Deadly Trials Books
Competitions, tests or games where losing usually means dying.
Spiciest here: Frost. Darkest: Nevernight.
Last updated
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The books
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A Court of Thorns and Roses
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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Fourth Wing
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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The Serpent and the Wings of Night
A human girl raised by the vampire king enters a deadly tournament where the prize is a goddess's favor. Hunger Games energy, gorgeous writing and a rival who's very hard not to like.
- Vampires
- Deadly Trials
- Enemies to Lovers
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
-
Throne of Glass
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
-
A Deadly Education
El is at a magic school with no teachers, where monsters crawl out of the drains and a chunk of every class dies before graduation. She's also prophesied to destroy the world. Her grumpy voice carries the whole thing.
- Academies and War Colleges
- Dark Academia
- Deadly Trials
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Death of a loved one
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An Ember in the Ashes
Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's military academy to save her brother, and Elias is its best soldier who wants out. The Commandant is one of YA's scariest villains. Darker than most YA, with threats of sexual violence throughout.
- Academies and War Colleges
- Deadly Trials
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Torture, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse, Harm to children
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Blood of Hercules
Alexis Hert takes a blood test and lands in a Spartan war academy built inside a Coliseum, where her mentors are gladiators Achilles and Patro and her professors are heirs to the underworld. Everyone is cruel to her. Unhinged, funny in a bleak way, and much meaner than the cover.
- Gods and Mythology
- Why Choose
- Academies and War Colleges
- Deadly Trials
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse, Self-harm, Death of a loved one
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Caraval
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
-
Daughter of No Worlds
A former slave with a talent for magic gets recruited into an order of warriors. Broadbent before Nyaxia, and the slow burn here is properly slow.
- Slow Burn
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
- Deadly Trials
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence, War
-
Fireborne
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
-
Frost
Torin, the icy Seelie king, needs a queen to save his kingdom and holds a deadly competition to pick one, and a sarcastic human woman with nothing to lose ends up in it. The Bachelor with fae and frostbite. Quick, snarky and steamy.
- Fae
- Deadly Trials
- Enemies to Lovers
- Arranged Marriage
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder
-
Gideon the Ninth
Lesbian necromancers in space solving murders in a haunted palace. Gideon is a swordswoman with a meme for every occasion. Confusing for 100 pages, then you're hooked.
- Deadly Trials
- Enemies to Lovers
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Gore, Murder, Harm to children, Suicide or suicidal thoughts
-
Legendborn
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
-
Lightlark
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
-
Lore
Every seven years the Greek gods are made mortal and hunted through New York, and whoever kills one takes its power. Lore walked away from the hunt after her family was murdered. Then a wounded Athena turns up on her doorstep. Punchy YA, a little long.
- Gods and Mythology
- Deadly Trials
- Revenge
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Sexual assault, Death of a loved one
-
Nevernight
Mia watched her father hang, so she enrolls at the Red Church, a school for assassins where failing usually means dying. The narrator talks to you in snarky footnotes, which people either adore or hate. Bloody, horny and very sure of itself.
- Assassins
- Academies and War Colleges
- Revenge
- Deadly Trials
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one, Harm to children
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Phantasma
Ophelia Grimm is a necromancer with a cruel voice in her head who enters the Prince of the Devils' deadly game, where only one player wins a wish. Caraval meets a haunted manor, with a lot more heat. The cover did plenty of the selling on BookTok.
- Deadly Trials
- Deals and Bargains
- Demons
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Suicide or suicidal thoughts, Graphic violence
-
Powerless
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
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The Atlas Six
Six magicians get recruited by the Alexandrian Society, and only five get to stay. It's mostly six awful, brilliant people talking in a library and trying to figure out which of them has to die. Vibes over plot, and readers are split on that.
- Dark Academia
- Deadly Trials
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Murder, Death of a loved one, Drug or alcohol abuse
