Books like Fourth Wing: 14 picks for dragons, deadly trials and rivals who fall for each other

If you are hunting for books like Fourth Wing, you probably read it in two sittings, tore through Iron Flame, and are now staring at your shelf wondering what could possibly come next. The trouble is that Rebecca Yarros packed a lot into one book: dragons, a war college that kills its students, a rivals romance, and a pace that never lets up. Most readers loved one of those parts more than the others, and the right next book depends on which one.

So this list is sorted by what you loved. There are picks for the dragons, picks for the academy and the deadly trials, picks for a spicier rivals romance, picks with far less romance for readers who were there for the war, and clean or YA picks. If you want the whole genre mapped out first, our guide to romantasy books covers what romantasy is, where to start and how spice levels work.

Why readers love Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing opens the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail has trained her whole life to be a scribe, but her mother, a powerful general, orders her into the riders quadrant at Basgiath War College, where cadets either bond a dragon or die trying. Violet is smaller and more fragile than almost everyone around her, so she has to win with her head. One of the most dangerous people at the college is Xaden Riorson, a wingleader with every reason to hate her family. The series continues with Iron Flame and Onyx Storm.

When readers explain why it hooked them, the same things come up:

• The war college. Basgiath is a school where the curriculum is survival. The rules are harsh, the classmates are armed, and graduation is not guaranteed.
• The deadly trials. From the first crossing onward, every test can kill you. That keeps the stakes high on almost every page.
• The dragons. They are not pets or mounts. They are ancient, opinionated and terrifying, and they choose their riders, not the other way around.
• The rivals romance with Xaden. Two people on opposite sides of an old war, forced close, with tension that burns for chapters before anything happens.
• Pace and humor. Short chapters, constant cliffhangers, and a heroine with a sharp tongue. It reads fast even when the content is grim.

Books like Fourth Wing with dragons

If the bond between rider and dragon was your favorite part, start here. These books take dragons seriously, as characters with minds of their own.

1. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

The classic that much of modern dragon fiction grew from. On the planet Pern, riders bond with dragons at the moment of hatching, a lifelong telepathic link, and together they fight a deadly threat that falls from the sky. A young woman with a hidden claim to power is brought to a weyr to bond a queen dragon. Why it is like Fourth Wing: the mind-to-mind dragon bond, the military culture of the riders, and a heroine underestimated by everyone. It is older and gentler in style. Adult. Romance: present, not explicit.

2. Eragon, by Christopher Paolini

A farm boy finds a strange blue stone in the mountains, and it hatches into a dragon named Saphira. The bond makes him one of the last dragon riders in an empire ruled by the rider who destroyed the others. It opens the Inheritance Cycle. Why it is like Fourth Wing: a rider and dragon who talk in each other’s heads, and a world where riders are both soldiers and political pieces. A good pick if you want a male protagonist. YA. Romance: minimal.

3. The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon

A huge standalone epic. In the West, a queendom fears dragons as monsters. In the East, dragons are revered, and a young woman trains to become a dragon rider. Between them is a queen without an heir and a secret mage sent to protect her, as an ancient enemy stirs. Why it is like Fourth Wing: dragon riders, a world at war, and high political stakes. It is also the most common answer for readers looking for books like Fourth Wing but gay, since its central love story is between two women. Adult. Romance: slow burn, not explicit.

4. Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman

Dragons and humans live under a fragile treaty, and dragons can fold themselves into human shape to walk among people. Seraphina, a gifted court musician, is hiding a secret about her own heritage that could get her killed, just as a royal murder threatens the peace. Why it is like Fourth Wing: a clever heroine who survives by thinking, and dragons who are truly alien. It is quieter, more mystery than war. YA. Romance: slow, sweet and clean.

If you loved the academy and the deadly trials

For some readers the real hook was Basgiath itself: a school that wants you dead, rankings that matter, and classmates who might be allies or might be the next threat. These books bring that pressure.

5. Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas

A notorious young assassin is pulled out of a brutal prison camp and offered a deal: compete against the realm’s thieves and killers to become the king’s champion, and win her freedom. Contestants start dying in ways that have nothing to do with the competition. Why it is like Fourth Wing: a deadly contest, a sharp-edged heroine, and a slow climb into a much bigger war. Readers often search Fourth Wing and Throne of Glass together, and the series is the natural next step if you also loved A Court of Thorns and Roses. The first book is YA, and the series grows more mature as it goes. Romance: a love triangle in book one, more heat later.

6. A Deadly Education, by Naomi Novik

The Scholomance is a school for young wizards with no teachers and no holidays, and the building itself is full of monsters that eat students. El has an affinity for devastating dark magic and is trying very hard not to use it. It opens the Scholomance trilogy. Why it is like Fourth Wing: a school where survival is the real exam, alliances are a matter of life and death, and the narrator’s voice is dry and funny. If you came to Fourth Wing from Harry Potter, this is the darker, sharper version of that school story. Published for adults, with teenage characters. Romance: light, no spice.

7. Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn

After her mother dies, sixteen-year-old Bree enters a residential program at a university and witnesses a magical attack on her first night. It leads her into a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights, and into its dangerous initiation trials, where she hopes to learn the truth about her mother’s death. Why it is like Fourth Wing: elite trials, a hidden world with rigid rules, and a heroine everyone has decided does not belong. YA. Romance: a slow-building central romance, clean.

One more academy for the road: in our sample The Gold Sounding, a lamp-trimmer’s son arrives at a tidal magic academy, is named the chosen one at the entrance test, and saw exactly who rigged it.

If you loved the rivals romance (and want it spicier)

If Violet and Xaden were the point, and you would happily take more heat, these lean harder into the romance. For the trope itself across every genre, see our guide to enemies to lovers books.

