When I say politics, I mean politics between the in-world factions, not necessarily containing a political message pertaining to the real world (though I understand the two tend to go hand-in-hand).
I recently read the first 3 Dune novels, and I LOVED the political calculations, espionage, plotting, etc (especially in Children of Dune)… I'm also on a big fantasy kick.
I know that the obvious choice is A Song of Ice and Fire, but I simply will not be starting that until the 5th book is released.
by Legitimate_Smile855
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Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series!
Ten books total but if you’re in it just for the politics, you can read just the first trilogy and the second trilogy. Between them are three stand alone books and a collection of short stories from the universe.
All of them are fantastic.
You might enjoy The Traitor Baru Cormorant. It’s very heavily focused on complex political machinations, and is very fun.
Mistborn (Era 1) by Brandon Sanderson has this, as well as the follow on Era 2 Trilogy.
Also, the Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch, book 1 is Lies of Lock Lamora!
Have you read The Rook? Should check a lot of boxes for you!
I enjoyed the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. The first book’s politics are on a smaller scale, mostly one faction vs. another, but everything amps up to the national/global scale in books 2 and 3.
Vlad Taltos/Dragaera series; essentially members of the dominant race are born into one of 17 “houses” that each take turn ruling the government in a set order. The members of each house also have racial traits of their house that tend to influence how society gets on during that house’s rule. And then there are humans, who are universally oppressed, shunned, and forced to live in ghettos. The politics tend to be a backdrop in most of the books, until they get suddenly brought to the fore and the main character has to avert some huge political disaster.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison- the emperor’s unloved isolated fourth son abruptly ascends the throne and has to balance a ton of political calculations and court intrigue
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan– a queer re-imagining of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, full of political intrigue, violence, and multiple contenders to the throne
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows– a politically savvy young gay man from a homophobic country has an arranged marriage to neighboring royalty and gets tossed into some serious intrigue in the royal family.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine– the ambassador from a tiny space station goes to the capital of the neighboring (and threatening) empire to save her home and gets immediately thrown into serious politics, including competing coup attempts, a succession crisis, high-stakes poetry, solving the murder of her predecessor, and brain surgery. (technically sci-fi, not fantasy, but so is Dune).
The October Daye series has a lot of in-world politics between different faerie courts. It’s definitely not the key point of the story, but it’s a pretty important sub-plot that is not always used for antagonism.
*The Goblin Emperor* by Katherine Addison.
*The Curse of Chalion* by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Both books stand alone but I know there are more books that follow them about the same world, maybe same characters? I haven’t read the follow-ups yet but both are super good and all about political intrigue!
Isn’t Empire of The Wolf by Richard Swan supposed to be the big political fantasy series these days. I heard it was fantastic but it was all political back and forth and machinations. If someone has read it, I have not.
You might like [The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty](https://www.goodreads.com/series/211584-the-daevabad-trilogy)!