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Long before I became an author, I earned a PhD in political science and taught at university. So it probably should not be surprising how much I love political intrigue in fiction.
Also, for a period of my life, I was obsessed with the Tudor period. Not because of the clothes, the castles, or even Henry VIII’s six wives. What fascinated me was the political intrigue. The king / Queen wanted one thing. Their advisors wanted another. Religious leaders had their own agendas. Foreign powers were trying to gain an advantage. Every alliance contained tensions. Every victory created new problems.
The more I learned about the Tudors, the more I realized that history rarely resembles the simplified versions we tell ourselves afterward. It is driven by competing interests. The people involved never see themselves as villains.
But what is political intrigue?
When readers talk about fantasy books, I feel the difference between world-building and political intrigue is not always clear.
For more about world-building, read this post
Worldbuilding is the design of the world: its history, geography, cultures, religions, economies, social hierarchies, laws, and myths. It answers: What kind of society is this, and why does it function this way?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines intrigue as “The practice of engaging in secret schemes.”
Political intrigue is what characters do inside that world when power is contested: secret alliances, strategic marriages, espionage, betrayals, manipulation, succession struggles, and negotiations. It answers: Who wants what, what are they hiding, and how will they outmaneuver each other?
They overlap, but they are not interchangeable. In a way, Worldbuilding provides the conditions, while political intrigue turns those conditions into plot.
Example from the Humans Don’t Have Horns :
The worldbuilding establishes the divisions of Amada: kingdoms shaped by different histories, religions, and relationships to Aldonian power.
The political intrigue emerges among Dahav, Siean, Ninkanor, and Daton as they maintain power in their own realms while collaborating in a battle against a common enemy. Each comes to the alliance with different pressures inside their own community, different reasons to distrust the others, and different hopes for what survival will mean afterward.
The best political intrigue is not built on secrets alone. It is built on complexity. It emerges when multiple groups want different things, when loyalties overlap, and when every choice carries consequences.
Political intrigue I loved in fantasy romance
One of my favorite examples is Danielle L. Jensen’s The Bridge Kingdom. On the surface, it is a romance between Lara and Aren. Beneath that romance lies a conflict over trade, geography, resources, and national survival. Lara’s homeland has suffered for generations. Ithicana controls the bridge that determines the economic fate of entire nations. But things are more complicated than they seem. Especially as we progress in the series.
More about Danielle L. Jensen’s The Bridge Kingdom
What fascinated me in Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince, was not the faerie world itself but Jude’s position within it. She enters a system designed to exclude her and learns to navigate it through manipulation, alliances, and strategy. The novel is filled with shifting loyalties and hidden agendas.
More about Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince
Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes offers yet another variation. Drawing inspiration from the Roman Empire, the series explores military power, imperial institutions, rebellion, succession, and resistance. The political intrigue within the empire was fascinating and kept me reading the entire series obsessively.
More about Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes
Although it is historical romance rather than fantasy. I found something similar in Elizabeth Kingston’s Fair, Bright, and Terrible. The story is rooted in the conflict between the Welsh and the Norman rulers. The romance cannot be separated from the political realities of the period because those realities shape every decision the characters make. Loyalty to family, loyalty to country, personal desires, and political necessities constantly collide. We read this knowing the good guys will lose, and yet can’t stop hoping for their win.
More about Elizabeth Kingston’s Fair, Bright, and Terrible
Looking at these books together, I think they all share one important characteristic. They create the feeling that many stories are unfolding simultaneously.
I plan to take this up a notch
Many of the praises Humans Don’t Have Horns received are for its political intrigue. Yes, the political intrigue in that book is vast, but in the second book it will be vaster and more in-depth.
As I worked on the second book of the A Crown of Blood and Magic trilogy, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in these layers of competing interests. Lian returns to Aldon to become queen; what political intrigue unfolds? In the second book, more factions emerge. More competing priorities come into focus. People who appear to be fighting the same battle are often fighting for very different reasons. The expected Aldonian villains became more complex.
There was also much inspiration from the Tudor era in creating Aldon’s political system. For Elizabeth, being a queen was not enough. Once you gained the throne, you had to fight to keep it.
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