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[miauw62]

Whoops, sorry

[alamoes]

Narrative Fiction?  You seem to be interested in more a way of telling the story than the specific genre.  Well, I don't have many stories to share, but for some REALLY REALLY light examples of this (book a week, or if you are really good at reading), I'd recommend you something from Clive Cussler.  Just pick one at random.  Mostly about spies, and the other little people affecting big things.  Like a marine who got into wild life rescue saves an island from that mad doctor guy who brainwashes people type thing.  Always very cliche, but cliche in a good way.  I enjoyed them, but then moved on.  Characters are quite shallow, but that is because they are mostly neutral good/neutral evil/neutral neutral, and we expect that.  Nobody is truly a rules stickler, nor a chaotic weirdo who does what he wants in the realm of espionage/treasure hunting/submarine testing/whatever else he writes about. 

[monkey]

The accursed kings
http://www.georgerrmartin.com/maurice-druons-the-iron-king/

[mainiac]

Thucydides history of the Peloponnesian war is an interesting non-fiction example of the geopolitical drama genre.  I dont remember the translator who I found well written but I'm sure most of the popular translations make for good reading.

[Il Palazzo]

Way to miss the point of the question, people. Chairman is asking how'd you call a genre of fiction focusing on backstabbity intrigue and political acrobatics, possibly in a feudal setting.
I suspect he got addicted and needs another fix.

[Sheb]

I like to think of those books as "society novels": the point is not so much the individual character as the society they depict (of, this definition fits Foundation and Dune better than GoT), and I tend to lump then in with stuff like War and Peace or Life and Fate.

[ChairmanPoo]

Way to miss the point of the question, people. Chairman is asking how'd you call a genre of fiction focusing on backstabbity intrigue and political acrobatics, possibly in a feudal setting.
I suspect he got addicted and needs another fix.

Dead on...

[miauw62]

We did give like five other examples, though

[Noel.se]

Yeah, iIrc the foundation trilogy has a fair bit of political intrigue.

[Il Palazzo]

On the other hand, iirc Foundation is nowhere near the kind of intrigue you get in the works listed in the OP. In fact, I remember it as being rather silly, in that naive, wishful thinking sort of way you can often find in SF from that period(Stranger in a Strange Land, anyone?)with all conflicts resolved by deus ex machina, almost literally.

I've only read one of Banks' Culture books(Look to Windward), so maybe there are other, more relevant ones, but if that one is representative of the whole then I'd not recommend it either. There was little meaty, sweaty intrigue on it to chew on, despite its voluminous dimensions.


The only two things I can recommend myself, that I think do it right, are not books but films. The Lion in Winter(1968), and Elizabeth(1998). The first one is based on a play of the same name, so it may satisfy the need for written word. Both focus entirely on courtroom intrigue and power play.

[Heron TSG]

deus ex machina, almost literally.

I think a pretty important theme of that series is that there is no god from the machine.

At least read it for the Salvor Hardin bits. They're pretty great, and Salvor Hardin himself is a pretty fantastic character.

[anzki4]

Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy - of which the third part is still in the works - is right up that alley, although containing more of figurative backstabbing than literal; as in more political intrigue than violence.

[a1s]

deus ex machina, almost literally.

I think a pretty important theme of that series is that there is no god from the machine.

Not as such, but it is all going "according to plan" from centuries ago, which from the point of view of the narrative looks like a DEM. The biggest ass-pull IMHO was the second foundation, but to be fair I stopped reading after that, so it could have gone downhill.

[Vattic]

I've only read one of Banks' Culture books(Look to Windward), so maybe there are other, more relevant ones, but if that one is representative of the whole then I'd not recommend it either. There was little meaty, sweaty intrigue on it to chew on, despite its voluminous dimensions.

Both Inversions and Matter have far more political intrigue than Look to Windward. Agents meddling in the courts of aliens with medieval tech and similar.

Edit: Excession also has some political manoeuvring, but your mileage may vary as it's AIs, and the craft they inhabit, competing.

[Haspen]

Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy - of which the third part is still in the works - is right up that alley, although containing more of figurative backstabbing than literal; as in more political intrigue than violence.

Seconding! However I think that the series, especially second book, has equal amounts of both kinds of backstabbing (even if it's poison or hired thugs).