Books Like Lightlark
If you finished Lightlark and want more deadly trials, curses, love triangle, 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.
For reference, Lightlark is:
Last updated
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It doesn't change what we recommend. How we make money.
The picks
-
1. Throne of Glass
Shares: deadly trials, love triangle, court intrigue
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
-
2. Shadow and Bone
Shares: love triangle, court intrigue
Alina is a mapmaker who turns out to be the Sun Summoner, so she's hauled off to the Little Palace to train under the Darkling while her best friend Mal is left behind. Half the fandom read the trilogy for the Darkling and nobody's sorry.
- Love Triangle
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
- Academies and War Colleges
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, War
-
3. Stolen Songbird
Shares: court intrigue, curses
Cécile is kidnapped and dragged under the Forsaken Mountain to marry Tristan, a troll prince whose people are cursed to stay buried there. These trolls are beautiful and vicious, closer to fae than fairy tale ogres. The rebellion subplot is the sleeper hit.
- Captor and Captive
- Arranged Marriage
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
-
4. Wicked Lovely
Shares: love triangle, curses
Aislinn can see faeries and survives by never letting them know. Then Keenan, the Summer King, decides she's the girl who'll break his curse and simply will not leave her alone. One of the original YA fae books, and Seth is still the better boyfriend.
- Fae
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Curses
Content warnings
Stalking, Physical or emotional abuse
-
5. Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Shares: love triangle, court intrigue
Xingyin, the moon goddess Chang'e's secret daughter, flees the moon and ends up training as an archer beside the Celestial crown prince. Lush and episodic, pulled from Chinese myth. The middle drags a bit and the love triangle stays mild.
- Gods and Mythology
- Love Triangle
- Slow Burn
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence
-
6. Powerless
Shares: deadly trials, court intrigue
Ordinary humans are hunted in a kingdom of the gifted, and Paedyn fakes her way into a deadly royal competition. YA, clean, very addictive.
- Deadly Trials
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
-
7. Red Queen
Shares: court intrigue, love triangle
Silver blood rules and red blood serves, and Mare is a Red with a power she shouldn't have. The king hides her in plain sight by betrothing her to his younger son. Peak 2015 YA: two princes, an arena and a twist people still argue about.
- Court Intrigue
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Arranged Marriage
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, War
-
8. The Iron King
Shares: love triangle, court intrigue
On her sixteenth birthday Meghan Chase learns she's the daughter of the Summer King, right as her little brother gets stolen into the Nevernever. Puck, Ash of the Winter Court and fae made of iron. Very 2010 YA, and Ash is why people still recommend it.
- Fae
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Graphic violence
-
9. These Hollow Vows
Shares: love triangle, court intrigue
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
-
10. Fireborne
Shares: deadly trials, love triangle
Annie and Lee were both orphaned by a revolution and now compete to lead the new regime's dragonriders. His family was the old regime the revolution burned. Political, closed door, and the bond between riders and dragons is the best part.
- Dragons
- Academies and War Colleges
- Deadly Trials
- Love Triangle
Content warnings
War, Genocide, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
-
11. Legendborn
Shares: deadly trials, love triangle
Bree joins an early college program at UNC after her mom dies and stumbles into a secret society of Arthurian descendants who hunt demons. Grief drives the whole thing, and the way it digs into Southern history sets it apart from every other King Arthur book.
- Demons
- Dark Academia
- Deadly Trials
- Love Triangle
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Graphic violence, Murder
-
12. A Court of Thorns and Roses
Shares: curses, deadly trials
Beauty and the Beast with fae and a lot more blood. The first half is slow and the second half under the mountain is why everyone kept going. Book two is where it gets good, honestly.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture, Murder, Dubious or non-consent
-
13. Spark of the Everflame
Shares: court intrigue, love triangle
Diem is a mortal healer in a kingdom run by the Descended, godlike rulers who treat humans as disposable. Her mother disappears, a rebellion wants her, and a Descended prince named Luther keeps showing up. A self-published hit that got a big reissue, and the series is finally finished.
- Gods and Mythology
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
- Love Triangle
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
Read more than just Lightlark? Tap everything you've loved and we'll build a reading list around all of it, not just this one book.