Books Like Game of Thrones That Deliver Dragons, Betrayals, and Big Stakes

My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me.

An assassin with nothing to lose. A kingdom built on power. A deadly game with one rule: survive. Celaena Sardothien is the most feared assassin in Adarlan—until betrayal lands her in a brutal prison. Her chance at freedom comes with a cost: win a royal tournament against twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors. The prize? Life as the King’s Champion. But the glass castle holds darker secrets than a deadly competition. Magic may be gone, but something ancient and evil is lurking—and it’s killing the competitors one by one. With the Crown Prince watching her closely, the Captain of the Guard guarding her life, and a kingdom on the edge of something monstrous, Celaena must fight for more than survival. She must fight to become legend.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do. But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy. There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze. However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand… Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order–an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance. With stories as perennial and universally beloved as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of The Rings—but also unlike anything but themselves—Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea novels are some of the most acclaimed and awarded works in literature. They have received accolades such as the National Book Award, a Newbery Honor, the Nebula Award, and many more honors, commemorating their enduring place in the hearts and minds of readers and the literary world alike.

A fierce dispute among the Gods and the theft of a powerful Orb leaves the World divided into five kingdoms. Young Garion, with his “Aunt Pol” and an elderly man calling himself Wolf –a father and daughter granted near-immortality by one of the Gods — set out on a complex mission. In the process, as Garion grows into his early teens, he learns to defend himself, grapples with a wild boar, uncovers spies at a king’s palace, learns about sorceryand starts to gain a sense of what his own destiny may be.

Across the Four Lands, peace has reigned for generations. But now, in the far north, an unknown enemy is massing. More troubling than the carnage is the strange and wondrous power wielded by the attackers—a breed of magic unfamiliar even to the Druid order. Fearing the worst, the High Druid dispatches a diplomatic party under the protection of the order’s sworn guardian, Dar Leah, to confront the mysterious, encroaching force and discover its purpose. But another crucial journey is being undertaken. Exiled onetime High Druid Drisker Arc has been living in quiet seclusion, far from the politics and power struggles of his former life, until two brutal attacks by would-be assassins force him to seek out an infamous murder-for-hire guild—and find the hidden enemy who has marked him for death. At his side is Tarsha Kaynin, a young woman gifted with the wishsong and eager to be schooled in its formidable power by a master. She, too, is pursuing a mission: to locate her wayward brother, whose own magic has driven him to deadly madness and kindled his rage for vengeance . . . against his sister. In their darkest hours, facing dangerous adversaries, the lives and quests of Dar Leah, Drisker Arc, and Tarsha Kaynin will be inextricably drawn together. And the challenges each confronts will have resounding consequences for the future of the Four Lands.

Logen Ninefingers—legendary killer, reluctant survivor—has finally run out of luck. On the run and bleeding out, he’s just hoping to die somewhere quiet. Across the Union, dashing nobleman Jezal dan Luthar dreams of fame and fortune, blissfully unaware that war is barreling straight toward him. And in the city’s rotting underbelly, Inquisitor Glokta—crippled torturer, professional cynic—roots out treason one confession at a time. But everything changes when Bayaz, an irritable old man claiming to be the First of the Magi, reemerges from legend and pulls these unlikely souls into a conspiracy that stretches far beyond their understanding. In The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie shreds the line between hero and villain in a brutal, brilliant fantasy where power corrupts, pain instructs, and survival has a price.

Darrow is a Red—Mars’ lowest caste, enslaved beneath the surface to prepare the world for future generations. At least, that’s the lie he’s been told. When he learns that humanity has already claimed the planet and that Reds are nothing more than expendable labor to the elite Golds, Darrow’s world shatters. Driven by grief and justice, he sacrifices everything to become what he hates most: a Gold. Infiltrating the Institute—a brutal training ground for the ruling class—Darrow must outwit, outfight, and outlast the most dangerous youth in the solar system. But the cost of rebellion may be losing himself. Red Rising is a ferocious, high-stakes dystopian epic that blends the politics of Ender’s Game with the brutality of The Hunger Games. Rise or burn.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the 10 consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where 10 armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

In the corrupt, canal-laced city of Camorr, orphan Locke Lamora rises from street urchin to legendary con artist. Under the wing of a master thief, Locke forms the Gentleman Bastards—a band of clever rogues who specialize in stealing from the rich, the powerful, and the dangerously well-armed. But when a mysterious figure known only as the Grey King begins dismantling the criminal underworld, Locke and his crew find themselves caught in a deadly game. The city’s shadows are darker than they appear, and surviving might cost more than just coin. The Lies of Locke Lamora is the razor-sharp first book in the Gentleman Bastard Sequence, blending epic fantasy with high-stakes heists, riotous wit, and unforgettable camaraderie. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and The Name of the Wind.