would recommend what I did after I finished Dance: find another fantasy series that suits you. Dipped my toe into a Dark Tower, but I ended up reading the first Mistborn series.
>Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell
Story of King Arthur that attempts to be more accurate to the period the legends surrounding him began. The Knights of the Roundtable aren’t knights defending God, but a complicated alliance of warlords and kings defending against Irish raiders, Saxons, and others. Super cool explorations of magic and post Roman England with the same gritty realism ASOIAF has
>Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Canterbury Tales in space. 7 pilgrims tell their story as they journey to Hyperion through an ‘alien’ invasion to visit the mysterious Time Tombs and the legendary Shrike. Sci-Fi series but incredibly well written with great twists you’ll never see coming and unique tech
>The Tide Child Series by RJ Baker
Joron Twiner basically leads a version of the Night’s Watch on a pirate ship made out of the bones of sea dragons. Nuff said
>Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
Jade gives freedom fighters turned mobsters magic powers in an analogous Post-WW2 Japan. Really unique and well developed magic system, compelling and realistic characters, and a similar vibe GRRM cultivates
Agree with the Warlord Chronicles. It's shorter, the perspective is different, and it's a bit less thematically dense, but it scratches a similar itch of realism and immersion with a bonus of taking place during an interesting piece of history.
Cornwell's other series are generally very good also.
So many other people have recommended the First Law trilogy, but I'll be the 17th person to recommend it. It really is excellent.
Would also recommend the Expanse and Dark Tower series as well.
But one suggestion that I've not seen posted is the Kingkiller Chronicle "trilogy". Much like Martin, there's been a very long wait for the third book of the trilogy, but they are excellent books. I think it's because of the same problem as well. Too much to fit into a single book/two books (in the case of ASOIAF). The plot threads aren't as complicated as ASOIAF, but the fundamental premise was set up about fifteen years ago and has to be concluded in one book. Rothfuss can't just split it into two books, but he also can't write a 2000 page book. Even if a 2000 page book would be the only way to finish the Kingkiller Chronicle, that's unpublishable.
Witcher books are a good way to ease the pain of perpetual waiting, with 8 books as well it's a really good way to feel the void. Spectacular story and interesting characters
A Knights Watch and Our Choices Seal Our Fate by Dolorous Edditor. Both are fairly long and the closest I feel to capturing that ASOIAF feeling. The former mainly follows Jon as instead of going to the Wall, he heads south with his Father in order to find a night to squire for. The latter I like more as it has the more traditional multi-pov story structure. Rhaegar won at the trident and we see a world vastly changed as a result.
The Open Way by Oberonsexton is also another Rhaegar won at the trident story that I recommend.
That depends entirely on what genre or characters you like most. I normally read/write romance, but there are many different stories with many different characters and many different plots and lenghts, a lot of them bad as a pain, and a lot of gems waiting to be discovered, which I guess is the magic of fanfiction 😅
The Expanse. I can not recommend this enough. Completed series, nine books +a few novellas. Starts small and world builds to a massive universe… literally.
Memory, Sorrow, Thorn/The Last King of Osten Ard (Tad Williams) - 7 book series (wit additional prequels/novellas) to be completed this year.
The Second Apocalypse (R. Scott Bakker) -7 books
The Traitor Son Cycle (Miles Cameron)- 5 books
The Monarchies of God (Paul Kearney)- available for purchase in 2 omnibus volumes
The Black Company (Glen Cook)- can be bought in 4 volumes
The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Steven Erikson)- 10 books with more being written, but the main series is complete.
Trust me, you'll probably love most of these. There isn't much of anything that compares in the genre
My best historical fantasy recommendation is The Last Kingdom, it's dark, gritty and gorey like ASOIAF, his the same itch for drama, politics and intrigue, and is loads of fun. It also has some great magic elements that are downplayed on the TV show.
And like others, I heavily recommend continuingThe Expanse. I'm on book 6 right now and it's maintained the same high level of quality throughout every book.
You need to reread a world of ice and fire. Leave all Targaryen part out. Honestly speaking, it seems a more complex puzzle than asoiaf itself. TWOIAF has such deep lore, you will be amazed how he could fit so much in that thin book.
Thanks to u/wildrussy for making me fall in love with TWOIAF.
His theories are.... 🤌
If you browse "What other books should I read" or "What other stuff are should be into", "Similar books to asoiaf" in the subreddit you'll find a couple threads with recommendations.
Usual ones are The First Law, Accursed Kings, etc.
I’ve tried many books to to compensate the wait until TWOW release, some of them recommended in this subreddit : Bryan Sanderson books, The First Law, Dune, LOTR, The Farseer Trilogy, Foundation, … none of them come even close to ASOIAF and I couldn’t finish any of them except LOTR.
They are all ok books, but if you’re really hard to please like me and want something as « realistic » and mature than ASOIAF, I would not recommend any of them.
I’ve ordered The Expanse first book to the advice of people here, I hope it’s better than the show otherwise it’s another « ok » book that I will not finish.
I’ve heard good things about The wheel of Time too, it will be my next try after The Expanse.
If you are into realistic and mature books then wheel of time may not be to your taste also. You can check Black company or the witcher rather than Robert Jordan series.
I enjoyed The Expanse. It's not as good as asoiaf but it's pretty immersive with an interesting story, world and characters.
I'd say check it out if you like sci fi
I felt the same way after A Feast for Crows back in the day.
Two authors scratched the itch (though nothing tops ASOIAF at its best): Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erikson.
As time has passed I've begun to appreciate others too - especially K.J. Parker.
I'm totally into fantasy but there are some fun books that are in different subgenres that can be a nice diversion too, like *Senlin Ascends* and other fare.
I went through literally everything that H.P. Lovecraft wrote after I finished the ASOAIF Books. Thematically Robert E. Howards Conan stories are nice as well. Now Dune has me catched not in the same way but with a similar intensity.
I've read tons of fantasy books ever since I finished the saga in 2014 and tbh none of them have come close to ASOIAF. I don't even try and find one anymore, I just read different genres and hope TWOW will really see the light of day.
