Many fans of HBO's Game of Thrones series are also avid readers of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series. However, fans looking forward to the release of the next book in that series, The Winds of Winter, know they'll be waiting at least another year before they find out what happens next.

So what's a reader to do while they wait for the "The J.R.R. Tolkien of Bayonne, New Jersey" to finish his latest work? We've organized a list of our five favorite fantasy series that should please any fan of Martin's works. These books feature great plots, a variety of characters, a multitude of different worlds and political intrigue that will be familiar (yet fresh) territory for any A Song of Ice and Fire lover.

So here's your reading list of books to get crackin' on as you wait for The Winds of Winter.

Melissa Mcphail's A Pattern of Shadow & Light series

Of all the books on our list, Melissa McPhail's A Pattern of Shadow & Light series stands out as the most similar to Martin's work. There's not just a host of characters that live in a variety of lands, but there's magic, colorful villains and a struggle to rid the world of evil. Mcphail has somehow managed to juggle a multitude of storylines as deftly as Martin and delivers a plot that is as equally intriguing as anything you've seen on Game of Thrones.

The first book in the series, Cephrael's Hand introduces us to the world of Alorin, a realm on the verge of dying, taking the ability of Adepts to work patterns (aka magic) with it. Meanwhile, a young Prince goes off on a hunt to find the man who killed his brother, while another young man tries to unlock the truth of who he is. The story continues in book two, The Dagger of Adiendath and book three, Paths of Alir. A fourth book is in the works.

McPhail stands out as one of the best self-published authors we've read.

Joe Lallo's The Book of Deacon series

Another self-published author we love is Joe Lallo, whose The Book of Deacon series brings us to a magical world and introduces us to an orphaned young woman who accidentally discovers something that changes her life and takes her on a journey that's full of soldiers, rebels, wizards and beasts of all kinds.

The series features three books: The Book of Deacon Volume 1, The Great Convergence and The Battle of Verrill. Although the series isn't as mature as Martin or McPhail's work, it's still an intriguing fantasy read (and one young adults can also appreciate). There's also a fourth book, The Rise of the Red Shadow, that isn't part of the series, but tells the story of a character in the series.

Guy Gavriel Kay's The Sarantine Mosaic series

Pretty much any of Guy Gavriel Kay's works includes the things that A Song of Ice and Fire fans will love, but it's Sailing to Sarantium that we like best. Kay has a way of weaving real history with his fantasy worlds, and this book takes us to what the Byzantine empire might have been like had there been magic there. The first book, Sailing to Sarantium, tells the story of Crispin, an artist who creates mosaics and finds himself summoned by the Queen on a secret mission.

The second book, Lord of Emperors, continues Crispin's tale as he lives and works in the famed city of Sarantium. Obviously, there are a lot of secrets as Crispin learns more about himself and the underbelly of the world around him.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon

For those who like the story of King Arthur, The Mists of Avalon takes those legends and turns them upside down, telling the story from the point of view of the female characters, particularly Morgaine, who normally plays the villain in Arthurian tales. In The Mists of Avalon, however, we see that Morgaine's tale is much different than what we've previously been told, and we see how magic affects her life, as well as the lives around her.

While not a series, this book has a lot in common with Martin's works in that there's magic, a powerful main female character and plenty of politics.

Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

You want epic fantasy? Mistborn is the series of novels for you that ticks all the boxes that A Song of Ice and Fire fans want checked. You want political intrigue? You got it. You want plot twists and action? It's got that, too. In fact, you'll get even more than you bargained for.

Mistborn starts out with a hero prophecy, but it asks a different kind of question than most fantasy series: what happens when the hero fails and evil (in this case, the Dark Lord) takes charge of the world?

Mistborn is so vast that it's actually two trilogies, with the second taking place 300 years after events in the first. The series begins with Mistborn: The Final Empire, followed by The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages. The second trilogy includes Shadows of Self and two books that haven't yet been released. There's also a standalone novel in the Mistborn world titled The Alloy of Law.

[Photo Credit: Melissa McPhail]

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