Books like “The Cruel Prince”

What to read after “The Cruel Prince” by Holly Black: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
An Enchantment of Ravens
Margaret Rogerson · 2017
From the same world: “Fae”
- Fae
- Slow Burn
Isobel paints portraits for the fae, whose kind cannot create art themselves. When she paints mortal sorrow into the face of the autumn prince, she commits a crime that could cost her life. He carries her to his court for judgment, and their mutual distrust slowly turns into something forbidden.
2
The Iron King
Julie Kagawa · 2010
From the same world: “Fae”
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
On her sixteenth birthday Meghan learns that her little brother has been swapped for a changeling and that the fey are real. To get him back she enters the Nevernever, a dangerous world divided between Summer and Winter courts, where she is drawn to a prince she was raised to fear.
3
The Wicked King
Holly Black · 2019
From the same world: “Fae”
Jude now controls the throne from behind the scenes, holding Prince Cardan bound to her for a year and a day. Court politics, undersea enemies and her own divided heart threaten the plan. She must keep her grip on power while denying the feelings growing between her and the wicked king she came to despise.
4
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas · 2015
From the same world: “Fae”
Feyre kills a wolf in the winter woods and is taken to a magical realm as payment. In the Spring Court she learns the land is cursed, and her loathing for its high lord slowly turns into something she never expects.
5
Wicked Lovely
Melissa Marr · 2007
From the same world: “Fae”
- Fae
Aislinn has always followed the rules for surviving the hidden world of faeries: never draw their attention, never let them know she can see them. Then the Summer King begins to court her, sure she is the queen he has been searching for, while her human friend Seth refuses to let her face the fae alone.
6
The Winner's Curse
Marie Rutkoski · 2014
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Romantic fantasy”
- Enemies to Lovers
- 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.
7
A Deal with the Elf King
Elise Kova · 2020
From the same world: “Fae”
Luella was raised to be an ordinary healer, not the human bride the Elf King demands. When he comes to claim her, she is taken to Midscape, where her touch can wake the sleeping land. Trapped with a cold, distant husband, she must find a way home or accept a destiny she never wanted.
8
Rhapsodic
Laura Thalassa · 2016
From the same world: “Fae”
- Fae
- Slow Burn
Years ago, Callie, a siren, made a bargain with the King of the Night and racked up hundreds of favours she has never repaid. Now he has returned to collect, and he needs her help to find fae warriors who are disappearing from the Otherworld. Their old bargain binds them together, and the feelings Callie buried long ago refuse to stay hidden.
9
The Shadows Between Us
Tricia Levenseller · 2020
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
Alessandra will do anything to gain power, including marry the young king and then kill him. The Shadow King, feared and rumoured to have killed his own family, is the perfect target. But court intrigue and unexpected feelings complicate her cold plan, and someone is hunting them both.
10
Spinning Silver
Naomi Novik · 2018
From the same world: “Fae”
Miryem restores her family's moneylending business with a clever tongue, and her boast that she can spin silver into gold reaches the frozen Staryk king. Bound to his winter court, she must use her wits to protect both kingdoms from a bargain that could destroy them.
11
Darkfever
Karen Marie Moning · 2006
From the same world: “Fae”
MacKayla Lane travels to Ireland after her sister is murdered and finds she can see the fae, a power that makes her a target. To find the killer and stay alive she turns to Jericho Barrons, a secretive man whose help comes at a price and whose motives she cannot read.
12
Rosemary and Rue
Seanan McGuire · 2009
From the same world: “Fae”
- Fae
Half-fae changeling October 'Toby' Daye wants nothing to do with Faerie after fourteen years away from it. When a fae noble is murdered and binds Toby with a dying curse to find the killer, she is pulled back into the dangerous politics of the local faerie court.