8 Books Like Fourth Wing to Read Next (Rated, No Spoilers)

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I didn’t think dragons were my thing. Then Fourth Wing happened to me, I read it at a pace I can only describe as medically inadvisable, and I’ve spent the time since testing every “books like Fourth Wing” recommendation the internet could throw at me.

Some of those recommendations earned their hype. Some of them made me want to write apology letters to my sleep schedule for nothing. I positively inhaled over 80 books in the romantasy and fantasy space in 2024, so consider this list pre-screened: every book here is one I actually finished, rated, and reviewed on this blog. No spoilers, ever.

The short answer: the best books like Fourth Wing are From Blood and Ash (for the banter and the forbidden romance), The Serpent and the Wings of Night (for the deadly-tournament energy), and The Bridge Kingdom (for a heroine trained as a weapon). Five more picks below, depending on which part of Fourth Wing you loved most.

If you haven’t read Fourth Wing yet, start with my full review. Everyone else: let’s dive in.

1. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This book is about… Poppy is the Maiden: veiled, guarded, untouchable, her entire life scheduled around a destiny nobody asked if she wanted. Then a new guard named Hawke joins her protection detail, and the one person she absolutely cannot want becomes the one person who actually sees her.

The Fourth Wing overlap: a heroine boxed in by other people’s plans, a forbidden slow-burn with real chemistry, and pacing that will absolutely destroy your sleep schedule. This is the book half the fandom reads next. My husband Kyle pointed me to it during my post-ACOTAR wandering phase, and he was right.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. The banter between Poppy and Hawke is the sparkliest thing in the book, and banter is the hardest thing to fake in a romance. The pacing takes the scenic route, not that it stopped me from buying the sequel the second I finished. Read my full review here!

2. The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

This book is about… Oraya is a human raised by the vampire king, adopted prey in a world of predators. Her one path to power is the Kejari, a legendary tournament where the prize is a wish and the entry fee is usually your life. Her most useful ally is Raihn, a vampire competitor she cannot trust and cannot quite stop noticing.

The Fourth Wing overlap: this is the closest structural match on the list. Fourth Wing’s whole engine is “survive the institution that wants you dead,” and the Kejari is that engine with fangs. Alliances in death tournaments have a shelf life, and the book knows exactly how to use that.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️ 2/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Polished, seriously constructed worldbuilding, and an ending that genuinely surprised me into starting the sequel immediately. What I missed was wit: it plays everything a little somber, and I wanted the tension between the leads ramped up two more notches. Read my full review here!

3. The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

This book is about… Lara is a princess raised in secret as a weapon, trained her whole life for one mission: marry the king of a rival kingdom and destroy it from the inside. Aren, the husband in question, is infuriatingly not the monster she was promised.

The Fourth Wing overlap: full credit where it’s due, this is the book that broke my post-ACOTAR-and-Fourth Wing slump, when every book I picked up tasted like cardboard. If you loved watching Violet survive on competence, you’ll love a heroine who could kill everyone at the dinner table and has to pass the salt instead.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. I was genuinely shocked by how much world Jensen builds in 356 pages: the bridge economy, the storms, and the politics all interlock, and the writing itself is a pleasure to read. I closed it a new fan and went hunting for everything else she’s written. My full review hits the blog later this month!

4. When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

This book is about… In this world, when a dragon dies, its body drifts into the sky and becomes a moon. That image alone could sell a book (and judging by BookTok, it did). Underneath it: a rebel with a bounty on her head and gaps in her own story, a dangerous man on the wrong side of her cause, and a genuinely original magic system.

The Fourth Wing overlap: dragons, obviously, but the deeper draw is that the dragons here come with real mythology instead of being scaly airplanes. This one is for readers who loved Fourth Wing’s creatures and lore more than its pacing.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. The worldbuilding is the real deal and the prose is poetic and pretty, but the pacing wanders, and the ending reads like a midpoint. Because I always tell you the truth on this blog: worth reading, as long as you know it’s a slow bloom and not a page-scorcher. Read my full review here!

5. Quicksilver by Callie Hart

This book is about… Saeris is a thief in a desert world where water is rationed and stolen. When she falls into the world of the fae, she ends up working with an irritable fae warrior to craft weapons from quicksilver, a substance that drives careless wielders mad — all for an upcoming war.

