fantasy without lords and ladies

[guess]

Does anyone know of any non-urban fantasy that have political structures where the political structures are different from a fantasy version of western europe? I am getting bored with the constant 'my lady/my lord' my king, etc... bits. Something with different political structures?

 

This is getting old. People seem to get more innovative and away from the traditional sheperd hero, but they stick with the same medievil/royalty structure. Anything with republics? Democracy? Military dictatorships? or anything non-European?

 

Daniel Abraham did this a little bit in his first series.

 

I am looking for stuff that is considerably different and not a small twist. Anything with different levels of technology? Brandon did this to some degree in one of his more recent books. I prefer non-steampunk fantasy. Any fantasy books where technology actually advances over time and things change? One of the recurring motiffs of fantasy is that 1000s of years pass and nothing changes. (unless its steampunk).

 

maybe iron age fantasy? (pre-steel. Roman/Greek, Middle Chinese). Any fantasy at all with African or native american cultures?

 

Orson Scott Card did a fantasy series that combined a US Western and Fantasy. Don't like westerns. Prefer a whole different world.

[Trizee]

You could try Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven and River of Stars, which are based off ancient China.

[Kurkistan]

Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series has a political/social structure based on ancient Rome, though the tech level is also based on them.

 

The Tales of the Otori books by Lian Hearn is Japanese (I honestly can't remember if I liked this or most of it's content. That's not a particularly good sign, but I did finish them).

 

One of Brandon's former students, Brian McClellan, recently released Promise of Blood, which is decent enough. Gunpowder-level tech level in the aftermath of a military coup, though still western-based.

 

The Riftwar cycle (Raymond E. Fiests, a ton of books) is mostly western, but there's a few novels (the Empire Trilogy) that essentially stand by themselves and are set primarily in a japan-inspired (though not slavishly so) setting. Still has a medieval tech level, sadly.

 

I can't recall any others that meet your criteria, at least not off the top of my head. I'd probably pick the Codex Alera books, if I could only give one recommendation. They're essentially Jim Butcher's response to a dare, one which should be absurd but instead is absurdly awesome.

 

If it makes you feel better, Brandon shares your frustrations, which is why the 2nd Mistborn trilogy (which he's writing after Stormlight 5) will be set in the modern era and the 3rd will be sci-fi.

[andyk]

China Mieville's New Crobuzon books probably fit the bill - Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. The politics is different in each one, as they are to varying extents set in different parts of the world Mieville creates, but there's not much lords and ladies in any of them. The technology level is largely Victorian - there are steam trains and guns - but it's definitely fantasy rather than steampunk, with strange races and some interesting magic. His take on elementalism in Iron Council goes to some particularly interesting places.

 

Maybe Stephen King's Dark Tower novels as well - I haven't read them yet, but I hear good enough reviews that I've got them sat by the nightstand.

 

And if you're after Roman fantasy then, in a moment of self-interest, I'm going to point out this story I had published on the Wily Writers website this month:

http://www.wilywriters.com/blog/live-by-the-sword-by-andrew-knighton/

[Aethling]

The Dreamers series by Eddings doesn't have lords and ladies.  Still, that is probably his worst work.  As much as I love his other work, I couldn't force myself to give any of those books above two stars.  Possibly Redemption of Althalus.  The Gods do play an active role in his works though, so that might take the place of lords and ladies.  

 

The Scions of Shanarra series doesn't really have it either.  There is one guy that is technically a lord, but his family hasn't had any sort of power for generations.  It has been a while, but I think an Elf queen plays a role later.

 

Elliott's series that starts with Spirit Gate doesn't have any that I remember, but then it has almost no magical use.  Main characters would probably be Chinese culturally.  I would have to give a content warning on her works though.  She manages to figure in a virgin being raped into almost all of her books.

[Kurkistan]

Also, I'm not sure if by "urban" you mean "not epic" or just "not modern era Earth", but if you mean the former, I'm always looking for excuses to recommend Steven Brust's Dragaera books. They star a mob boss/hitman with a snarky flying not!dragon sidekick in a caste-separated nigh-eternal empire of elves. Kind of westernish, but not really.

Okay, that may sound a bit overdone. Trust me, though, they're good. Brust takes forever to write a book, but there's more than a dozen out at the moment. They were published out of chronological order, so you can read them multiple ways, but I think it's best to read them in publishing order, then you can have fun reading them chronologically if you feel like double dipping.

