# Looking for a book not by GRR Martin
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** books-writing-myths
**Created:** [August 29, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705 "2021-08-29T01:22:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/1 "2021-08-29T01:22:12Z")
I want to find a book with a title similar to Game of Thrones, but not the one by Martin, I know there is a way to search on google with a glyph signifying not to include a term, like “game of thrones” %martin, with the thingy in place of the percent sign.
Help =)
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/2 "2021-08-29T02:18:17Z")
I use a minus sign when I want to do that. -Martin
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/3 "2021-08-29T12:55:24Z")
Well it sort of worked, but not entirely.
mrAru mentioned he had read a novel called Game of Thrones written in the years before about 92-93 not by Martin, and we were wondering what it was - all we can find online now is the Martin/HBO stuff.
I did Game of Throne -martin -hbo - television and it still pulled up nothing but ice and fire books, merchandise, hbo crap and such.
Le Sigh.
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### Author:  [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/4 "2021-08-29T14:48:05Z")
Wikipedia’s disambiguation page for “Game of Thrones” doesn’t have any mention of anything other than derivative works - nothing predating _A Song of Ice and Fire_. That’s hardly definitive, of course, but it’s suggestive. I personally suspect mrAru is misremembering something. Either the title or themes were similar and he’s conflating his memories of the book with the later “Game of Thrones” franchise, or he’s misremembering when he first encountered Martin’s work, and is misremembering it as an earlier unrelated novel.
In any event, without more information, I doubt Google or similar searches are going to be useful - anything with “Game of Thrones” or similar is going to be swamped by references to Martin’s work.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/5 "2021-08-29T14:58:55Z")
> [@gdave](#):
>
> I personally suspect mrAru is misremembering something. Either the title or themes were similar and he’s conflating his memories of the book with the later “Game of Thrones” franchise, or he’s misremembering when he first encountered Martin’s work, and is misremembering it as an earlier unrelated novel.
I was wondering if it was something by Saberhagen.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/6 "2021-08-29T15:02:20Z")
_The Color of Magic_, _The Hero and the Crown_, _The Mists of Avalon_, _Pawn of Prophecy_, _Daughter of the Empire_, and _Master of the Five Magics_ are some titles that come up when I search on “fantasy books of the 1980s”. Pick a time period X and search on “fantasy books of X”. See if anything mentioned sounds right.
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### Author:  [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/7 "2021-08-29T20:25:19Z")
_Book of Swords_-speaking of Saberhagen, \*The [Belgariad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Belgariad) or The Mallorean by David and Liegh Eddings \*. The Belgariad would be the closest IME.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/8 "2021-08-30T01:58:37Z")
I will make the suggestions to him. He is the one that brought up the pre 92-93 reading of a book with the title of Game of Thrones, he said he picked it out of the book locker on the boat, so who knows where it came from [paperbacks being so damned ephemeral, might only be able to find it in a publishers back catalog somewhere. Daw maybe?]
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/9 "2021-08-30T11:42:03Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> Pick a time period X and search on “fantasy books of X”
But do we know the book in question was fantasy?
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/10 "2021-08-30T12:09:41Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> I will make the suggestions to him. He is the one that brought up the pre 92-93 reading of a book with the title of Game of Thrones, he said he picked it out of the book locker on the boat, so who knows where it came from [paperbacks being so damned ephemeral, might only be able to find it in a publishers back catalog somewhere. Daw maybe?]
Try to get him to remember how big the book was. Was it normal sized or doorstopper? That can help a lot with fantasy.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/11 "2021-08-30T12:38:51Z")
[The Wheel of Time?](https://www.goodreads.com/series/41526-the-wheel-of-time)
[The Sword of Truth?](https://www.goodreads.com/series/43803-sword-of-truth)
[Memory, Sorrow and Thorn?](https://www.goodreads.com/series/49188-memory-sorrow-and-thorn)
[The Winter of the World?](https://www.goodreads.com/series/52622-the-winter-of-the-world)
(Note that these are names of series, not individual books).
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### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/12 "2021-08-30T12:40:58Z")
A Google [Advanced Book Search](https://books.google.com/advanced_book_search) for books with ‘game’ and ‘throne’ in the title, published prior to 1996 turns up absolutely nothing.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/13 "2021-08-30T12:43:59Z")
The first volume of Tad Williams’ _Memory, Sorrow and Thorn_ series I mentioned above is called _The Dragonbone Chair._ Chair=Throne, maybe?
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/14 "2021-08-30T12:56:28Z")
Gameplayers of Zan?
Does MrAru remember any plot details at all?
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/15 "2021-08-31T09:26:15Z")
He says SF not fantasy, hardback which was unusual for the book locker, he vaguely remembers in a group of city states a number of families were vying for overall control of the confederation, one protagonist was crippled and used a float chair.
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### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/16 "2021-08-31T10:03:03Z")
He’s not thinking of _Dune_ is he? Though the floating throne was only in the movie, not the books.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/17 "2021-08-31T10:40:21Z")
Nope, definitely not Dune. It was very specifically a longer book title that he says was A Game of Thrones.
He did add after about half an hour of thinking that it was similar to Italian city states, with the manuvering being political and financial rather than military fighting.
The more I hear about the book, the more I want to read it.
Could the A Game of Thrones part be perhaps a subtitle? You know, the thing like Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates?
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/18 "2021-08-31T11:17:04Z")
Thanks. Doesn’t ring a bell with me, unfortunately, but I’ll think more about it.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/19 "2021-08-31T12:58:11Z")
_The Snow Queen_, _The Player of Games_, _Shards of Honor_, _The Peace War_, _Lord Valentine’s Castle_, _God Emperor of Dune_, and _The Sword of the Lictor_ are some titles that come up when I search on “science fiction books of the 1980s”.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-book-not-by-grr-martin/949705/20 "2021-08-31T15:50:22Z")
Given what we know, I think your list has two probable matches, with my first being _Lord Valentine’s Castle_, and _God Emperor of Dune_ being (a distant) second. LVC has the more fractured government, definitely with Italian-style city states, and the Pontifex in a life support throne/chair. Lot’s of political (and quasi-mystical) efforts with only a short military effort at the conclusion. It does have an element of political family fighting that leads to the action of the book, but it isn’t central to the actual story. I wouldn’t personally consider it similar to Game of Thrones, but it matches the vague memories @aruvqan dug out of his friend.
GEoD is a weaker match, but does include multiple factions (although in no way city states) trying to manipulate all parties involved, and a float platform (and float chair), with political, scientific (first gen Ixian no-globes), and financial manipulation, but . . . . absolutely more of a stretch.
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