The Fourth Wing overlap: training-and-trials energy plus an enemies-to-lovers arc that actually earns the turn. I namechecked this book in my Fourth Wing review for a reason: they scratch the same itch.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5. Some of the things that come out of Kingfisher’s mouth ~ absolutely ~ made me blush.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. This book has no business being as good as it is with this many typos in the Kindle edition, and it was still one of my top reads of 2024. Witty dialog, energetic plot, great banter. Read my full review here!

6. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

This book is about… A huntress kills the wrong creature in the woods, and the debt drags her into a world of faerie courts, bargains, and a curse she doesn’t understand yet. Book one is secretly a retelling of a famous fairytale — I won’t tell you which one, because realizing it mid-read is half the fun.

The Fourth Wing overlap: this is the front door to the whole genre, and odds are it’s how you found Fourth Wing in the first place. If you somehow arrived at dragon war college without passing through Prythian, fix that. What both books share is the thing I’m always begging authors for: an active protagonist who tries, fails, and does things.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️ 2/5 for book one. (The series escalates. I’ll leave it at that.)

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. I thought this book was going to be silly and overhyped and not for me. I was so, so, so wrong. Read my full review here!

7. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (the Series)

This book is about… Celaena Sardothien, the most notorious assassin in her kingdom, is pulled out of a death-camp prison for one chance at freedom: win a competition to become the king’s champion. From there the series grows into wars, courts, and fae, across seven books.

The Fourth Wing overlap: a deadly competition where losing means dying, and a heroine whose competence is the whole show. Premise-wise, book one is the closest thing on this list to Violet’s war college: win or die, in front of an audience.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars for the series. I read all seven books, roughly 4,500 pages, in one month, and you don’t binge 4,500 pages of a series you don’t like. It’s uneven (book three is a slog, and ACOTAR is the stronger Maas series overall), but Maas writes pageturners the way other people breathe. My full book-by-book breakdown hits the blog later this month!

8. 🔥 The Ash Trials by Amy Suto (Yes, Me)

Okay, yes: I wrote this one. But in the grand tradition of this blog’s transparent self-promotion, hear me out, because I wrote it as a reader who wanted more deadly-trials romantasy and couldn’t find enough of it.

This book is about… Saffron Vale wakes in a ruined wedding dress, locked in a prison for the kingdom’s deadliest criminals, with no memory of who she is. To survive the brutal Ash Trials, she must outlast shifters, spellcasters, and something even more dangerous: the truth about herself. Her only allies? A traitorous commander from her past and an assassin who swears she’s the real monster here.

What I hope you’ll love about it: deadly trials, a slow-burn romance, and a heroine with everything to prove. It’s on Kindle Unlimited, and if tonight’s the night you stay up too late with a book, I’d love it to be mine.

Which Book Should You Read First?

If the banter and the romance were your favorite part of Fourth Wing, this isn’t even close: start with From Blood and Ash. If the death-school premise was the draw, go straight to The Serpent and the Wings of Night. And if you just want the best-constructed book on this list, The Bridge Kingdom does more in 356 pages than most romantasy manages in 600.

FAQ: Life After Fourth Wing

What Should I Read After Onyx Storm?

Start with From Blood and Ash if you want banter and forbidden romance, or The Bridge Kingdom if you want a tightly built enemies-in-marriage story. Both broke my own reading slumps, which is the strongest endorsement I have.

Are the Fourth Wing Sequels Worth Reading?

I rated Fourth Wing 4 out of 5 stars and both sequels, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm, 3 out of 5. Book one is the strongest, but Rebecca Yarros understands momentum at a structural level, and I kept turning pages across all three.

Is Fourth Wing Part of a Series?

Yes. Fourth Wing opens the Empyrean series, followed by Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. My reviews of the sequels are coming to the blog soon.

Is The Ash Trials on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes! The Ash Trials is available on Kindle Unlimited, or you can buy it outright on Amazon. It’s a deadly-trials romantasy with a slow-burn romance, written by yours truly.

More Romantasy for Your TBR

Want the wider field? Browse my ranked list of the best romantasy books on Kindle Unlimited, my list of books like A Court of Thorns and Roses, or wander my full book reviews shelf. And if you’re still deciding whether dragon war college is for you, my Fourth Wing review makes the case.

I’ll keep this list updated as I read deeper into the genre — I’m scraping every Reddit recommendation thread and BookTok account so you don’t have to. Subscribe to my newsletter and you’ll know when a new favorite makes the cut.

Here’s to your next “one more chapter” lie at 2am. Make it a good one.