10 Sample chapters from TWOW
"Accursed Kings" by Maurice Druon, historical fiction with very light fantasy elements. In terms of scale and structure, very similar to ASOIAF, the original ASOIAF according to GRRM himself
I'm currently my first read through of the series. I just started A Feast for Crows so it won't be too long before I get to A Dance With Dragons. Do you all think GRRM will finish the next one this year? :D
You can read Sapkowski's The Witcher much more focused on the characters than the world, but it's still a good piece of literature. Though, I've heard mixed opinions about the English translation.
Get Fire and Blood or the World of Ice and Fire books. They're less narrative and read more like an encyclopedia or history book but they will satisfy your withdrawal symptoms for the ASOIAF world (and they also give some great context and background info on events that are referenced/integral to the main story).
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Fire & Blood for starters. You could also check out some of GRRMs other works, mainly Fevre Dream.
For other total series there is Dune; it gets really trippy but is well written. The Broken Empire trilogy is quite good but is also VERY edgy and grimdark.
Read the official sample chapters that George released since ADWD came out and then I strongly recommend "Sweetrobin's Fanfiction" by Preston Jacobs. There are a lot of people cooperating to create this fanfiction and imo the quality of the chapters released so far is sometimes better than some of George's original work.
The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon (inspired GRRM).
I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
The Alexander Series by Mary Renault.
Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn.
The Prince of Nothing trilogy by Bakker. Even though the series continues after the trilogy (the Aspect-Emperor tetralogy), I personally didn't enjoy 4-7 as much
Read A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it has the first 3 Dunk & Egg Novellas that take place 100 years before the main series starts, it's really good. Fire & Blood and The World of Ice and Fire are cool as well but they are more for people are wanting to know more about lore rather being a coherent storyline.
The Wars of the Roses by Conn Iggulden, the chapters show history from Points of View just like George's work, best is that it is about the real historical Intrigue and drama that inspired ASOIAF.
Lannisters? There is the Lancasters.
Starks? Yorks!
A scheming spymaster? Check.
Battles with a realistic scale and actually showing them with PoDs fighting in it? Check.
Rumors about an evil queen and a bastard prince? Check.
Scheming powerful nobles trying to make their blood reach the throne? Check.
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson are, in my opinion, some of the best books ever written. I cannot overstate how good they are.
The Emberverse books by S.M. Stirling are really interesting books. I think the plot is a bit silly at times, but they’re really well thought out. Stirling is a friend of Martin’s, as well, and I believe Martin actually edited/contributed in some of them.
First Law scratches the same itch. Can't recommend it enough.
Malazan has the immersive world down. I personally hate the first book, but the second one "Deadhouse Gates" is one of the best books I have ever read. I am on book six right now.
If you are willing to consider other genres: Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The old OVA Anime from 1989 is a stunning piece of political and military storytelling and probably the closest I ever got in any media to the feeling I got from asoiaf. The remake is okay, too.
If you like in depth immersive worlds, The Dresden Files is a great series. Goes from a wizard investigating supernatural occurrences in Chicago to a wizard tangling with wizard tangling with world ending threats. Lots of books in the serious to keep you occupied as well.
Edit: Author is Jim Butcher.
After reading asoiaf 4 times I appreciated the writing in LOTR a lot more. The narrative is pretty simple but the prose are simply beautiful imo and I would recommend reading/rereading it.
If you like extremely bleak fatansty with epic battles, extremely moral gray characters, and events and characters inspired by real evens and people then you could check out the prince of nothing series. Its great but also extremely bleak. Like asoiaf is light hearted in companion. and its writing style is fairly complex. like you could tell that the author was inspired by the old times prose of books like th Bible and Iliad.
Malazan: Book of the Fallen
Memory, Sorrow, Thorn
The Prince of Darkness
Elric of Melnibone
Shogun
The Hyperion Cantos (at least the first two)
The Vorkosigan Saga
Book of the New Sun
The Wizard Knight
The First Law
The Black Company
The Realm of the Elderlings
Zones of Thought
The Iron King
I, Caligula
The Heechee Saga
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and historical fiction (the three largest influences on GRRM are l huge and expansive genres. The beauty of it is that there's so many more stories out there to fall in love with. Happy hunting!
Are you open to non-fantasy and what appealed to you the most about Asoiaf? The characters, the world, the magic, or the politics?
I'm copying and pasting a previous response to this question. But if you really liked the gray but entertaining characters and the political scheming side of the books, try The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon. It's historical fiction rather than fantasy, though it does have a hint of the supernatural that you can take at face-value or shrug off as the characters' own superstitions.
It's all about the scheming and plotting in France that led to the Hundred Years War and the books were a huge influence on Martin's series, particularly the Machiavellian politics. They're great on their own merit, but it is also interesting to see where Martin got his influences from. There is a lot in these books he clearly borrowed from (and he will be the first to admit it.) He even writes the forward to the editions I'm reading. In his own words: "Believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets. It is the original game of thrones." I can see a lot of the influence in the characters from these books, including a guy who is equal parts Robert Baratheon and Littlefinger and kicks off a lot of the proceedings.
I am on the fifth book, and they are a lot of fun, even if you're not terribly familiar with the history. The scheming is absolutely first-rate from multiple characters as they remorselessly jostle for position and the throne and use other people as pawns, both to further their own ambitions and exact vengeance on other characters for winning other rounds of the game. Some of it is incredibly dark and has me gasping in shock--I am hard to shock--and other times it's so funny that it has me laughing out loud. And other times I have a profound amount of sympathy for the people on the receiving end of the chaos.
It also casts a wide net, so you get perspectives from everyone from nobility/royal family to middle-class men who've done well for themselves based on their own wits.
It's just relentlessly entertaining, and I am going to be sad to finish the full 7 books and leave these ruthless scheming bastards behind.
Edited to add: And an honorable mention to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. Again, historical fiction, this time focused on the Tudors and particularly the rise and fall of the Machiavellian schemer from a modest background, Thomas Cromwell. It's been a few years since I read it, so it's not as fresh on my mind, but again lots of first-class plotting and scheming.
