Books Like The Cruel Prince: 6 Faerie Reads Next

The Cruel Prince is addictive for reasons that have little to do with magic. Holly Black drops a mortal girl into a faerie court where everyone is beautiful, immortal, and willing to destroy her — and then lets her get good at the game, scheming and betraying with a cold nerve that makes her impossible to look away from. The romance is barbed, the court is a nest of vipers, and survival means outmaneuvering people who can’t be trusted. So the books that satisfy Cruel Prince fans share that mix: the dangerous court, the outsider grabbing for power, and a love story with knives out.

Here are six novels that deliver, each with what it does best. If you’ve finished the Folk of the Air, this is where to go next.

A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas (the faerie-court romance)

The closest match is Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses. A mortal woman is taken into a perilous faerie court and falls for someone as dangerous as he is compelling — the exact cocktail of fae politics and cruel-then-tender romance that powers The Cruel Prince. It’s steamier and more sweeping, and it leads into one of the genre’s biggest series.

Best for: the faerie-court romance and a dangerous love interest.

Throne of Glass — Sarah J. Maas (the lethal heroine)

For Jude’s ruthlessness scaled into an epic, Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass follows an assassin clawing toward freedom through court intrigue and deadly competition. It’s bigger and more romance-forward, with the same pleasure of watching a sharp, dangerous young woman play a court full of enemies and win.

Best for: a lethal heroine and an epic, scheming court.

Six of Crows — Leigh Bardugo (the cold cleverness)

If what you love most is the scheming, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows delivers it without the faeries. A crew of morally grey misfits runs an impossible con with the same icy intelligence Jude brings to the High Court, plus banter sharp enough to draw blood. The manipulation and slow-burn tension are a direct match.

Best for: the scheming, manipulation, and a morally grey lead.

An Ember in the Ashes — Sabaa Tahir (the deadly court politics)

Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes swaps the fae court for a brutal empire, but keeps the political danger and forbidden romance. In a world where one wrong move means death, a soldier and a rebel spy circle each other with the same high-stakes tension that makes Jude and Cardan electric.

Best for: deadly politics and a forbidden romance.

Shadow and Bone — Leigh Bardugo (the dangerous magic and slow burn)

Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone offers the immersive, dangerous magic and the smouldering, complicated romance Cruel Prince readers love, in a Tsarist-Russia-inspired world full of seductive, untrustworthy power players. It also opens the door to the wider Grishaverse, including Six of Crows.

Best for: dangerous magic and a slow-burn, complicated romance.

Children of Blood and Bone — Tomi Adeyemi (the high-stakes power struggle)

Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone brings the ruthless power struggle into a vivid West African–inspired world, with a fierce heroine, a charged enemies-to-lovers thread, and oppression worth rebelling against. The stakes and the simmering antagonism will land for Cruel Prince fans.

Best for: the power struggle and a charged enemies-to-lovers thread.

How to choose your next read

Pick by what you loved most. The faerie-court romance? A Court of Thorns and Roses. A lethal heroine? Throne of Glass. The cold scheming? Six of Crows. Deadly politics? An Ember in the Ashes. Dangerous magic and slow burn? Shadow and Bone. The power struggle? Children of Blood and Bone.

For more, browse our fantasy and young adult collections, and start with whichever piece of The Cruel Prince you miss most.