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Yup, I have finally jumped aboard the Sarah J. Maas fangirl train, and not a moment too soon! As high-fantasy YA novels are my favorite things EVER, I’m thrilled that Throne of Glass has had such an impact on the reading community. Most of the bloggers I follow have read it, the same holds for the many YA readers in my own community. After recommending it constantly to customers, I quickly realized that I needed to be prepared for when they came back with “Ooooooh! I loved it so much! What can I read next?” From that question was born this list:
Top Ten Eleven Books You Might Like If You Enjoyed Throne of Glass!
If you liked:
You might like:
Book Info: Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: setting, story, and genre – this is my favorite book from this list. While I love reading about Celaena and think she’s a cool character, I don’t find a single thing about her relatable. Elise, however, from Girl of Fire and Thorns is exactly the kind of heroine that makes me fall in love with a book. Her relatability is what allowed me to fully immerse myself in the story, whereas ToG always seem to keep me at arms-distance. I’m not saying you will also like this one more, but there’s definitely a good chance you will enjoy it.
Book Info: Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: story, romance, character – and assassins! Granted the main character is a lot more timid than Celaena, but progression of the story in the romance feels really similar to ToG. I haven’t read the second or third book in this series, so I can’t speak to its ongoing similarity, but I think ToG readers will definitely at least enjoy the first one.
Book Info: Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: character, atmosphere – this book offers another kick butt heroine who shows a lot of skill in her profession (thieving) right from the start. The city she lives in and the conflicts also remind me of ToG and I thought the general atmosphere both books were incredibly similar. This one definitely takes its own unique turn, but I felt it was just as entertaining along the way.
Book Info: The Winner’s Curse
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: character, genre, setting– of all the female protagonists on this list, actually view the main one in The Winner’s Curse as the most similar to Celaena, yet I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why. She’s an interesting character with a lot of strong convictions, so that might be why she resonated with ToG for me. I am really confident about the recommendability of this one to ToG fans – everyone seems to be raving about it with the same enthusiasm.
Book Info: Young Elites by Marie Lu
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: character, setting, and genre – the main character for this book reminds me a lot of Celaena, only she wears the scars of what she’s been through on the outside as well as the inside. There is also a real darkness to her character that mimicked some of the low points of Celaena’s journey. Add in a secret guild and magic-users and you’ve got yourself a fairly comparable novel. I really liked it.
Book Info: The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: all the things – okay, I realize how stupid it is to say “if you like this author, you should read more of this author” but not everybody takes the time to read prequels and novellas, so I have to tell you this book makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE! If you haven’t read it yet, drop everything and read it now – it turned to me from a casual admirer of the series to a ToG super fan overnight… possibly because it gave me the insight into Celaena’s character that I’d been needing.
Book Info: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: genre, character, romance – this is the teen fantasy book that got me hooked on the genre. It has a wonderful adventure and a beautiful love story. I’m recommending it for ToG fans because I think they will like the main character and enjoy the journey. I don’t have any specific similarities between the two series, but chances are if you liked the genre in general you’ll enjoy this book. That being said, the third book, Bitterblue, has a TON of similarities…
Book Info: Poison Study by Maria Snyder
Genre: Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: character, story, pretty much everything – this is the single most similar book to ToG on my list, down to the introduction of our heroine being led from her prison and being made an offer. From there, the love story, the setting, the conflicts, and the plot all resonate with the things I loved about ToG, which is why I am highly recommending this title. If you only choose one book from my list to try, I’m most confident about this one.
Book Info: Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan
Genre: Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: setting, atmosphere – this is another one of those titles that reminded me of ToG because of the general setting and atmosphere of the story. It takes place in a school for magicians, and the castle, city, and world all reminded me of where ToG took place. I also found a resonance with the magic system, particularly the dark magic. This wouldn’t be my first recommend on the list, but if you’ve read most of the others this one will definitely help hold you over.
Book Info: Medalon by Jennifer Fallon
Genre: Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: story, setting, character – I’ll admit it has been a really long time since I’ve read this book, but the overall essence of what I remember reminds me a lot of what I like in ToG, especially as the series progresses. It’s one of the books I’ve been itching to go back and reread, and now might be a great time while I’m waiting for the next ToG book to come out…
Book Info: Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Genre: Fantasy
Reason for Recommending: setting, atmosphere – I’m including this book on my list because there are several parts within the story that evoked the same regal atmosphere as in ToG… And that’s kind of where the similarities end to be honest with you. This is one of my all-time favorite series, but it comes with several disclaimers – sexual content, violence, and slow pacing. Read it at your own risk…
I hope you find this list helpful and enjoy these titles as much as I did! I’ve added all of them to a shelf on my Goodreads page if you’d like to go read more about them. Happy reading! :-)
Have you read any good books similar to Throne of Glass?
The Obsessive Bookseller 
Great post! I haven’t read any of the books on your list but I am pretty sure Grave Mercy will be my BOTM for May :) I’ll try jump on the Sarah J Maas bus soon!
