Season six of Game of Thrones is sure to be the largest spectacle of the previous seasons. Without the guidance of George R.R. Martin’s books, the show has never been truly more unpredictable, and with all the hype it has received, it’s safe to say that no other show on television is as popular or critically acclaimed. With American Gods being adapted into a series for Starz, I don’t think there has been a better time to assume that more fantasies should be coming to television. Here are 10 fantasy books that should fill the void, should Game of Thrones end.
10) The Broken Empire
What is it?:
“The Broken Empire” is a trilogy that tells the story of a boy born to royalty and his ragtag band of outlaws as they traverse a socially fragmented and terrifyingly mystical landscape, committing horrible deeds and encountering monsters, on the boy’s way to adulthood and confronting the life he left behind.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
“The Broken Empire” is basically “A Song of Ice and Fire,” if it was fashioned as a coming-of-age and more linear, (anti)hero’s journey. It has the same political squabbles, the brutal violence and darkly fantastical tone. It engages the same dark principles of Game of Thrones making it the perfect, if maybe too perfect, successor to the series.
Advertisement
9) Leviathan
What is it?:
The First World War reimagined in a steampunk setting, where the Germans and Hungarians are diesel-obsessed “Clankers,” working with advanced machinery, and the British are “Darwinists,” scientists who have genetically engineered animals to perform a variety of tasks. The two protagonists are a Darwinist, a girl posing as a boy and an Austro-Hungarian prince, both of whom are driven into the conflict and whose destinies become intertwined.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
Advertisement
This is decidedly a young adult novel but the possibilities that an HBO adaptation could bring are endless, the Lovecraftian horrors of the Darwinist, the gun-blazing carnage of the Clankers are only a few things that can be explored in depth with a long running series, as well as exploring the characters and weird concepts of this steampunk world.
8) Mistborn
What is it?:
Advertisement
“Mistborn,” is a trilogy where a young woman lives under the tyranny of a powerful Lord Ruler and is held captive by her slavers until she is freed by a mysterious man possessing mystical powers. Together, the young woman and the man harness the power of the mistborn to defeat the Lord Ruler and end an ancient tyranny.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
Although it’s a lot more tame than Game of Thrones, “Mistborn”nevertheless is a book made for adults. Its gritty atmosphere, depressing dystopian tone set just within its first pages, “Mistborn” could very well represent a more vibrant and visually ambitious venture for HBO. With Game of Thrones embracing its high fantasy more and more, “Mistborn” definitely rises as a contender for a long running series.
7) Elric of Melniboné
What is it?:
A classic fantasy yarn about a frail king who must constantly consume potions to stay alive as he battles treachery, barbarians and sorcery in his kingdom. The character, who can be found in many different stories, tries to uphold the barbaric and honoured tradition of his people, while the world around him changes.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
While the source material is certainly old, I can’t help but feel that the many sagas of “Elric of Melniboné” would make for a brilliant TV series today with its variations on action, cosmic horror, high fantasy and swash-buckling romance. However, due to the brevity of the author’s work, a show like this would need to be more episodic (think less Game of Thrones, and more X-Files).
6) The Malazan Book of the Fallen
What is it?:
An epic and complex story about an evil empress wreaking havoc on an ancient landscape as a few remaining soldiers attempt to defend against a siege by the empress and her flying fortress. Among the political intrigue and battles are the inner workings of legendary warrior legions, mages and other inhabitants caught in the crossfire.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
“Malazan” is more contained than Game of Thrones, but no less political or philosophical. It’s often been said that the book is hard to follow due to the various names one needs to remember to follow the story. However with its complex narrative structure, it would make for a perfect counterbalance between high concept and twisty, detailed storytelling.
5) Bas-Lag
What is it?:
“Bas-Lag” is several novels, all of them as weird as the name. “Perdido Street Station” is the first, taking place in an incredibly detailed and vibrant city consisting of horrific creatures including insectoids, mammalian humanoids, slimy reptiles and humans. It becomes a science experiment gone wrong type of story (like Re-Animator meets Slither). The follow ups are just as strange, particularly “The Scar” which instead of a city takes place in an entire ecosystem made up of a cluster of boats in the middle of the ocean.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
To be completely honest, I don’t think an adaptation of this calibre is quite possible on a television budget, however as an animation (with HBO’s Spawn as a convincing precedence), show-runners could do wonders with the world of “Bas-Lag.” Explore the themes per episode, design as many gross out images possible and hell, even the human/scarab-humanoid relationship will actually come off as convincing.
4) Kushiel’s Dart
What is it?:
A light-fantasy adult novel series about a young woman sold into sex slavery into a royal court reminiscent of Louis XV. It becomes a political thriller of sorts, resembling more a work of alternate history, about heroines who hold a distinct advantage over their male overlords through sexuality and wit.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
Game of Thrones is controversial for its depictions of rape, particularly when its main players are the ones being victimized. It’s a frustratingly regressive form of gender politics, a problem solved in “Kushiel’s Dart,” whose heroine is passive to her owners, but is empowered through manipulating court politics and using her status as an unexpected asset. It’s a book series that is explicit, but both liberating and realistic, without devolving into gratuitous exploitation.
3) The First Law
What is it?:
Imagine four characters, the first an out-of-luck Conan the Barbarian, the second an Errol Flynn dreamer, the third an even more extroverted, less-personable Javert and the last, a Merlin type, who may or may not be a snake oil salesman. Now imagine “The First Law,” a book that seeks to shove the four into an enclosed space and shake it up.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
Game of Thrones is praised for having a lack of distinction between good guys and bad guys, which is mostly true, but still doesn’t account for the fact that characters like Joffrey and Cersei, the Boltons and the Freys are without a doubt, honest-to-god bad guys. What “The First Law” has is a genuine sense of confusion of who the hero and villain is, creating something truly anti-Manichean, and clever to boot.
2) The Tales of the Ketty Jay
What is it?:
Another steampunk saga, except it composites a high fantasy realm instead of an alternate history, and this one is definitely not for kids. It’s a story about a crew who live on board an airship. After one of their heists go bad and they’re framed for a terrible crime, the crew become fugitives from a higher power.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
It sounds like something we’ve seen before, that being Joss Whedon’s “Firefly,” which was criminally killed off before its time. However, “Retribution Falls” stands out, it’s grittier, meaner and more violent than Firefly. It consists of four genres that are hugely ignored or looked over in television: pirates, steampunk, heists and westerns.
1) The Black Company
What is it?:
A fantasy classic, epic and dark, ten times more soulful and in-depth than the cold, irresolute delayed gratification that defined “A Song of Ice and Fire.” “The Black Company” tells a story on ground level, gets in the dirt with its characters, who are portrayed humble and naturalistic, despite the coarseness of their profession and the harshness of their task.
Why Should it be Adapted?:
Envisioning a show on HBO for the classic “Black Company” is strange because it’s unlike most fantasies I mentioned. The characters aren’t defined as being either heroes or antiheroes. It’s been said that the prose has a journalist-quality to it, like someone is on the field interviewing its characters as they go on with their daily lives (wizards, fantastic beasts and the rest are still around). In another sense, it’s a workman’s fantasy. Not lumbering or slow but straightforward. It deserves to be adapted not for the “dark” qualities it possesses, but the too often ignored and overlooked “relatable” qualities fantasies should possess.
Advertisement