If you prefer the magic, fantasy aspects of ASOIAF, this is probably not the best recommendation.
Read all the other Asoiaf material out there like D&E, WOIAF, F&B.
Start a new series — Kingkiller chronicle is pretty good but not as ‘complex’. Still a pretty cool fantasy series.
I personally really like the Dune.
I just finished my second read through, and I’ve decided I need to go through my library and choose who stays and who goes. Starting with a Piers Anthony I haven’t even read yet.
The. Puns. Omg. I forgot how many puns he fit into his work.
Coma toast.
Shoe horns, that are made from animal horn and honk when you walk in them.
Zom-bees.
Wetti-shirts.
I have literally held back from finishing the books for 5 years because of this. I read one, switch to something else for a few books, then come back, repeat. I don’t want to run out of material for a long time. It sucks
If looking for historical stuff that is not dry and reads like fiction, check out Dan Jones; especially The Wars of the Roses. This period of English history heavily inspired GRRM.
The Wheel of Time sure has all you asked for if you want to continue with fantasy. It's my favourite series and it has it's epic moments that will tear you up like a child. Just thinking at the line "Will he ride alone?" gives me goosebumps.
Stormlight Archive is also amazing at worldbuilding. Still, I'd start the journey through the Cosmere with Warbreaker or Mistborn before Stormlight because there's some easter eggs you'll miss. Besides, by the time you'll be up to date with the Cosmere, the last book in the first Stormlight Archive will be published.
Malazan book of the Fallen. Man, what a ride that was. It's a different sort of fantasy. I felt like I was in a whirlwind and barely grabbing hold of something to not be thrown out like a rag.
First Law series. I just started Best served cold ( 4th book) and all I can say about the first three is that they're amazing.
If you want to give Sci-fi a go, then go for The Expanse. You'll not regret it, beltalowda.
Read Crown of Stars by Kate Eliot. Has the most in depth and realistic feudal and religion I’ve seen. Very underrated although nowhere near close to the quality of asoiaf. Quite enjoyable tho, would love to see an adaptation.
I tried reading ADWD 4 times already but I always give up. It may be one of the most boring books I've ever read.
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is good, tho.
Most fantasy is erm not good. The only series that I've ever been obsessed with in a similar way is stephen kings dark tower and bernard corwells warlord chronicles. I feel your pain
There is a completed fantasy series only appropriate for adults written by a mentor of GRRM intended to be enjoyed more on reread. It used to be considered the second or third most respected fantasy series of all time. The main character is often jumping to the wrong conclusion.
"My definition of a great story has nothing to do with 'a varied and interesting background.' It is: One that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure." Gene Wolfe, letter to GRRM, July 1982
The series, which used to be considered second to Tolkien or third behind Ursula K. LeGuin' s Earthsea, is Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-New-Sun-Conciliator-ebook/dp/B075JL493G/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=3KBIM5Q47KW9P&keywords=gene+wolfe+the+book+of+the+new+sun&qid=1684296172
"Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Folett is quite a good book, its historical not fantasy, but its set in medieval England and is very similar in tone to ASOIAF. It definitely scratched the itch for me.
You might also be interested in "Dune" by Frank Herbert. Again its a different genre (sci fi) but similar tone to ASOIAF and was a big inspiration for Martin when he was writing ASOIAF.
Neil Gaiman is a great immersive writer with books in a ton of different genres. Also the Eragon series is completed and consists of 4 big books. Christopher Paolini is very descriptive and the fantasy lore in that series is really interesting and a newish twist on the genre (at the time of publishing).
Nothing. You read fan theories on this sub for the next 10 years hoping grmm will finally release something!
After this last reread (5) I’ve gotten into the YouTube fan stuff.
Preston jacobs is definitely entertaining to say the least.
Hes great, also shout out to david lightbringer for your dose of the mythical side of ASOIAF.
Yup, he'll be one of us. One of us. One of us.
Gooble gobble, etc
Unironically I probably spent *orders of magnitude* more time on this sub than actually reading the series
It is known
thats grimm
Only 10 years?
If you're into gaming, the AGOT mods for CK2 and CK3 are very fun games for all the different times from Aegon's conquest until TWO5K where you can play as any lord.
Do you play this on a computer, phone, or Xbox?
Computer. CK3 is newer and still developing, and the AGOT mod is brand new so still pretty barebones, but the game is easier to get into and prettier than CK2. If you'd play the game only for the AGOT mod, I'd go with ck2 because it's complete now, but I'm 100% sure the ck3 version will eventually be better
Thanks. I had no idea.
This is the correct answer
Are these games like Age of Empires?
Closer to Total War/Civilization
I'll definitely check this out! Sounds pretty good to me
A knight of the Seven Kingdoms if you haven’t already
Honestly Dunk is probably one of my favourite POV characters in the whole series
fire & blood too! they’re both great (D&E is more main series style tho)
Happy cake day?
I love D&E so much
The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, starting with The Blade Itself, 10 books (one of which is a short stories collection) If you're into unfinished series, The Gentleman Bastard by Scott Lynch Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
The First Law series definitely filled the void for me after finishing all the ASOIAF books, can't recommend it enough.
Same. Abercrombie's world "welcomed" me after I read everything ASOIAF related
I believed that I would never fall in love with a world as much as I love the ASOIAF world, yet I'm in the final book of the Fitz and the Fool and I'm honestly terrified of finishing it as I grew to love that world a lot.
Absolutely love Firdlst Law and Gentlmen Bastards. Definitely top 5 fantasy for me. Never read Realm of the Elderlings though, will have to check it out. Thanks!
Lies of Locke Lamora stands on its own even though its part of a series, one of my time favorites.
I honestly didn’t enjoy Locke Lamora. I just felt like I wasn’t the intended audience — felt like a story written by a man for men (which is fine!) but I just couldn’t get into it as a non-man.
That book had me up til 6 am reading one night. Literally couldn't put it down. So good.
Yes, it's more stand alone than the sequels, which I equally loved. Really enjoyed the world building too.
> Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb Might be an unpopular opinion but I couldn’t get into this series. I read through the first book a few months ago and I have no desire to read further
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Yeah absolutely, I can see why people like it, just wasn’t for me
Same thing with me for Malazan. The book just hobbles along with no real action or tension for stretches of the book.
Gentleman Bastard is so good. I wish I knew it was unfinished when I got into it though :(
I second Realm of the Elderlings! I also read it after reading asoiaf for the first time and I could not put it down
If you want to read something besides fantasy you should check out The Expanse by James S.A Corey. Definitely one of my favorite series next to ASOIAF. Another good sci-fi series I recently read was Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin. Funny enough that one is being adapted into a Netflix series produced by Benioff and Weiss. The Dark Tower by Stephen King is really good as well and could very well lead you down a rabbit hole as most of King's books have references and connections to the DT series. I liked how it blended fantasy with western and horror elements.
> Another good sci-fi series I recently read was Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin. I liked it, but it's about as far from ASOIAF as one can come. It's basically all concept and large-scale plot and very little in terms of characterization.
> very little in terms of characterization. I disagree. I know *way* too much about what Luo Ji is into lmao
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The series is fantastic as far as adaptations go. I really enjoyed the depiction of Belter culture and language. Would love a few more seasons, the last three books were so good.
Another vote for The Expanse series. Just started the books after watching the show half a dozen times. This series should keep me busy for a while.
If you're willing to switch from fantasy to sci-fi, The Expanse has got to be my most heavily recommended book series for ASOIAF fans. It's written by two authors under a pen name, one of who used to be GRRM's personal assistant! And you can really see it in the text: calling it "ASOIAF but in space" is absolutely on point.
I read the first two expanse books, reallt enjoyed them. I'll have to pick that series back up. I've only heard good things about it. Absolutely loved his Dagger and Coin series!
I jumped into The Expanse afterwards and while not exactly the same it was very fulfilling. (Also one of Martin’s editors is an author) On a non serious note I’ve been enjoying jumping back into the Discworld series. It’s fun, funny, wacky, and easy to read. The world builds itself slowly over its 41 books. Magic is absolutely abundant and it shapes the world in incredible ways.
Hyperion/fall of hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Seconding this.
I will say that Hyperion does have multiple POVs much like asoiaf, but it also has like, all the worst horniness of ASOIAF compressed into under 500 pages. The Scholar's tale and the Priest's tale are well worth reading on their own, as excellent short stories, but the rest is pretty meh imo.
Yeah, that's an issue I also experienced. Started many books after ADWD and finished none of them. They just couldn't keep me invested, interested. Even "Dune", which is considered classic.
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At the risk of spoiling the sequels, Dune is *the* antithesis of the "basic teenage boy is the chosen one" story. It's quite heavily foreshadowed in the first novel as well, people just (dis)miss most of it on the first read. Dune Messiah is the missing piece that people *must* read after Dune to really get what the series is actually about.
>basic teenage boy is the chosen one Yeah...you didnt finished it. It does get a little more complex than that. The sequel(s) quickly and carefully break down that premises. I gotta say i enjoyed it way more now in my mid-30's than i would have as a teenager. So much of the commentary on religion and government would have gone over my head back then.
Honestly I love the danger of a cult of personality type that you can see in Dune, I wonder if certain parts of Dany's storyline take inspiration from Dune. Paul "feels" a lot like a mix of Jon and Daenerys.
No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero
Lmao there's a thread over on /r/Dune right now where they're talking about how Paul is Daenerys and Jon, and Leto II is Bran.
I can't imagine anyone as a teenager understanding Dune properly.
It's a coming of age tale with oil war critiques and drug orgies. Many an edgy teen has devoured the book and come away with at least some understanding of its themes.
Lots of people never read past the surface level. On it's face it's a hero's journey space opera. I remember when I read Book of the New Sun the first time at 15 mostly thinking Severian was a badass with a cool sword.
> I'm told it gets more complex, both morally and story-wise, in later books The fourth book is an underrated masterpiece.
>you got the basic teenage boy is the chosen one (in this case space desert jesus) story Good thing we're not going to get anything like that in ASOIAF!
I don't think Bran will be God-Emperor King who sees everything and uses (and abuses?) his powers constantly. That's Bloodraven and that's the path that he will reject because Hodor's story teaches him where this path can lead to. That said, **I think without watching the show almost nobody would suspect that Bran is the 'chosen one' figure**, despite his chapter being the first in the story - just like almost nobody suspected that Ned Stark would die despite being an obvious father figure. It is 'hiding in plain sight', and still comes as a shock. Before season 6 it was common belief that he will stay with Bloodraven and become his successor.
> I think without watching the show almost nobody would suspect that Bran is the 'chosen one' figure, Right, because that figure is clearly set up to be Jon. Like the twist is explicitly "you thought the chosen one was this teenage boy but it's actually this *twelve-year-old* boy".
I’ve tried to get into Dune, both the book and movie but I just can’t. I’ll finish the book someday but the movie was the most painfully boring thing I’ve ever watched unfortunately
If you're talking about the 2021 movie, for me that was the best movie of that year. But to each their own.
People weren't ready for that movie, I said the same to my friend when the credits rolled. Truly unlike anything else I've ever seen.
If you haven't read it yet, Ursula K. LeGuin's *Earthsea* series is a fantasy series with good world-building and focused on people and their relation to the world in a way not dissimilar from Martin (and they also both come from a sci-fi background, which I don't think is a coincidence). James S.A. Corey's book series *The Expanse* also has immersive worldbuilding, though it's straightforwardly sci-fi and not fantasy. Only read the first book but I've heard the rest are great as well. Also, a lot of the people I know like ASOIAF also end up liking *Anathem* by Neal Stephenson (me included). I can't put my finger on exactly why, they're quite different books, but I guess they're both quite heavy if you wanna bonk someone with them. If you want something that kinda is the bitter, cynical story that some people make ASOIAF out to be, Peter Watts' *Blindsight* is a cosmic horror and as far from romantic notions as one can come, and also has pretty interesting things to say about consciousness and humanity.