Chanzie @ Mean Who You Are.
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Oh I hope you do! Grave mercy was ironically my least favorite of the ten (but still really good) so if you only sort of like it, any of the others are even better! Thanks or your support every week – I always look forward to your comments. :)
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read grave mercy i loved it but the ending is for some and not everyone but still a real page turner
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Yeah, it didn’t leave me feeling like I had to pick up the next one, either. But I tend to feel that way about series with different povs for each book.
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half of these books are either on my favourites or sitting on my shelf waiting to be read- surely a good sign!!
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Nice! You sound like a kindred spirit for sure! That definitely bodes well for the unread ones… :)
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Third recommendation this morning for Alanna. Why have I never read Tamora Pierce?!
Here’s my Top Ten!
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She is an excellent author with very little fanfare… I need to read more from her for sure!
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I LOVE THRONE OF GLASS AND EXCUSE ME BECAUSE I NEED TO FANGIRL OVER CROWN OF MIDNIGHT AND THEN CRY. Basically. Yes. x) I’m a tiny bit of a fan. Hehe…I loved Seraphina and Shadow & Bone but those are the only ones I’ve read out of your recs! I need to work on that. :)) My TTT!
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Haha – I can tell you are. I think you should read girl of fire and thorns next… I think you’ll love it!
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when does the 4th book come out???
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The queen of shadows is currently set to come out September 1, 2015 :)
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Next (5.5)comes out in september.
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Wohoo!!!
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Love love love this topic! I absolutely adore the Throne of Glass series. Plus have you seen The Queen of Shadows’ cover! It’s gorgeous! Anyway, some great books here! The Girl of Fire and Thorns series, Poison Study and The Winner’s Curse are all amazing fantasy books! So many here that I need to read though! Great choice this week :)
Becca @ Lost in Thought
My TTT!
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Hey there! I love your recommendations for someone who enjoyed Throne of Glass. Im about to become a YA librarian and I just started up my YA Book Talk blog (Don’t Shush Me!), and read TOG, loved it! I used your post for some recommendations for my next read, and I’m going to link to it in my upcoming post for TOG, thanks :)
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So sorry for taking forever to respond! Thank you for your nice comments about my post (I am particularly proud of this one LOL). Other than bookselling, it seems like you are going to be living another one of my dream jobs! I also really like the name for your blog. I sincerely hope you like some of the books from my list! :-)
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That’s ok! Yep I am very excited for librarianship lol I was a checking out your blog and it seems we read several of the same books/authors. I’m looking forward keeping up with your blog!
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I bet – it sounds like a fun job, and I love the fact that you get to focus on YA. It does indeed look like we have a lot of similar tastes – I look forward to seeing more from you too! :-)
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Kushiel’s Dart is my favorite book, and I love seeing other people recommend it. : D Poison Study, Winner’s Curse and Grave Mercy are all really enjoyable too! I should look into the others on your list.
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There are so many books on here that I want to read, especially The Girl of Fire and Thorns, and Graceling.
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Some of these sound really great!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/top-ten-tuesday-24/
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Hi, I enjoyed reading this post and thank you for the recommendations! I love strong feminine heroes and I was running out of books to read when I came across this list…anyway, Sarah J. Maas also has another series – A Court of Thorns and Roses, and I found it captivating too! Although the story seemed somewhat glossed over at the start (maybe I was reading it too quickly), the second half of the book proves as exciting as (and almost similar to) Throne of Glass. Another series I would recommend by Jacqueline Carey is Naamah’s Kiss series; but like Kushiel’s Dart, it is also has sexual content and is slow-paced.
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I agree, Court of Mist and Fury, and Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas are better then COurt of Thorns and Roses.
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I definitely need to continue on in that series! I feel like I’ve been stalling because I hate the weight between books haha. That makes me a horrible fan, I know.
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LOVE these recommendations. Sarah J. Maas is one of my absolute favorite authors, and I’ve been rereading the TOG series in prep for QOS, which yes, I still have not read! Anyway, great post! :)
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Haha – I haven’t read the most recent one yet either! So glad I’m not the only one ;) And thank you – I hope you like some of these others as much as I did!!
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I read some of your recommendations already and think they’re quite good except for the last two. I would recommend Iron King by Julie Kagawa, Storm Glass, Inside Out and Touch of Power, all by Maria V. Snyder.
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Thanks :) and I haven’t read kagawa yet, and that series by Snyder has been on my shelves for years! I need to get going on that haha. Thanks so much for the additional recommends!! :)
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I have to say that of all the books and series’ I have read, the Sarah J. Maas Court of Thorns and Roses series grabbed me like no series has before! I have just finished A Court of Mist and Fury and I am starting over to make sure I missed nothing!
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That’s awesome!! I thought about including those on the list, but I sad to say I didn’t enjoy the first one nearly as much as everyone else did. I may have to give it another go… :)
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