Books like “Caraval”

What to read after “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

About “Caraval”

Another favorite book?

Or start with a well-known book

1
Throne of Glass
Sarah J. Maas · 2012
Same genre: “Romantic fantasy”
Celaena Sardothien, the kingdom's most notorious assassin, is dragged from a salt mine to compete in a contest for the king. Victory would buy her freedom, but the court is full of plots and her rivals will do anything. Between a prince and a guardsman, she searches for who she can trust.
2
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow
Jessica Townsend · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Tournament
Morrigan Crow is blamed for every misfortune and is marked to die on her eleventh birthday. Instead she is spirited away to the secret city of Nevermoor to compete for a place in an exclusive society, against rivals and a curse that still hunts her.
3
Assistant to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer · 2023
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Slow Burn
Out of work and desperate, Evie Sage takes a job as assistant to the kingdom's most feared villain. Her boss is grumpy, the work is murder, and someone close to him is betraying him. Evie's sunny good cheer may be exactly what his gloomy fortress was missing.
4
The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Slow Burn
A black-and-white circus arrives without warning and opens only at night. Behind its rivalry of illusions stand two young magicians, Celia and Marco, bound by a contest neither chose. As they fall in love, the circus and everyone in it becomes the stakes.
5
The Cruel Prince
Holly Black · 2018
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Romantic fantasy”
- Slow Burn
Jude was born mortal but was raised in the High Court of Faerie after her parents were killed. Mocked by the fae and drawn to the cruel prince Cardan, she schemes her way into the court's politics, trading secrets and taking dangerous risks to win a place among those who despise her.
6
The Serpent and the Wings of Night
Carissa Broadbent · 2022
Same genre: “Romantic fantasy”
Oraya is a human adopted by the vampire king and has always been an outsider at his court. To win protection she enters the Kejari, a tournament that kills most of its competitors, and forms an uneasy alliance with Raihn, a rival vampire she cannot trust and should not love.
7
The Winner's Curse
Marie Rutkoski · 2014
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Romantic fantasy”
- Slow Burn
In a city that has conquered and enslaved a neighbouring people, the general's daughter Kestrel buys a defiant young slave named Arin on a whim. He is far more than he seems, and as rebellion stirs in the streets, Kestrel finds her loyalty to her family pulling against everything she feels for him.
8
Howl's Moving Castle
Diana Wynne Jones · 1986
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
Cursed by a witch into an old woman's body, Sophie takes shelter in the moving castle of the vain wizard Howl. Amid a fire demon, a scarecrow and Howl's tangled contracts, she finds a home and a way to break her own spell.
9
Divine Rivals
Rebecca Ross · 2023
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Missing Person
- Slow Burn
With the gods at war, two young journalists compete for the same columnist post at a dying newspaper. Iris hides her family's troubles, and Roman, her rival, seems to have everything. When anonymous letters begin to pass between them, neither suspects who is writing on the other side.
10
From Blood and Ash
Jennifer L. Armentrout · 2020
Same genre: “Romantic fantasy”
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Poppy was born the Maiden, chosen and set apart, forbidden from friends, love or any life of her own. When a new guard, Hawke, enters her world, duty and desire collide for the first time. As attacks close in on the kingdom, she begins to doubt everything she was taught about the gods and her own fate.
11
The House in the Cerulean Sea
T. J. Klune · 2020
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Linus Baker, a lonely case worker, is sent to a remote island orphanage to check on six unusual children and their mysterious master, Arthur Parnassus. What begins as a routine inspection slowly becomes a choice between following the rules and protecting a family he comes to love.
12
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Jenny Han · 2014
Similar plot moves: “Fake Dating”
- Fake Dating
Lara Jean keeps private love letters to the boys she has liked, never meaning to send them. When the letters are mailed, she pretends to date one of the recipients to save face, and the game begins to feel real.