Books Like A Broken Blade
If you finished A Broken Blade and want more assassins, fae, court intrigue, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
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The picks
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1. Throne of Glass
Shares: assassins, court intrigue, fae
An assassin dragged out of a salt mine to compete for the king's favor. Book one reads young. Stick with it, because by book four it's a full-blown fae war epic.
- Assassins
- Deadly Trials
- Love Triangle
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
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2. The Bridge Kingdom
Shares: enemies to lovers, assassins, court intrigue
Raised to be a spy, married off to the enemy king she's supposed to destroy. Tight and fast. Great if you like your heroine competent and in over her head.
- Arranged Marriage
- Enemies to Lovers
- Assassins
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War, Physical or emotional abuse
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3. Faebound
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers, court intrigue
Two elven sisters, a disgraced soldier and a fortune teller, get exiled and stumble into the fae everyone said were extinct. The main romance is sapphic.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Enemies to Lovers
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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4. Losing Wendy
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers, slow burn
Peter Pan retold as a mystery, with Wendy Darling, winged fae, mating marks and something killing in Neverland. Enemies to lovers on a very slow fuse. Darker than the premise sounds, and not everyone liked where it takes Wendy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Fated Mates
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence
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5. Zodiac Academy: The Awakening
Shares: enemies to lovers, fae, court intrigue
Twins Tory and Darcy Vega find out they're the lost heirs to the Fae throne and get dropped into Zodiac Academy, where four Celestial Heirs want them gone. Book one is mostly bullying and pranks, which is a dealbreaker for some. Stay and it becomes a nine-book obsession.
- Academies and War Colleges
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence, Drug or alcohol abuse
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6. A Feather So Black
Shares: fae, slow burn, court intrigue
Fern is a changeling who never fit at the human court that raised her, and the Otherworld is calling her back. Built on Irish myth with a love story that should not happen. Gorgeous prose, and a pace you have to be in the mood for.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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7. Bride of the Shadow King
Shares: fae, slow burn, court intrigue
The shunned princess nobody notices gets picked as the Shadow King's bride instead of her golden sister, and goes off to a fae kingdom that may not want her either. More yearning than heat, and very soft-hearted for a book with this title.
- Fae
- Arranged Marriage
- Slow Burn
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War
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8. Gild
Shares: fae, slow burn, enemies to lovers
Auren is King Midas's gilded favorite, living in an actual birdcage and calling it love. Then raiders grab her on the road and a fae commander named Rip becomes her problem. Gild is slow and mostly setup. Glint is where the series takes off.
- Captor and Captive
- Fae
- Slow Burn
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Human trafficking, Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder
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9. Poison Study
Shares: slow burn, assassins, court intrigue
Yelena is a day from the noose when she's offered a job as the Commander's food taster. Valek, the chief of security, poisons her so she can't run. An old-school slow burn from 2005 and still one of the better captor romances out there.
- Captor and Captive
- Slow Burn
- Assassins
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse, Torture, Murder
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10. These Hollow Vows
Shares: fae, court intrigue, enemies to lovers
Brie hates the fae, then her little sister gets handed over to the Unseelie to pay a debt. Her way in is posing as a bride for the Seelie prince Ronan while the shadowy Finn works his own angle. Pick a team early, because readers are still arguing.
- Fae
- Love Triangle
- Court Intrigue
- Deals and Bargains
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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11. The Cruel Prince
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers, court intrigue
A mortal girl raised in Faerie after the man who murdered her parents adopted her. Jude wants power, Cardan wants her gone, and nobody in this court is nice. No spice, all knives.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
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12. Quicksilver
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers, slow burn
Saeris is a thief who touches the wrong thing and gets hauled into the fae realm by a very rude fae warrior. Long, crude in a fun way and properly spicy once it gets there.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Murder
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13. A Dawn of Onyx
Shares: enemies to lovers, slow burn, fae
A healer gets caught fleeing her village and ends up working in the enemy king's castle, and yes, the brooding commander is more than he looks. If you've read ACOTAR, you'll know exactly where this is going, and that's sort of the point.
- Captor and Captive
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence
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14. An Heir Comes to Rise
Shares: fae, slow burn, court intrigue
Faythe is a human in a fae-ruled kingdom hiding the fact that she can slip inside other people's minds. Once the wrong king finds out, she's a weapon whether she likes it or not. It starts YA-ish and slow, and fans swear the series improves a lot from book two.
- Fae
- Slow Burn
- Fated Mates
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
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15. Court of Ruins
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers, court intrigue
Reyna Darragh would rather swing a sword than smile at court, but a political marriage could end the war faster than her blade ever will. A short, steamy KU fae romance that doesn't waste your time.
- Fae
- Arranged Marriage
- Enemies to Lovers
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War
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