What to Read After The Cruel Prince: 6 Books with Fae Courts and Enemies to Lovers
What to read after The Cruel Prince is the question every Holly Black reader asks the moment Jude and Cardan's dynamic grabs them and refuses to let go. Holly Black perfected the dangerous fae court fantasy — a heroine who refuses to be weak in a world designed to break her, and a love interest whose cruelty turns out to be something more complicated. If you loved the political scheming, the morally grey love interest who keeps you guessing, and the court intrigue that rewards close reading, these six books will satisfy the same instinct — whether in fae courts, forbidden empires, or historical settings with their own kind of danger.
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The Wicked King
by Holly Black
The direct sequel to The Cruel Prince escalates everything — Jude is now Seneschal and must maintain control over a Court she manipulates rather than rules, while Cardan becomes more dangerously unpredictable. Black delivers the political scheming and enemies-to-lovers tension that made the first book work, with an ending that resets everything yet again. If you finished The Cruel Prince and need to know what happens next, this is the only answer.
View on AmazonFae CourtsPolitical IntrigueEnemies to LoversMorally Grey Hero🔥 Heat: Warm - 2
A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas
The most recommended fae fantasy after The Cruel Prince: a mortal girl taken to a fae court, a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and a slow burn that earns every degree of heat. Maas writes morally complex fae with the same danger Holly Black brings to Elfhame, and the court politics of Prythian are comparable to the High Court's social hierarchies. ACOTAR is longer and warmer than The Cruel Prince, but delivers the same fundamental pleasure: a clever heroine navigating a world designed to destroy her.
View on AmazonFae CourtsEnemies to LoversForbidden RomanceSlow Burn🔥🔥🔥 Heat: Very Steamy - 3
An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir
For Cruel Prince readers who responded most strongly to the enemies dynamic and the world where the wrong move means death — An Ember in the Ashes transposes those stakes to a brutal Roman-inspired empire. Tahir writes the power imbalance between characters with the same precision Holly Black brings to the mortal/fae dynamic, and the slow-build tension between Laia and Elias has the same atmospheric charge as Jude and Cardan. Less fae-focused but tonally aligned.
View on AmazonEnemies to LoversDual POVDark FantasyPolitical Intrigue🔥 Heat: Warm - 4
From Blood and Ash
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The most popular adult romantasy for readers who loved The Cruel Prince and want more heat: a chosen maiden and her forbidden guard, with a morally complex love interest who keeps his secrets across three hundred pages before the truth lands. Armentrout writes the forbidden romance with the same push-pull dynamic Holly Black uses for Jude and Cardan, but in a fantasy world with significantly more explicit heat. The twist in the final act changes everything.
View on AmazonForbidden RomanceEnemies to LoversBodyguardDark Fantasy🔥🔥🔥 Heat: Very Steamy - 5
The Winner's Curse
by Marie Rutkoski
A general's daughter buys a slave at auction and discovers he is a prisoner of war from her empire's enemies — the enemies-to-lovers tension in The Winner's Curse is among the most precisely constructed in YA fantasy, built from political betrayal rather than magical power. Rutkoski writes the same kind of chess-match dynamic Holly Black uses for Jude and Cardan, but in a world of empires, strategy, and competing loyalties. A natural step for Cruel Prince readers who want more political complexity.
View on AmazonEnemies to LoversPolitical IntrigueWarClass Dynamics🌸 Heat: Sweet - 6
Kingdom of the Wicked
by Kerri Maniscalco
Historical Sicily, 1888 — Emilia summons a demon to find her twin's killer and must work alongside the Prince of Wrath, who is as beautiful and dangerous as any fae lord. Maniscalco writes the morally grey love interest with the same unsettling magnetism Holly Black brings to Cardan, and the gothic atmosphere gives the forbidden attraction its own distinct flavour. For Cruel Prince readers who love the tension of a heroine who shouldn't want what she wants.
View on AmazonDark RomanceHistorical SettingMorally Grey HeroSlow Burn🔥 Heat: Warm