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[Vortigern]

As you can no doubt tell, my next recommendation is Juliet E. McKenna. She has written a couple of fantasy series based in a world that's more or less feudal medieval, but with a powerful magical presence too. There are several nations on the mainland, and a fair few other places that rarely, if ever, get a mention except on the maps. The first series, called the Einarinn series (Einarinn being the collective name of the race of men that live in the lands of which we hear) deals with the rise and fall of the Elietimm, an invader people from a group of islands across the sea, with a powerful magic of their own that the mages of the Einarinn have no idea about. The mages of the Einarinn are based almost entirely on the hidden isle of Hadrumal, and don't generally associate with the world at large, on the grounds that if they did everyone would want magical solutions to everything, and they really can't be bothered.

The books are set mostly within the Tormalin Empire, populated by hundreds of noble houses and their feudal servants. I may speak only for myself here, but I find the politics of fantasy worlds particularly interesting, and this is covered in great detail (as part of the story, it's all nice and interesting for those less interested) in the second and fourth books. The books are told from the perspectives of two different characters, who meet up midway through the first book. The first is Livak, a female thief who gets caught up in the whole thing after she tries to defraud the mages and gets blackmailed into helping them. The second is Ryshad, a swordsman sworn to one of the strongest noble houses in the Tormalin Empire. There are five books in total, and they are well worth reading. And by well worth reading, I mean they're bloody awesome!

There's also a second series that I haven't been able to get my hands on yet, which is based in the Aldabreshin Archipelago, to the south, where they have a political system dictated by warlords and where magic is feared and punishable by death.

Enjoy, all.