Books Like The Stolen Heir
If you finished The Stolen Heir and want more fae, court intrigue, morally gray, 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, The Stolen Heir 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. The Cruel Prince
Shares: fae, court intrigue, 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
-
2. Tithe
Shares: fae, court intrigue, forbidden love
Kaye is a sixteen-year-old living out of her mom's band van in New Jersey, and the faeries who used to visit her as a kid have plans for her. Grungier and more 2002 than The Cruel Prince, but you can see where Jude came from.
- Fae
- Court Intrigue
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Drug or alcohol abuse, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
-
3. These Violent Delights
Shares: forbidden love, 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
-
4. Darkfever
Shares: fae, morally gray
Mac goes to Dublin to find out who killed her sister and finds out she can see the fae. They're nothing like the stories. The romance with Barrons takes several books and gets very dark. This was dark fae before dark fae was a shelf.
- Fae
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
- Possessive Hero
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
-
5. One Dark Window
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
There's a monster living in Elspeth's head, and it talks. Gothic, foggy, strange in the best way. Feels like a dark fairy tale someone forgot to tame.
- Curses
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Murder
-
6. The Darkest Part of the Forest
Shares: fae, forbidden love
In Fairfold, tourists come to gawk at a horned boy asleep in a glass coffin in the woods. Then Hazel finds the coffin smashed and empty. Two romances, one of them queer, and a brother-sister story that hits just as hard.
- Fae
- Curses
- Found Family
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
-
7. Wicked Saints
Shares: forbidden love, 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
-
8. The Iron King
Shares: fae, 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
-
9. Faebound
Shares: fae, forbidden love, 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
-
10. Gild
Shares: fae, morally gray
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
-
11. House of Earth and Blood
Shares: fae, morally gray
Urban fantasy Maas: phones, clubs, angels and a half-fae party girl hunting whoever killed her best friend. The first 200 pages are a slog and the last 200 are a sprint.
- Fae
- Demons
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Murder, Drug or alcohol abuse, Death of a loved one
-
12. The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Shares: court intrigue, morally gray, forbidden love
Baru wants to destroy the empire that conquered her island, so she joins it as an accountant. Yes, accountant. Colonialism, ledgers and a rebellion she can't afford to care about. The ending is cold enough that some readers never forgave it.
- Court Intrigue
- Revenge
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Genocide, Torture, War, Gore, Death of a loved one
-
13. The Wretched Divine
Shares: forbidden love, 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
-
14. Wintersong
Shares: fae, forbidden love
Liesl trades herself to the Goblin King to get her sister back from the Underground, and the bargain turns into a marriage. Labyrinth for grown-ups, with music at its heart. Lush and moody, though some readers feel the second half drifts.
- Fae
- Deals and Bargains
- Captor and Captive
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Death of a loved one
-
15. Zodiac Academy: The Awakening
Shares: fae, 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
Read more than just The Stolen Heir? Tap everything you've loved and we'll build a reading list around all of it, not just this one book.