Books Like Powerless
If you finished Powerless and want more deadly trials, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, 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, Powerless is:
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The picks
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1. Throne of Glass
Shares: deadly trials, 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
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2. Heartless Hunter
Shares: enemies to lovers, forbidden love, court intrigue
A witch rescuing other witches from the gallows fake-dates the hunter tracking her down. Both are lying about everything. Twisty and quick.
- Witches
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
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3. Caraval
Shares: deadly trials, forbidden love
Scarlett finally gets her invitation to Caraval, a magical week-long game, and her sister vanishes the night they arrive. Julian the sailor is her very unreliable partner. Dreamy and purple, and you won't know what's real, which is either the point or the problem.
- Deadly Trials
- Deals and Bargains
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping
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4. Faebound
Shares: forbidden love, 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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5. Red Queen
Shares: court intrigue, forbidden love
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
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6. The Iron King
Shares: forbidden love, 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
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7. The Shadows Between Us
Shares: court intrigue, enemies to lovers
Alessandra plans to seduce the Shadow King, marry him and kill him. He's got plans too. YA and clean, but the heroine is delightfully ruthless.
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Murder
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8. Zodiac Academy: The Awakening
Shares: enemies to lovers, forbidden love, 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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9. The Cruel Prince
Shares: 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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10. Lightlark
Shares: deadly trials, court intrigue
Every hundred years the island of Lightlark appears for the Centennial, a deadly game where six rulers fight to break their curses. Isla, the Wildling ruler, is hiding more than most. The TikTok hype was enormous and the reviews are split. Read it for the twists, not the prose.
- Deadly Trials
- Curses
- Love Triangle
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence
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11. Seraphina
Shares: forbidden love, court intrigue
In Goredd, dragons can fold themselves into human shape, and the treaty keeping the peace is barely holding. Seraphina is a court musician hiding exactly what she is. The romance with Prince Lucian is slow and sweet, and the prose is gorgeous if you don't mind a gentle pace.
- Dragons
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
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12. Sky in the Deep
Shares: enemies to lovers, forbidden love
Eelyn spots her supposedly dead brother fighting for the enemy clan, then gets captured and has to winter in their village. Viking-flavored, short and bloody, with the enemy slowly turning into family. No spice at all.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Captor and Captive
- Forbidden Love
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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13. Stolen Songbird
Shares: forbidden love, court intrigue
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
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14. The Stolen Heir
Shares: court intrigue, forbidden love
Suren, the runaway child queen of the Court of Teeth, has been living feral in the New England woods when Prince Oak turns up asking for help on a quest. Set after The Folk of the Air, sadder than Jude's books, and Oak is far more slippery than he looks.
- Fae
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence, Murder
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15. The Veiled Kingdom
Shares: enemies to lovers, forbidden love, court intrigue
Nyra has spent her whole life hiding that she's really Verena, the lost fae princess of Marmoris, and Dacre, the man she can't stop wanting, has no idea. Fast and very spicy, light on worldbuilding. That's either the appeal or the problem.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
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