Books Like The Traitor Baru Cormorant
If you finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant and want more court intrigue, revenge, 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 Traitor Baru Cormorant 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. She Who Became the Sun
Shares: morally gray, revenge, forbidden love
A peasant girl takes her dead brother's name and his destiny during a famine, and decides she'll become the first Ming emperor. Her rival is a eunuch general with a revenge plan of his own. Queer, ambitious and ruthless about what wanting something costs.
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Torture, Death of a loved one, Harm to children
-
2. Jade City
Shares: morally gray, court intrigue, revenge
The Godfather with martial arts magic. The Kaul family's warriors draw power from jade, a rival clan wants their territory, and a new drug lets anyone use it. Slow start while it builds the city, then the clan war hits and it doesn't let up.
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
- Revenge
- Found Family
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Drug or alcohol abuse, Death of a loved one
-
3. Tithe
Shares: court intrigue, forbidden love, morally gray
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
-
4. The Cruel Prince
Shares: court intrigue, morally gray, revenge
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
-
5. The Stolen Heir
Shares: court intrigue, morally gray, 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
-
6. The Blade Itself
Shares: morally gray, court intrigue
A torturer, a barbarian and a vain nobleman walk into a war. Abercrombie is funny, which is the only reason the darkness goes down so easily.
- Grimdark
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Torture, Graphic violence, War
-
7. Blood Over Bright Haven
Shares: revenge, forbidden love
A woman finally makes it into the all-male magic academy and finds out what the city's magic actually runs on. A gut punch of an ending.
- Dark Academia
- Revenge
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Genocide, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
-
8. Certain Dark Things
Shares: forbidden love, morally gray
Atl is a vampire on the run from a rival clan in Mexico City, where vampires are banned and the narcos are worse. Domingo, a sweet street kid who collects trash, offers to help. A noir with fangs, short and mean.
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Gore, Murder, Drug or alcohol abuse, Graphic violence
-
9. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
Tana wakes up after a party surrounded by bodies, with her infected ex tied up and a chained vampire in the next room. She drives them to Coldtown, a walled city where vampires livestream their parties. Black's sharpest standalone.
- Vampires
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Gore, Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
-
10. Babel
Shares: morally gray, revenge
Robin is taken from Canton as a child and raised to study at Oxford's translation institute, where silver bars powered by mistranslation run the British Empire. Long, footnoted and furious about colonialism. The friendship at the center is the part that hurts.
- Dark Academia
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
-
11. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
Three women turned into vampires across five centuries: María in 1500s Spain, Charlotte in 1800s London, Alice in modern Boston. Their stories wind together slowly. Addie LaRue's structure with much more blood and some genuinely toxic sapphic relationships.
- Vampires
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Murder, Gore, Physical or emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide or suicidal thoughts
-
12. Ninth House
Shares: revenge, morally gray
Yale's secret societies do real magic, and Alex can see the ghosts who watch them. Bardugo for adults: grimy, angry and a lot darker than Grisha.
- Dark Academia
- Revenge
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Drug or alcohol abuse, Murder, Harm to children
-
13. 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
-
14. The Library at Mount Char
Shares: morally gray, revenge
Carolyn and her adopted siblings were raised by a godlike man called Father, who taught each of them one catalog of forbidden knowledge and punished them horribly. Now Father is missing. Go in blind. It's deeply strange, very upsetting and weirdly funny.
- Gods and Mythology
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
- Grimdark
Content warnings
Torture, Physical or emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, Harm to children, Murder
-
15. The Warded Man
Shares: morally gray, revenge
Every night demons rise from the ground, and people survive behind magic wards. Arlen watches his mother die because his father froze, and decides he'll fight back. Great first half. The handling of sexual violence in the back half is a common complaint.
- Demons
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
Read more than just The Traitor Baru Cormorant? Tap everything you've loved and we'll build a reading list around all of it, not just this one book.