If you loved
Books like Powerless
You want an ordinary girl in a deadly game, a prince she shouldn't trust and a kingdom built on lies. These ten get closest, most of them young adult with little or no spice and a couple that turn the heat up. Spice and warnings are listed for each.
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1. 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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2. The Cruel Prince
Holly Black · 2018
SweetYoung adultJude is a mortal raised in the High Court of Faerie by the man who murdered her parents, and Cardan, the cruelest prince, makes her life hell. She decides to play the game better than all of them. Scheming, sharp, no spice, cliffhanger.
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3. Throne of Glass
Sarah J. Maas · 2012
SweetYoung adultCelaena, the most notorious assassin in the kingdom, is pulled out of a death camp to fight for the title of the king's champion. A competition with bodies piling up, a captain and a prince, and the start of an eight-book saga. No spice yet, all the build.
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4. Fourth Wing
Rebecca Yarros · 2023
SteamyAdultThe one that turned half of BookTok into dragon riders. Violet is the frail one in a war college built to kill the weak, and the man who should be her biggest threat keeps showing up to make sure she survives. Fast, bloody, medium spice, and you'll be buying the second book at 2 a.m.
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5. 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.
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6. Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi · 2011
SweetYoung adultJuliette's touch kills, so she's been locked away, until a soldier named Warner wants to use her as a weapon. Poetic, strange, with crossed-out thoughts on the page and a love triangle that splits readers. No spice, and the series gets much better from book two.
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7. Caraval
Stephanie Garber · 2017
SweetYoung adultScarlett has written to the master of a legendary game for years, and the year her sister is taken, the invitation finally comes. Five nights of illusions where nothing is quite what it seems, a sailor she can't read, and a twist every chapter. Lush, dreamy, no spice.
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8. 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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9. The Serpent & the Wings of Night
Carissa Broadbent · 2022
SteamyAdultOraya is the human adopted daughter of a vampire king, and to survive she enters a deadly tournament where everyone wants her blood. Her only ally is a rival vampire who is definitely hiding something. Vicious, beautifully written, medium spice, cliffhanger.
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10. The Selection
Kiera Cass · 2012
SweetYoung adultThirty-five girls compete to marry Prince Maxon, and America only signed up because her family needed the money. She's in love with someone else. Light, addictive, no spice, ends on a cliffhanger.