 

The main series has 13 books, then there's a set of "romances"--styled after the Three Musketeers--set in the same world that has 5 books.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Kurkistan

[Senor Feesh]

I'll second the Bas-lag books by Miéville (they're excellent). The technology and magic do largely take a back seat to the politics, at least in the first book, but that being said there are moments of pure fantasy awesomeness (the Weavers, possibility mining,) and the characters are all interesting and flawed individuals. That said, these CAN be hard to get into. They have a very slow build, but before you even realise it's happening, by the time you reach mid-book you can't stop turning pages, and I'm damned if I can tell you where that happens.

 

I should probably mention that Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council make up (so far) all the Bas-lag books (plus at least one short story called 'Jack' which can be found in his anthology Looking for Jake which deals with Jack Half-a-Prayer from Perdido Street Station).

 

The Dark Tower, I would term as a post-apocalyptic fantasy western, but it does actually (in the backstory at least) have the feudal European structure of kings and lords etc.

 

If you want something really unusual I'll plug again Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, which is more clockworkpunk than steampunk, and whilst it certainly uses European stylings, it doesn't really go in much for lords and ladies - it's probably more Victorian/Edwardian parallel in terms of the kind of societies (at least in Collegium, where much of the book-time is spent).

 

That's probably all I can come up with right away. I'll post back if I think of anything else.

[Carcinios]

Ian Irvine's 'View from the Mirror' and 'Well of Echoes'  quartets cover most of what your looking for. They feature a dynamic world that takes a really interesting look at alternative forms of government (more so in 'Well of Echoes') They do have a chronology but the two quartets stand independently of each other so I would recommend starting with Geomancer (The first book in WoE) and then read a 'View from the Mirror' as a prequel. Hope that helps

[rags]

Looks like you are looking for something different from the usual fantasy fare........So you want something other than epic fantasy? Try these:

1. Guy Gavriel Kay writes brilliant historical fantasies, almost all his books are superb and different from the usual stuff

2. Watership Down by Richard Adams: Awesome book!!, The description may sound like a childrens book, and it probably is a childrens book but its well worth the read

3. You could also try Neil Gaiman, I have read only American Gods and that was quite good.

4. The Night circus by Erin Morgenstern and The magician by Lev Grossman: Both are good books with a very different setting

5. You could try Dune series if you are interested in a science fiction/fantasy (its more science fiction though)

6. If you want to try some YA: Jonathan Stroud's  Bartimaeus Trilogy is an excellent read ; Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy is one of the best fantasies I have read.

7. If you want something similar to Mistborn but in a different setting, you could try Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan.

Edited June 19, 2013 by rags

[guess]

any fantasy out there that mixes fantasy and sci-fi? Ken Scholes does this to some degree and his 4th book just came out. I think the Marjipoor books do this. I picked Lord Valentines Castle up but I have not read it yet.

 

Non-Earth based fantasy. I like my fantasy in a new world.

[andyk]

If you're after a really rich new world then try Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines books. It's a YA series whose set-up involves mobile cities chasing each other across a blasted landscape. While it's presented as a post-apocalyptic future Earth, it's so far from modern or historical reality that I'd call it a new world, and while it's not technically fantasy it doesn't feel like sci-fi either.

[Mandamon]

I'll third (or fourth or fifth) the Bas-lag books by Meiville.  I saw mixed reviews of his stuff, but then read Perdido Street Station and was completely sucked in.  I plan on reading the others.

 

I just finished the first three Majipoor books.  They're definitely science-fantasy, but I can't really recommend them.  The plots and characters are just not that great.

 

Another I finished recently was Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed.  It is medieval with a class structure, but is set in the middle east, so a little different.  It's his first novel, and it shows, but the story is still enjoyable.

 

One last one no one has mentioned yet is Larry Corriea's Grimnoir Chronicles.  It's set in the 1920's with mobs and gangsters (power stuctures!), but is full of magic (if scienc-y magic).  No steampunk either.  The first and second books are out, and the third is coming out in August.  It's very enjoyable; sort of a detective story.  It's Earth, but fairly alternate Earth.

 

If you like urban fantasy at all, do yourself a favor and read Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

 

Reaching back, if you haven't read the Deathgate Cycle by Weis and Hickman, I highly recommend it.  I've read the whole series several times.  It's certainly fantasy, and takes place somewhere that doesn't look anything like Earth.

Weis and Hickman also wrote the first two books of a planned trilogy called the Starshield series, where "quantum weather" makes different places in the universe act under different laws.  Cool books, if you can get around them being unfinshed (the sales weren't what they expected).