A Game of Thrones
George R. R. Martin
Martin has credited Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn as an influence; fans of Williams's feuding royals, cold northern threat and morally grey politics will find the same ingredients sharpened and expanded.
12 books to read next
Books Like The Dragonbone Chair
If you loved The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
Readers love The Dragonbone Chair for its slow-building, immersive epic scope: a kitchen boy, Simon, swept from the castle of the Hayholt into a war shaped by ancient history, a dying king's legacy and a returning darkness. Williams lingers on landscape, myth and the inner life of an awkward, believable hero, and his world of Sithi, Norns and old songs feels deep and lived-in. It rewards patience with rich detail, moral complexity and a sense of genuine sorrow beneath the adventure.
Epics it directly inspired
The Eye of the World
Robert Jordan
Another farm-boy-to-destiny epic with a slow opening, ancient evil and sprawling world-building, ideal if you loved following Simon's journey out of his ordinary life into legend.
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss
Rothfuss shares Williams's lyrical prose, love of songs and stories within stories, and a young, flawed hero whose growth is told with patience and warmth.
Deep worlds, ancient sorrow
The Fellowship of the Ring
J. R. R. Tolkien
The root of Williams's elegiac tone: a fading elder race, long journeys through haunted landscapes and a sense that history weighs on every choice the characters make.
Tigana
Guy Gavriel Kay
Kay writes with the same melancholy beauty and attention to memory and loss, crafting a richly textured world where an old injustice shapes everything, much like Prester John's legacy.
Gardens of the Moon
Steven Erikson
For readers who loved the deep time behind the Sithi and Norns, Erikson offers immortal races, millennia of buried history and a vast, demanding epic that rewards attention.
Coming-of-age apprentices
Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb
Like Simon, Fitz is a lowly castle boy caught up in royal intrigue; Hobb's intimate, emotional first-person storytelling suits readers who cared most about the hero's growth.
A Wizard of Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin
A shorter, luminous tale of a young man learning hard lessons about power and pride, with the same mythic resonance and quiet wisdom found in Doctor Morgenes's teaching.
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
A huge modern epic with layered history, returning ancient threats and characters slowly discovering their purpose, perfect if you enjoy long books that build toward big payoffs.
Newer epics to try
The Priory of the Orange Tree
Samantha Shannon
A standalone epic with dragons, rival courts and ancient legends proving true, offering the sweeping scale of Osten Ard in a single substantial volume.
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
Jemisin's inventive world carries buried history and sorrow much like Williams's, though told with bold structure for readers ready to try something more contemporary.
The Blade Itself
Joe Abercrombie
If the court politics and grim war interested you, Abercrombie offers grittier, wittier epic fantasy with vivid flawed characters and an ancient conflict brewing underneath.
We earn a commission if you buy through these links. Learn more