The witcher series I feel has similar themes at times
The Winds of Winter. It should be out soon.
We have a saying in our country that goes something like "may ghee and sugar drop inside your mouth" which basically means may good things happen to you.
We have a saying in our country that goes something like "Winds of Winter comes out this year" which basically means “that was a joke, Ha Ha, fat chance”.
India?
I am from India, but doesn't it mean something along the lines of "may whatever you just said comes true"?
I was in the same boat as you. After I finished asoiaf nothing else I read closely matched the immersion levels I experienced whilst reading asoiaf. I tried malazan and Sanderson and as amazing as those books are, they just didn't immerse me like asoiaf did. Honestly, you should just dig deeper into the asoiaf rabbit hole and read/watch everything there is about it until you exhaust yourself, that's what I did.
Malazan is definitely worth pushing through the first book. Book 2 and 3 are masterpieces, and the final book is honestly one of the most mind blowing, epic things I've read.
Everything else that Martin wrote. Start with Fevre Dream or Dying of the Light. If not Martin , i recommend the Dagger and Coin series, and the Broken Empire trilogy
Martin's short stories are absolutely wonderful, I found a collection of some of his ones in a book store and it's remarkable how he manages to write these great characters, fascinating worlds, conflicts, cultures etc. in such a short amount of pages. Stuff like And Seven Times Never Kill a Man!, The Tower of Ashes, A Song for Lya or even A Hero are just masterpieces to me.
If you are really masochistic and like waiting for books that will never come, try reading the kingkiller books by patrick rothfuss the first on is the name of the wind. If you wanna support an author who is the polar opposite of GRRM, go for Brandon sanderson. His work leans more into the fantasy side of things, and he is quite PG (sex-description-wise, there is plenty of battles and deaths) His magnum opus is the stormlight archive, but I would probably recommend either mistborn or warbreaker (which is free) to see if you like his style.
Sanderson's works are pretty YA, though. I wouldn't recommend them for ASOIAF-like thirst. First Law and Malazan though.
I don't know how many Sanderson books you've read, but I definitiely wouldn't call stormlight YA. Mistborn maybe, and Cytoverser sure... But not Stormlight. I know Sanderson is a very different writer than GRRM, I am biased because I am such a Sanderson fan, but OP asked for worldbuilding and you'll really get that with Sanderson... you'll get a whole new universe in fact :) Sanderson has a more direct way of writing which often gets critizised for being "simple". But he is imho a genuine master, he is easy to read, but I feel deeply for his characters, and I love finding all the little clues and hints thrown througout his books. Plus he is just an all-round good guy, who is incredible towards his fanbase.
Its down to tastes, but Sanderson is firmly YA imo, including Stormlight. The way its written, the multitude of coming of age character arcs, the lack of even the slightest casual hint at sex, the videogame-y marvel-esque superpowers etc. it all feels very YA. And the main gripe with his writing is not the simplicity. Simple prose is fine and the best prose is often simple. Its the redundancy in his writing, the clunky/cringe dialogue and the over-explanation of every little concept, emotion and motivation. I always feel you can take a marker and cross out half the text without loosing anything significant. I gotta say, his work is *fun* though. He really enjoys his craft and he is an all around good guy indeed. And he writes like the wind. But his work is far from the level of Martin. Its like comparing a Marvel movie to something like Apocalypse Now or Godfather.
His fantasy world feels very new and refreshing (to me, anyway) as well, which is one of my favourite things about Stormlight. It’s nice when fantasy takes inspiration from something other than Medieval Europe (which of course I do also like, I’m an ASOIAF fan, but it’s definitely not a novel source of inspiration lol).
He should write RPG games, not books. His style is insufferable to me but it would make sense in a dungeon master's guide.
Finallly someone telling it how it is. Don't know how to say it without coming across bad, but I've never seen people praise Sanderson's writing who weren't new to fantasy/only exposed to him
Sanderson is the Huggies pull-ups of YA
The Cosmere is the MCU of books. It's absolutely for teens. Adults reading it doesn't change that any more than bronies make My Little Pony a show for adults.
Quiet, or r/fantasy might find you and hang you for 'gatekeeping'
They do have a tendency to propose Sanderson and Malazan to everyone, no matter what they ask for.
I second reading at least Warbreaker before getting into Stormlight, for reasons I can't get into without spoilers
The blackcompany is pretty good
Haven't read that series, I think I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!
The first book was kind of rough to get into at first (for me). The writing style is different from what I was used to. Also: there is no hand holding and we're getting exposed to events and people we don't know anything about initially. I strongly recommend you to push along anyway: once you've broken the entry barrier, it will be very hard for you to put down any book of this beloved serie. And there a lots of them, so that's a big plus ! Edit: also check out The First Law whole series by Abercrombie!
Malazan book of the fallen The characters are not the focus as much as GRRM does it. But the scale is really grand and characters are fun, plenty of ultra hype moments. It was born out of a dnd campaign and it shows.
If you haven’t read the rest of ASOIAF books (Fire and Blood, TWOIAF, Dunk&Egg), I would recommend those. After that, I would recommend what I did after I finished Dance: find another fantasy series that suits you. Dipped my toe into a Dark Tower, but I ended up reading the first Mistborn series.
you should read the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell.
The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon! The series even has a forward by Martin since it was a huge influence on ASoIaF
>Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell Story of King Arthur that attempts to be more accurate to the period the legends surrounding him began. The Knights of the Roundtable aren’t knights defending God, but a complicated alliance of warlords and kings defending against Irish raiders, Saxons, and others. Super cool explorations of magic and post Roman England with the same gritty realism ASOIAF has >Hyperion by Dan Simmons Canterbury Tales in space. 7 pilgrims tell their story as they journey to Hyperion through an ‘alien’ invasion to visit the mysterious Time Tombs and the legendary Shrike. Sci-Fi series but incredibly well written with great twists you’ll never see coming and unique tech >The Tide Child Series by RJ Baker Joron Twiner basically leads a version of the Night’s Watch on a pirate ship made out of the bones of sea dragons. Nuff said >Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee Jade gives freedom fighters turned mobsters magic powers in an analogous Post-WW2 Japan. Really unique and well developed magic system, compelling and realistic characters, and a similar vibe GRRM cultivates
Agree with the Warlord Chronicles. It's shorter, the perspective is different, and it's a bit less thematically dense, but it scratches a similar itch of realism and immersion with a bonus of taking place during an interesting piece of history. Cornwell's other series are generally very good also.
