There's nothing quite like political fantasy done right. The scheming, the alliances, the betrayals, the moments when you realize someone you trusted was playing a completely different game—these elements create tension that pure action can't match.
If you finished A Song of Ice and Fire and have been chasing that same political complexity ever since, this guide is for you.
What Makes Political Fantasy Compelling
Great political fantasy isn't just about thrones and conspiracies. It's about:
- Competing legitimate claims — No clear "good guys" and "bad guys"
- Personal stakes — Political decisions that cost characters what they love
- Systemic critique — Power structures examined, not just inhabited
- Intelligent characters — Everyone playing to win, no one holding the idiot ball
- Consequences — Choices that ripple outward, changing everything
Colonial Politics: The Underexplored Frontier
Most political fantasy models itself on medieval European courts or ancient empires. But some of the most complex political situations in human history emerged from colonialism and its aftermath.
Post-colonial political fantasy offers something the genre desperately needs: political situations that aren't just about who sits on the throne, but about what the throne even means and who gets to define power.
Featured: The Politics of Resonance
Resonance by Sitreyah Kotelo weaves political complexity through every page—but the politics aren't courtly intrigue in the traditional sense. They're the politics of identity, of cultural survival, of navigating between worlds.
The political tensions include:
- Traditional power structures vs. colonial impositions
- Individual identity vs. communal responsibility
- Ancestral wisdom vs. modern demands
- The politics of healing in a wounded community
For readers who love political fantasy, this offers a completely different—and arguably more relevant—type of political complexity.
Political Fantasy Beyond Courts and Crowns
The best political fantasy of 2025 recognizes that politics happens everywhere, not just in throne rooms:
- Community politics — Leadership without crowns, consensus over command
- Cultural politics — Whose traditions survive? Who decides?
- Family politics — Generational conflict as political struggle
- Body politics — Who controls what bodies can do?
These forms of political conflict can be just as compelling as any succession crisis—and often more personally resonant.