Isomorphisms

Tell me if you've heard this one before: Following the unexpected deaths of those closer to the imperial throne, the last remaining direct heir to the ruler is summoned back to court, where those associated with the prior regime are less than enthusiastic with their new ruler. The new ruler is helped by a core of supporters, including those sent on the recall mission in the first place. The climax of the book is the unmasking and defeat of a conspiracy against the throne.

From a 20,000 metre level, that's the plot of Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor, a Hugo nominee (which in my opinion should have won the Best Novel award). Interestingly enough, it is also the plot of K. B. Wagers' Behind The Throne.

What is interesting is that the novels could not be otherwise more different. Addison's book is a fantasy with complex names, different species, and what can best be described as a humane tone and theme. Wagers' is a space opera with recognizable nomenclature (I'm not sure I buy "Wilson" as an unchanged name that far in the future), standard humans (though with social inversions of present-day patterns: the empire is a predominantly dark-skinned matriarchy), and a much more event-driven plot; it is a more conventional book.

This illustrates why the frequently repeated trope of "there are only N plots", whether N is 3, or 6, or 7, (I've seen all three claimed) or even 100 rather misses the point. Isomorphic plots do not entail similar books,