Books Like ACOTAR to Read While You Wait for Book Six (and After)

The best books like ACOTAR give you what Prythian gives you: fae or near-fae worlds, vicious courts, a romance that takes its time, and a war somewhere on the horizon. Below are eight picks for the wait until A Court of Splintered Harmony comes out on 27 October, split into the ones I've read and the ones on my TBR.

So, where I stand. I've read all five ACOTAR books and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to step back into Prythian. Book six is on my TBR, obviously. And I'm trying to finish Throne of Glass before it arrives, as a very slow-paced Swedish reader with a full-time job. We'll see.

If you're here for fae romance books specifically, the first two picks are the ones to look at.

A Court of Splintered Harmony: what we know

Book six of A Court of Thorns and Roses is published by Bloomsbury on 27 October 2026. It is the first part of a four-part story, and book seven, A Court of Forgotten Melody, follows on 12 January 2027 with parts two and three. A Bloomsbury teaser has confirmed Lucien as a point-of-view character. Anything else you've seen about other narrators is speculation for now.

That two-book structure is why this list covers both "while you wait" and "what to read after ACOTAR" at once. You'll finish book six and then wait again.

The picks below range from YA to adult, and I've said which is which where I could confirm it.

Dustling isn’t out yet, but you can read Chapter One free.

Quick comparison

Books like ACOTAR that I've read

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

If you want fae romance books with the court politics turned up, this is the closest match on paper. A mortal girl is taken to the faerie High Court as a child after her parents are murdered, and grows up fighting for a place among the Folk. Court intrigue, a cruel prince called Cardan and a coming civil war pull her into a dangerous alliance.

It's published as YA, so it suits readers who loved the scheming in ACOTAR more than the spice.

Quicksilver by Callie Hart

A water thief from a desert city, hiding her metal-working magic, falls through a quicksilver portal into a frozen fae realm. An accidental oath ties her to the warrior Kingfisher, in a war against a vampire king. It began self-published in 2024, and the sequel, Brimstone, came out in November 2025.

My honest history with it: I hated it on first read, and liked it better on the reread before Brimstone. Spicy, but not overwhelming. So if it doesn't click straight away, it might on round two.

Other readers: one reviewer compared reading it to discovering ACOTAR for the first time, and another recommended it to fans of slow burn, banter and spice.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

No fae here, but it's on The Portalist's list of books like A Court of Thorns and Roses. A scribe trainee with a frail body is forced by her general mother into a deadly war college for dragon riders. There she has to survive a rider whose rebel father her mother executed.

Fourth Wing is one of my top tiers. (On spice alone I'd give it a 4, but that's a different scale.) It's also half the pitch line for my own book, Dustling: "Red Queen meets Fourth Wing, with Handmaid's Tale edges", so I'm not exactly neutral. If you've already read it, I've got a whole list on what to read if you loved Fourth Wing.

Other readers: Publishers Weekly praised its dark academia feel in a starred review, and Paste compared it favourably to ACOTAR.

The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole

A woman bound to a monster to save her sister has to hunt down a relic, and is forced to work with an exiled god on his way back to his people. Her publisher calls it dark epic romantasy, and pitches it on enemies to lovers, slow burn and morally grey characters. It began self-published in 2022 before Headline Eternal signed the series.

This is the pick if Rhysand is the reason you read ACOTAR. Both this and the sequel, The Throne of Broken Gods, are five out of five from me. My list of books with morally grey MMCs I keep defending has more in the same direction.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

If you've only read Maas through ACOTAR, her first series is the obvious next stop. A young assassin is entered into a deadly tournament, and it grows from there across seven novels plus a prequel collection.

The Portalist notes it has less spice than ACOTAR, but that plenty of fans who came to Maas through ACOTAR end up preferring it. I've read book one and I think it's incredible. The rest of the series is on my TBR, and I'm trying (struggling) to catch up before book six.

On my TBR: what to read after ACOTAR next

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

A young woman raised in isolation for a sacred role wants to fight rather than wait. Then a new guard, Hawke, turns her sense of duty upside down, just as a fallen kingdom moves to take its power back. It's on both Book Riot's and The Portalist's lists of books like A Court of Thorns and Roses, and The Portalist notes that Maas has praised it.

It earned its TBR spot on the forbidden romance alone: a chosen maiden and her guard.

Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Maas's adult fantasy series, first published in 2020, with two sequels. It's on my TBR for the simplest reason: it's the Maas series I haven't started, and it turns up on ACOTAR read-alike lists (The Portalist gives it a bonus mention).

Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry

An overlooked princess is married off to a neighbouring prince to seal an alliance that is secretly a spying mission against a monster-plagued kingdom. On the journey, she falls for the prince's bodyguard. It debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover fiction list in 2025, and the sequel, Rites of the Starling, came out in April 2026.

Which of these to read first

If you want the closest match on fae courts, start with The Cruel Prince or Quicksilver. If you want the war and the slow burn, Fourth Wing. If you want a morally grey love interest, The Book of Azrael. And if you simply want more Maas before A Court of Splintered Harmony, Throne of Glass is right there (seven novels, so maybe start today).

For the tropes behind all of this, from enemies to lovers to slow burn, my romantasy tropes guide breaks them down. I've also written about the counterfeit enemy, and why so much enemies to lovers is mislabelled.

FAQ

So tell me: are you rereading the whole series before 27 October, or going straight in? And which book on this list would you hand an ACOTAR fan first?

If courts, slow burns and a world that's falling apart sound like your kind of trouble, Chapter One of Dustling is free when you join The Wickers Word.