Books Like The Serpent and the Wings of Night
If you finished The Serpent and the Wings of Night and want more vampires, deadly trials, enemies to lovers, 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. Fourth Wing
Shares: enemies to lovers, deadly trials
Violet is fragile and was supposed to be a scribe. Instead she's at a war college where cadets push each other off parapets and the dragons pick who lives. Fast, bingeable and meaner than the cover suggests.
- Dragons
- Academies and War Colleges
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, War, Death of a loved one
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2. The Book of Azrael
Shares: enemies to lovers, morally gray, gods and mythology
Dianna is a shape-shifting monster who does terrible things for her maker. Liam is a god-king forced to work with her. The main characters really aren't nice people, and it's dark and very horny.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Morally Gray
- Gods and Mythology
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Torture, Murder
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3. Fortuna Sworn
Shares: morally gray, enemies to lovers
Fortuna is a Nightmare who can see the fears of anyone she touches, and when her brother goes missing she ends up a prisoner of the Unseelie Court. Getting out costs her something very fae. Bleak, messy, and the love interest debate is half the fun.
- Fae
- Captor and Captive
- Deals and Bargains
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Human trafficking, Graphic violence
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4. The Emperor's Enemy
Shares: enemies to lovers, morally gray
Zora Ravenal, a knight mage from the north, gets forced into a partnership with a terrifying Royal Mage in the middle of a war. Real enemies to lovers with great banter. The secret-keeping gets repetitive, and the warnings are heavier than you'd guess.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War, Murder
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5. Gild
Shares: morally gray, 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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6. Kushiel's Dart
Shares: gods and mythology, morally gray
Phèdre is a courtesan and spy who finds pleasure in pain, sold into a world of political betrayal. Dense and long, with real kink, and it was doing romantasy 20 years before the word existed.
- Court Intrigue
- Gods and Mythology
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Dubious or non-consent, Torture, Sexual assault, War, Graphic violence
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7. The Wretched Divine
Shares: enemies to lovers, morally gray
Grace's adult debut: a knight bonded to an angel has to team up with a demon to find a cure. Way darker than Belladonna and a bit overstuffed, but the emotional core is the most complicated thing she's written.
- Demons
- Forbidden Love
- Enemies to Lovers
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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8. From Blood and Ash
Shares: vampires, enemies to lovers, morally gray
Poppy is the Maiden, veiled and untouchable, and her new guard Hawke is far too interested in her. Very talky, very horny, and the twist lands if you don't see it coming.
- Vampires
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping
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9. A Shadow in the Ember
Shares: gods and mythology, enemies to lovers, morally gray
Sera was raised to seduce and kill the Primal of Death, who was promised her as a bride and then never came to collect. When Nyktos finally shows up, the plan gets messy fast. Long and repetitive in the middle, and a prequel world for Blood and Ash readers.
- Gods and Mythology
- Arranged Marriage
- Assassins
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse, Murder
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10. Wicked Saints
Shares: gods and mythology, morally gray
A girl who talks to gods, a blood mage prince and a war that never ends. Moody and extremely Slavic. The romance is with someone who's very clearly a villain.
- Gods and Mythology
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Self-harm, Gore, War, Torture
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11. The Cruel Prince
Shares: enemies to lovers, morally gray
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. A Dowry of Blood
Shares: vampires, morally gray
Constanta, Dracula's first bride, writes to him about how she came to want him dead. Short, gothic and lush. It's really a book about getting out of an abusive relationship.
- Vampires
- Why Choose
- Possessive Hero
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Murder, Gore
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13. These Violent Delights
Shares: enemies to lovers, morally gray
Romeo and Juliet in 1926 Shanghai. Juliette is heir to the Scarlet Gang, Roma is heir to the rival White Flowers, and a contagion is making people tear their own throats out. Atmospheric and gory, with a monster in the Huangpu River.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence, Murder, Suicide or suicidal thoughts
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14. This Monster of Mine
Shares: enemies to lovers, morally gray
A legal thriller in a Rome-inspired city. Four years after someone threw Sarai from a tower, she's back as a Petitor who can hear lies, assigned to Tetrarch Kadra, the feared judge whose voice sounds exactly like her attacker's. She works with him by day and plots against him by night.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Revenge
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
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15. A Court of Thorns and Roses
Shares: enemies to lovers, 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
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