If you loved
Books like Throne of Glass
You want a girl trained to kill, a court that wants her on a leash and a competition with bodies piling up. These nine get closest, most of them young adult with little or no spice, and one that's the grown-up next step. The spice and warnings are listed for each.
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1. An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir · 2015
SweetYoung adultLaia goes undercover as a slave inside the empire's deadliest military academy to save her brother, and Elias, its best soldier, wants out. Two points of view, a regime that makes you flinch, and a love triangle that simmers rather than burns. No spice, all stakes, and it ends on a cliffhanger.
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2. Grave Mercy
Robin LaFevers · 2012
MildYoung adultSold to a pig farmer at fourteen, Ismae ends up in a convent whose nuns serve Mortain, the old god of death, and trains as one of his assassins. Her new job: pose as Gavriel Duval's mistress at the Breton court and find out whether he's a traitor. Medieval politics and poison, mild spice, happy for now.
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3. Red Queen
Victoria Aveyard · 2015
SweetYoung adultMare is a Red, born to serve the Silvers and their powers, until she shows a power of her own in front of the whole court. Now she's hidden as a lost Silver princess and engaged to a prince. Palace intrigue, a love triangle, no spice, and a twist you will not see coming.
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4. Poison Study
Maria V. Snyder · 2005
MildAdultYelena is on her way to the gallows for killing a general's son when she's offered another job: food taster to the Commander. Valek, his chief of security, makes sure she can't run by poisoning her himself, and the antidote comes one day at a time. A slow burn with an assassin, mild spice, happy for now.
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5. The Bridge Kingdom
Danielle L. Jensen · 2018
ExplicitAdultLara was raised to marry the king of Ithicana, learn his kingdom's secrets and destroy it from within. Then she falls in love with him. Political, slow-burning, high spice once it gets there, and it ends on a cliffhanger.
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6. Shadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo · 2012
SweetYoung adultAlina is an orphaned army mapmaker until a monster attack in the Shadow Fold drags out of her a power nobody has seen in centuries. Taken to the Little Palace to train under the Darkling, she's pulled between him and Mal, the boy she grew up with. No spice, happy for now.
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7. Serpent & Dove
Shelby Mahurin · 2019
MildYoung adultLou is a witch hiding as a thief in Cesarine, and Reid is the captain of the Church's witch hunters. One public scandal later they're married, and she's living among the men who burn her kind. Enemies to lovers with banter, mild spice, happy for now.
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8. Powerless
Lauren Roberts · 2023
SweetYoung adultPaedyn is an Ordinary pretending to have powers in a kingdom that kills people like her, and saving the prince lands her in the deadly trials. Enemies to lovers with the man trained to hunt her kind, no spice, fast, and a cliffhanger.
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9. Lightlark
Alex Aster · 2022
SweetYoung adultEvery hundred years an island appears and six rulers play a deadly game to break their curses. Isla's realm is cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with, which makes the two men circling her a problem. Young adult, twisty, no spice, cliffhanger.