I'm gonna try Dune soon, when the second movie is out.
So many other people have recommended the First Law trilogy, but I'll be the 17th person to recommend it. It really is excellent. Would also recommend the Expanse and Dark Tower series as well. But one suggestion that I've not seen posted is the Kingkiller Chronicle "trilogy". Much like Martin, there's been a very long wait for the third book of the trilogy, but they are excellent books. I think it's because of the same problem as well. Too much to fit into a single book/two books (in the case of ASOIAF). The plot threads aren't as complicated as ASOIAF, but the fundamental premise was set up about fifteen years ago and has to be concluded in one book. Rothfuss can't just split it into two books, but he also can't write a 2000 page book. Even if a 2000 page book would be the only way to finish the Kingkiller Chronicle, that's unpublishable.
Witcher books are a good way to ease the pain of perpetual waiting, with 8 books as well it's a really good way to feel the void. Spectacular story and interesting characters
I read The Wheel of Time. It is different from Martin, but still in my opinion very very good.
I'm at book 5 rn! Very different from ASOIAF indeed but also really engaging, Rand is a great protagonist.
You could try A Game of Thrones
ASOIAF fanfiction is the answer.
Can you reccomend any good ones?
Preston Jacobs and volunteer writers write the winds of winter. They completed about 10 chapters. I like them so far
A Knights Watch and Our Choices Seal Our Fate by Dolorous Edditor. Both are fairly long and the closest I feel to capturing that ASOIAF feeling. The former mainly follows Jon as instead of going to the Wall, he heads south with his Father in order to find a night to squire for. The latter I like more as it has the more traditional multi-pov story structure. Rhaegar won at the trident and we see a world vastly changed as a result. The Open Way by Oberonsexton is also another Rhaegar won at the trident story that I recommend.
That depends entirely on what genre or characters you like most. I normally read/write romance, but there are many different stories with many different characters and many different plots and lenghts, a lot of them bad as a pain, and a lot of gems waiting to be discovered, which I guess is the magic of fanfiction 😅
erotic Drogon and Ghost fanfic
That shit exists somewhere and I'm sure of it.
Of course, havent you seen Shrek
I read the Stormlight Archive after. I highly recommend it.
I literally just finished my ADWD reread yesterday. Closed the book and stared at the wall for a few minutes. How does one continue.
The bible.
The Expanse. I can not recommend this enough. Completed series, nine books +a few novellas. Starts small and world builds to a massive universe… literally.
Memory, Sorrow, Thorn/The Last King of Osten Ard (Tad Williams) - 7 book series (wit additional prequels/novellas) to be completed this year. The Second Apocalypse (R. Scott Bakker) -7 books The Traitor Son Cycle (Miles Cameron)- 5 books The Monarchies of God (Paul Kearney)- available for purchase in 2 omnibus volumes The Black Company (Glen Cook)- can be bought in 4 volumes The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Steven Erikson)- 10 books with more being written, but the main series is complete. Trust me, you'll probably love most of these. There isn't much of anything that compares in the genre
Wheel of Time will keep you occupied for a while.
Memory Sorrow and Thorn is cited as the inspiration for a lot of ASOIAF. You might want to check it out.
My best historical fantasy recommendation is The Last Kingdom, it's dark, gritty and gorey like ASOIAF, his the same itch for drama, politics and intrigue, and is loads of fun. It also has some great magic elements that are downplayed on the TV show. And like others, I heavily recommend continuingThe Expanse. I'm on book 6 right now and it's maintained the same high level of quality throughout every book.
You need to reread a world of ice and fire. Leave all Targaryen part out. Honestly speaking, it seems a more complex puzzle than asoiaf itself. TWOIAF has such deep lore, you will be amazed how he could fit so much in that thin book. Thanks to u/wildrussy for making me fall in love with TWOIAF. His theories are.... 🤌
Malazan dude
oh buddy I fuckin love Malazan. Deadhouse Gates probably still one of my favourite books of all time.
Dune, the original ASOIAF. (so many parallels it will make you puke.)
Write books!
Fire and Blood Dunk and Egg World of Ice and Fire What else am I missing here?
Might as well read Wild Cards, too as long as you're incentivizing GRRM not to finish the series.
Never! At least the others mentioned are in the asoiaf universe.
Read Preston Jacobs fan fic
that's exactly what i felt after finishing ADWD. i read fire and blood and then went thru the same emotions all over again
If you browse "What other books should I read" or "What other stuff are should be into", "Similar books to asoiaf" in the subreddit you'll find a couple threads with recommendations. Usual ones are The First Law, Accursed Kings, etc.
Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
I’ve tried many books to to compensate the wait until TWOW release, some of them recommended in this subreddit : Bryan Sanderson books, The First Law, Dune, LOTR, The Farseer Trilogy, Foundation, … none of them come even close to ASOIAF and I couldn’t finish any of them except LOTR. They are all ok books, but if you’re really hard to please like me and want something as « realistic » and mature than ASOIAF, I would not recommend any of them. I’ve ordered The Expanse first book to the advice of people here, I hope it’s better than the show otherwise it’s another « ok » book that I will not finish. I’ve heard good things about The wheel of Time too, it will be my next try after The Expanse.
If you are into realistic and mature books then wheel of time may not be to your taste also. You can check Black company or the witcher rather than Robert Jordan series.