8. Zodiac Academy, by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

Twin sisters discover they are the lost heirs to a magical throne and are sent to Zodiac Academy, where four powerful heirs who expect to rule have no intention of letting them stay. It opens a long series that readers tend to binge. Why it is like Fourth Wing: a cutthroat magic school and a romance built on open hostility. It is a bully romance, much meaner than Fourth Wing early on, and the heat builds as the series goes. Adult. Spice: high, with plenty of violence and strong language.

9. The Serpent and the Wings of Night, by Carissa Broadbent

A human raised by a vampire king enters a deadly tournament and ends up allied with a rival she has every reason to fear. We cover it in our romantasy guide, and it belongs here too: the trials are darker than Fourth Wing’s and the slow burn pays off. Adult. Spice: slow burn, then open door.

10. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas

The other half of the most common pairing in this corner of the shelf. A huntress kills a wolf and is taken into a faerie land as payment. There are no dragons, but if you want a series where the romance and the heat build book by book, it is the obvious next step. Adult. Spice: low in book one, much higher later.

Less romance: for readers who wanted the war and the dragons

Plenty of people search for books like Fourth Wing without romance, or for men, or with a male protagonist. These two keep the military stakes and the brutality and put the love story far in the background.

11. His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik

The Napoleonic Wars, with dragons. A Royal Navy captain captures a French ship carrying a dragon egg, the hatchling chooses him, and he has to leave the navy for the Aerial Corps. It opens the Temeraire series. Why it is like Fourth Wing: the bond between one person and one dragon is the emotional core, and the war is fought from the air. The friendship between captain and dragon carries the story instead of a romance. Adult. Romance: essentially none.

12. Red Rising, by Pierce Brown

On a terraformed Mars ruled by a strict color-coded caste system, a young miner from the lowest caste is remade to pass as one of the ruling elite, so that he can destroy them from inside. First he has to survive their academy, the Institute, where students are dropped into a brutal war game. Why it is like Fourth Wing: a school that tests students by letting them kill each other, and an underdog who wins by being smarter and angrier. No dragons, a male lead, very violent. Adult. Romance: present, not the focus.

Clean and YA books like Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing is an adult book with open-door scenes and strong language. If you want the trials and the danger without the spice, or you are shopping for a teen reader, these are safer bets. Eragon, Seraphina and Legendborn from the lists above also fit here.

13. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in a televised fight to the death. The pairing Fourth Wing and Hunger Games is searched so often for good reason: both are stories about young people forced into a lethal system by those in power, told by a heroine who has to stay alive long enough to see what the system really is. YA. Romance: a love triangle, clean.

14. Powerless, by Lauren Roberts

An ordinary girl hiding among people with powers is pulled into a deadly set of trials, and finds herself drawn to the prince she should fear most. It is in our romantasy guide as the YA version of the Fourth Wing formula: trials, rivals, banter. YA. Romance: central, kissing only.

A quick note on spice

Fourth Wing is adult romantasy with a few explicit scenes, plus violence and swearing. That puts it in the middle of the genre: steamier than YA, much tamer than the spiciest romantasy. Readers who search for books like Fourth Wing without spice or clean should go to Seraphina, Legendborn, The Hunger Games or A Deadly Education. Readers who want more spice should go to Zodiac Academy, The Serpent and the Wings of Night, or the later A Court of Thorns and Roses books. Keep in mind that spice and darkness are separate dials: Red Rising has almost no spice and is extremely dark.

How to choose your next book like Fourth Wing

Match the book to the part you loved most:

• If you loved the dragons, start with The Priory of the Orange Tree for scale, or Dragonflight for the classic rider bond.
• If you loved Basgiath, try A Deadly Education for a school that wants you dead, or Throne of Glass for a deadly competition.
• If Xaden was the point, go to Zodiac Academy for more heat and more hostility, or The Serpent and the Wings of Night for a darker slow burn.
• If you want less romance, His Majesty’s Dragon for dragons at war, Red Rising for a brutal academy.
• If you want a male protagonist, Eragon, Red Rising and His Majesty’s Dragon all fit.
• If you want it clean or for a teen, The Hunger Games, Legendborn, Seraphina or Powerless.
• If you want a long series to live in, Throne of Glass, Zodiac Academy and Red Rising all keep going.

A fantasy written for you

Every book above was written for every reader at once, so the balance of dragons, trials and romance is whatever the author chose. StoryStepper works differently. It is a private reading app, on the web, for adults 18 and over, that writes fiction for one reader using AI guided by a set of editorial rules. It is AI-written, and we would rather say so plainly.

Fantasy is one of its six genres: fae courts, magic academies, old bargains, with worlds invented around your premise rather than borrowed from a series you already know. Before chapter one, you choose your lead, the tone and the central tension, whether that is forbidden desire, power and betrayal, tender longing or hidden truths. Then you set hard lines. You can leave out explicit sexual content, graphic violence or infidelity, or hold nothing back, which is the simplest answer we know to the with-spice or without-spice question. Here is every question onboarding asks.

In the Stories plan, a new chapter arrives every morning and ends with exactly two choices, and the next chapter is written from the one you make, across up to 21 chapters in three seasons of seven. The first two chapters are free. If you would rather have the whole thing at once, the Books plan writes a complete, non-branching short novel from your idea, ready within the hour.

To get a feel for it, read a sample opening. The Gold Sounding is the academy story mentioned above. The Name You Owe is darker and closer to fae romantasy: a sister takes her brother’s place in a fae tithe and comes face to face with the Warden who took her mother. You can also read more about how StoryStepper works.

Whichever way you go, the best book like Fourth Wing is the one that gives you back the part you could not put down.