The paper deals with the contemporary transformation of a historical novel. Unlike the traditional ‘costume’ genre, where the plotline, subject matter and psychology adhere to a certain historical period, a modern historical novel is growing more metaphorical, if not altogether fantasy-like. An example can be found in G. R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, adapted into the TV series Game of Thrones: the saga which, by his own admission, inspired one of the renowned present-day Russian ‘historical’ prose-writers, A. Ivanov, to create a novel that wasn’t just historical, but also metaphorical, not unlike Martin’s, with the ideas and images of modern Russian civilization depicted in a condensed and emblematic manner. The article analyses the metaphorical fabric of Martin’s novels and of Ivanov’s two-volume Tobol, noting those of their common features that can influence the future of the genre.