Books Like Fourth Wing but Spicier

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

5/5

Craft

3/5

Escalates sharply across the series; the first book is milder than what follows. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content bullying, assault, torture, graphic violence, explicit content

2.Quicksilver

Callie Hart · The Fae & Alchemy · book 1 · ongoing

A thief from a walled human city is dragged into Yvelia by a fae warrior who despises her, into a court where she is a curiosity and a liability. The most direct answer to what people are asking for when they ask what comes after ACOTAR.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want the same shape with the heat turned up two notches.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◆Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching

Romance

5/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit throughout and unusually frank, with scenes long enough to be structural rather than punctuation. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, sexual content, captivity, gore

3.A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

Jennifer L. Armentrout · Blood and Ash · book 2 · ongoing

The betrayal at the end of the first book becomes a journey across enemy territory with the person who committed it. Considerably more explicit than its predecessor and much more interested in the world it is crossing.

Best for Anyone who finished the first book angry and needs the next one immediately.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◆Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching

Romance

5/5

Plot

3/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit throughout, with several extended scenes and very little restraint. · Instalove · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, explicit content, gore, torture

4.A Shadow in the Ember

Jennifer L. Armentrout · Flesh and Fire · book 1 · ongoing

A prequel series set centuries before Blood and Ash, following a woman raised as a Maiden and promised to a god she intends to kill. More explicit than the parent series and more interested in the gods behind it.

Best for Readers who want the spiciest end of the scale with a god as the love interest.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◆Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching

Romance

5/5

Plot

3/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit throughout and unusually frequent even by the author's standards. · Instalove · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content explicit content, graphic violence, death, grooming

5.The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King

Carissa Broadbent · Crowns of Nyaxia · book 2 · ongoing

The aftermath of the Kejari, with a kingdom to hold and a relationship that has to be rebuilt from what the first book broke. More political, more explicit, and more willing to sit in grief than its predecessor.

Best for Readers who want a second book that deepens the first rather than repeating it.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◆Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching

Romance

5/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

5/5

Craft

4/5

Explicit and frequent, with the physical relationship carrying much of the reconciliation. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content graphic violence, grief, gore, explicit content

6.A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas · A Court of Thorns and Roses · book 2 · ongoing

The book that made the series. It takes the ending of the first one and treats the aftermath as the actual story — trauma, a marriage that is wrong, and a court of misfits who are better at loving her than the man who saved her was.

Best for Readers who found the first book slow and were told to keep going. They were right.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

5/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit and frequent from the midpoint, including the chapter the entire internet refers to obliquely. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content PTSD, emotional abuse, violence, suicidal ideation

7.The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Carissa Broadbent · Crowns of Nyaxia · book 1 · ongoing

A human raised by the vampire king enters a tournament no human has survived, allied with a competitor who has every reason to kill her at the end of it. Tightly structured, genuinely sad, and better written than most of the shelf it sits on.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the tournament structure with sharper prose behind it.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

5/5

World

4/5

Darkness

5/5

Craft

4/5

Several explicit scenes in the back half, unhurried and emotionally weighted. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, gore, death, self-harm, abuse

8.House of Earth and Blood

Sarah J. Maas · Crescent City · book 1 · ongoing

Urban fantasy with a murder investigation at its centre and a half-fae party girl grieving her found family. Eight hundred pages, a genuine mystery, and a slow burn that takes almost all of them.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want a real plot to hold the romance up.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit, but late and infrequent relative to the length. Most of the book is restraint. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content grief, graphic violence, drug use, torture

9.House of Sky and Breath

Sarah J. Maas · Crescent City · book 2 · ongoing

The rebellion the first book kept at the edges moves to the centre, and the cost of the previous ending is still being paid. Longer, angrier, and ending on a turn that reframes the entire series.

Best for Crescent City readers, and ACOTAR readers who want the connective tissue.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit and considerably more frequent than the first book. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content torture, graphic violence, grief, explicit content

10.Neon Gods

Katee Robert · Dark Olympus · book 1 of 7 · complete

Hades and Persephone relocated to a modern city-state run by thirteen people who have taken the names of gods. Persephone runs from an engagement into the lower city, and strikes a bargain with the man everyone pretends does not exist.

Best for Readers who want the spiciest thing on the shelf and do not need a war to justify it.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◆Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching

Romance

5/5

Plot

2/5

World

2/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit throughout and adventurous with it. The plot exists to move between scenes rather than the reverse. · Instalove · Happy ending

Content explicit content, abusive parent, coercion, violence

11.Iron Flame

Rebecca Yarros · The Empyrean · book 2 of 5 · ongoing

Second year at Basgiath, with a new commandant who wants her broken and a relationship that has to survive both of them knowing things they cannot say. Slower than the first book for two hundred pages, then considerably less slow.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who wanted the spice turned up and the stakes widened.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

More frequent and more explicit than Fourth Wing, and better integrated into the plot. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content torture, graphic violence, death, war

12.Onyx Storm

Rebecca Yarros · The Empyrean · book 3 of 5 · ongoing

Third year, and the search for an ally who might turn the war moves the story off the continent entirely. Broader in scope than the first two books and more willing to leave Basgiath behind.

Best for Empyrean readers who are already committed and want to know what happens.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit and regular, in line with Iron Flame rather than the first book. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, war, death, grief

13.From Blood and Ash

Jennifer L. Armentrout · Blood and Ash · book 1 · ongoing

A girl raised as a holy vessel, forbidden to be touched or spoken to, is guarded by a man who does both. The premise is built entirely around denial, which is a cynical way to construct a romance and an extremely effective one.

Best for Readers who want forbidden romance where the prohibition is enforced by an entire state.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

5/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

Frequent and explicit from the middle third onward, escalating steadily. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, gore, sexual content, religious control

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

Explicit and reasonably frequent, with the physical relationship complicating the politics. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, war, coercion, death

15.Bride

Ali Hazelwood · Bride · book 1 · ongoing

A vampire is married off to a werewolf alpha to hold a truce together, and spends the honeymoon investigating a disappearance instead. Paranormal romance with a contemporary voice, and much funnier than the premise suggests.

Best for Readers who want fated mates and a possessive love interest in a standalone.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

5/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

4/5

Explicit, frequent in the back half, and written with Hazelwood's usual directness. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content violence, captivity, blood, child endangerment