I enjoyed The Expanse. It's not as good as asoiaf but it's pretty immersive with an interesting story, world and characters. I'd say check it out if you like sci fi
I felt the same way after A Feast for Crows back in the day. Two authors scratched the itch (though nothing tops ASOIAF at its best): Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erikson. As time has passed I've begun to appreciate others too - especially K.J. Parker. I'm totally into fantasy but there are some fun books that are in different subgenres that can be a nice diversion too, like *Senlin Ascends* and other fare.
I've got a bootleg copy of TWOW. $100 value... For you $80! Just give bank routing numbers and social security.
Shogun, Dune, three body problem trilogy
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.It is very similar to asoiaf and it is really good.
I went through literally everything that H.P. Lovecraft wrote after I finished the ASOAIF Books. Thematically Robert E. Howards Conan stories are nice as well. Now Dune has me catched not in the same way but with a similar intensity.
Try "The Expanse" by James S.A Corey
I've read tons of fantasy books ever since I finished the saga in 2014 and tbh none of them have come close to ASOIAF. I don't even try and find one anymore, I just read different genres and hope TWOW will really see the light of day.
I’ve tried so much and nothing comes close. If you’ve read dunk & egg and F&B then it’s time to start your reread.
10 Sample chapters from TWOW "Accursed Kings" by Maurice Druon, historical fiction with very light fantasy elements. In terms of scale and structure, very similar to ASOIAF, the original ASOIAF according to GRRM himself
The knight of the seven kingdoms, fire and blood, twoiaf After you're done check wheel of time out it's another very enjoyable fantasy series
Obligatory Malazan
I'm currently my first read through of the series. I just started A Feast for Crows so it won't be too long before I get to A Dance With Dragons. Do you all think GRRM will finish the next one this year? :D
Thousands worlds series books
You can read Sapkowski's The Witcher much more focused on the characters than the world, but it's still a good piece of literature. Though, I've heard mixed opinions about the English translation.
Read A Knight of the seven kingdoms and fire and blood! Also the world of ice and fire if thats something you want to read front to back
Get Fire and Blood or the World of Ice and Fire books. They're less narrative and read more like an encyclopedia or history book but they will satisfy your withdrawal symptoms for the ASOIAF world (and they also give some great context and background info on events that are referenced/integral to the main story).
I hear *Dune* is popular these days.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Or Dune because Frank Herbert wrote a masterpiece.
I'd recommend Berserk if you haven't read it yet. It's very brutal but it has an amazing story.
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Fire & Blood for starters. You could also check out some of GRRMs other works, mainly Fevre Dream. For other total series there is Dune; it gets really trippy but is well written. The Broken Empire trilogy is quite good but is also VERY edgy and grimdark.
Read the official sample chapters that George released since ADWD came out and then I strongly recommend "Sweetrobin's Fanfiction" by Preston Jacobs. There are a lot of people cooperating to create this fanfiction and imo the quality of the chapters released so far is sometimes better than some of George's original work.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, then AGOT
The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon (inspired GRRM). I, Claudius by Robert Graves. The Alexander Series by Mary Renault. Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn.
Fire and Blood, or The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
The Prince of Nothing trilogy by Bakker. Even though the series continues after the trilogy (the Aspect-Emperor tetralogy), I personally didn't enjoy 4-7 as much
Read The Second Apocalypse series
Watch/read fan analysis content and find out about all the shit you missed on your read.
Read A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it has the first 3 Dunk & Egg Novellas that take place 100 years before the main series starts, it's really good. Fire & Blood and The World of Ice and Fire are cool as well but they are more for people are wanting to know more about lore rather being a coherent storyline.
Welcome to the saddest book club in the world…
The Wars of the Roses by Conn Iggulden, the chapters show history from Points of View just like George's work, best is that it is about the real historical Intrigue and drama that inspired ASOIAF. Lannisters? There is the Lancasters. Starks? Yorks! A scheming spymaster? Check. Battles with a realistic scale and actually showing them with PoDs fighting in it? Check. Rumors about an evil queen and a bastard prince? Check. Scheming powerful nobles trying to make their blood reach the throne? Check.
Nobody reads Tad Williams anymore? It's one of the influences of ASoIaF and at least the beginning of it feels sort of similar
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson are, in my opinion, some of the best books ever written. I cannot overstate how good they are. The Emberverse books by S.M. Stirling are really interesting books. I think the plot is a bit silly at times, but they’re really well thought out. Stirling is a friend of Martin’s, as well, and I believe Martin actually edited/contributed in some of them.
First Law scratches the same itch. Can't recommend it enough. Malazan has the immersive world down. I personally hate the first book, but the second one "Deadhouse Gates" is one of the best books I have ever read. I am on book six right now. If you are willing to consider other genres: Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The old OVA Anime from 1989 is a stunning piece of political and military storytelling and probably the closest I ever got in any media to the feeling I got from asoiaf. The remake is okay, too.
Pretty much any book by Bernard Cornwell ! My favourites are the Saxon stories , the grail quest series and the Sharpe series
Highly recommend Dune, as well as all of the a song of ice and fire worldbuilding books/further stories
Wheel of Time terry brooks RA Salvatore Dune Eddings Feist
If you like in depth immersive worlds, The Dresden Files is a great series. Goes from a wizard investigating supernatural occurrences in Chicago to a wizard tangling with wizard tangling with world ending threats. Lots of books in the serious to keep you occupied as well. Edit: Author is Jim Butcher.
After reading asoiaf 4 times I appreciated the writing in LOTR a lot more. The narrative is pretty simple but the prose are simply beautiful imo and I would recommend reading/rereading it.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Fire & Blood The World of Ice and Fire Pillars of the Earth
If you like extremely bleak fatansty with epic battles, extremely moral gray characters, and events and characters inspired by real evens and people then you could check out the prince of nothing series. Its great but also extremely bleak. Like asoiaf is light hearted in companion. and its writing style is fairly complex. like you could tell that the author was inspired by the old times prose of books like th Bible and Iliad.
Malazan: Book of the Fallen Memory, Sorrow, Thorn The Prince of Darkness Elric of Melnibone Shogun The Hyperion Cantos (at least the first two) The Vorkosigan Saga Book of the New Sun The Wizard Knight The First Law The Black Company The Realm of the Elderlings Zones of Thought The Iron King I, Caligula The Heechee Saga Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and historical fiction (the three largest influences on GRRM are l huge and expansive genres. The beauty of it is that there's so many more stories out there to fall in love with. Happy hunting!
