This is hard for me to put into words, but I’m going to do my best and hope that someone knows what I’m talking about.
I’m looking for recommendations of books where the main characters have to be careful and strategic, particularly in the running of a government. I want to see a big chunk of the plot revolve around intrigue, trying to satisfy various factions with conflicting interests, understanding and solving the problems created by previous regimes, that kind of thing. I’d love something that deals with issues like this with quite a large scope, like trying to run an entire country or planet. Even something about war could fit if most of the narrative is from the point of view of generals and heads of state trying to understand the whole war, rather than the heroism of individual soldiers from the viewpoint of specific battles.
I’m thinking, for example, of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, where a lot of the plot and conflict arise from the main characters doing their best to put together a working government after the events of *Return of the Jedi*, I’m also thinking of *S1gn1f1cant D1g1t5*, a Harry Potter fanfic where the characters are trying to build a new world order and there’s a lot of talk about taxes and regulations. I like the way *A Song of Ice and Fire* gets into this a lot as well, as well as the *Malazan* books (though more on the side or war than government, and not with as much depth as I would like, amazing as that series is).
As you can see from the examples, I suspect that science fiction and fantasy will be my best bet for something like this. However, I would also be very interested in historical fiction with this kind of approach. I’m still not sure if I’ve communicated what I’m talking about here, so if someone else has a better way of expressing what I’m talking about then I’m all ears.
Thanks, everyone!
by ganapatya