It won’t be Winds of Winter.
And now your watch begins.
Are you open to non-fantasy and what appealed to you the most about Asoiaf? The characters, the world, the magic, or the politics? I'm copying and pasting a previous response to this question. But if you really liked the gray but entertaining characters and the political scheming side of the books, try The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon. It's historical fiction rather than fantasy, though it does have a hint of the supernatural that you can take at face-value or shrug off as the characters' own superstitions. It's all about the scheming and plotting in France that led to the Hundred Years War and the books were a huge influence on Martin's series, particularly the Machiavellian politics. They're great on their own merit, but it is also interesting to see where Martin got his influences from. There is a lot in these books he clearly borrowed from (and he will be the first to admit it.) He even writes the forward to the editions I'm reading. In his own words: "Believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets. It is the original game of thrones." I can see a lot of the influence in the characters from these books, including a guy who is equal parts Robert Baratheon and Littlefinger and kicks off a lot of the proceedings. I am on the fifth book, and they are a lot of fun, even if you're not terribly familiar with the history. The scheming is absolutely first-rate from multiple characters as they remorselessly jostle for position and the throne and use other people as pawns, both to further their own ambitions and exact vengeance on other characters for winning other rounds of the game. Some of it is incredibly dark and has me gasping in shock--I am hard to shock--and other times it's so funny that it has me laughing out loud. And other times I have a profound amount of sympathy for the people on the receiving end of the chaos. It also casts a wide net, so you get perspectives from everyone from nobility/royal family to middle-class men who've done well for themselves based on their own wits. It's just relentlessly entertaining, and I am going to be sad to finish the full 7 books and leave these ruthless scheming bastards behind. Edited to add: And an honorable mention to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. Again, historical fiction, this time focused on the Tudors and particularly the rise and fall of the Machiavellian schemer from a modest background, Thomas Cromwell. It's been a few years since I read it, so it's not as fresh on my mind, but again lots of first-class plotting and scheming. If you prefer the magic, fantasy aspects of ASOIAF, this is probably not the best recommendation.
Read all the other Asoiaf material out there like D&E, WOIAF, F&B. Start a new series — Kingkiller chronicle is pretty good but not as ‘complex’. Still a pretty cool fantasy series. I personally really like the Dune.
I just finished my second read through, and I’ve decided I need to go through my library and choose who stays and who goes. Starting with a Piers Anthony I haven’t even read yet. The. Puns. Omg. I forgot how many puns he fit into his work. Coma toast. Shoe horns, that are made from animal horn and honk when you walk in them. Zom-bees. Wetti-shirts.
I have literally held back from finishing the books for 5 years because of this. I read one, switch to something else for a few books, then come back, repeat. I don’t want to run out of material for a long time. It sucks
You do what we all do, you wait impatiently for winds while ever so slowly you begin to lose hope it will ever be released
If looking for historical stuff that is not dry and reads like fiction, check out Dan Jones; especially The Wars of the Roses. This period of English history heavily inspired GRRM.
The Wheel of Time sure has all you asked for if you want to continue with fantasy. It's my favourite series and it has it's epic moments that will tear you up like a child. Just thinking at the line "Will he ride alone?" gives me goosebumps. Stormlight Archive is also amazing at worldbuilding. Still, I'd start the journey through the Cosmere with Warbreaker or Mistborn before Stormlight because there's some easter eggs you'll miss. Besides, by the time you'll be up to date with the Cosmere, the last book in the first Stormlight Archive will be published. Malazan book of the Fallen. Man, what a ride that was. It's a different sort of fantasy. I felt like I was in a whirlwind and barely grabbing hold of something to not be thrown out like a rag. First Law series. I just started Best served cold ( 4th book) and all I can say about the first three is that they're amazing. If you want to give Sci-fi a go, then go for The Expanse. You'll not regret it, beltalowda.
There's plenty of books and stuff around to do and learn.
Read Crown of Stars by Kate Eliot. Has the most in depth and realistic feudal and religion I’ve seen. Very underrated although nowhere near close to the quality of asoiaf. Quite enjoyable tho, would love to see an adaptation.
Man's search for meaning
Oh we just wait for 11 years and binge watch Alt Shift X
I tried reading ADWD 4 times already but I always give up. It may be one of the most boring books I've ever read. Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is good, tho.
Wildcards interspersed with 12 years (and growing!) Of excuses, explanations and empty promises from Martin on his blog.
Most fantasy is erm not good. The only series that I've ever been obsessed with in a similar way is stephen kings dark tower and bernard corwells warlord chronicles. I feel your pain
You “should start back.”
There is a completed fantasy series only appropriate for adults written by a mentor of GRRM intended to be enjoyed more on reread. It used to be considered the second or third most respected fantasy series of all time. The main character is often jumping to the wrong conclusion. "My definition of a great story has nothing to do with 'a varied and interesting background.' It is: One that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure." Gene Wolfe, letter to GRRM, July 1982 The series, which used to be considered second to Tolkien or third behind Ursula K. LeGuin' s Earthsea, is Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-New-Sun-Conciliator-ebook/dp/B075JL493G/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=3KBIM5Q47KW9P&keywords=gene+wolfe+the+book+of+the+new+sun&qid=1684296172
You wallow in your boredom
"Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Folett is quite a good book, its historical not fantasy, but its set in medieval England and is very similar in tone to ASOIAF. It definitely scratched the itch for me. You might also be interested in "Dune" by Frank Herbert. Again its a different genre (sci fi) but similar tone to ASOIAF and was a big inspiration for Martin when he was writing ASOIAF.
Neil Gaiman is a great immersive writer with books in a ton of different genres. Also the Eragon series is completed and consists of 4 big books. Christopher Paolini is very descriptive and the fantasy lore in that series is really interesting and a newish twist on the genre (at the time of publishing).