Books like Fourth Wing, matched to what you actually loved
Book 4 of the Empyrean series has no release date, so the wait is real. The three best follow-ups right now are A Promise of Fire (the enemies-to-lovers tension), Red Rising (the lethal academy) and To Shape a Dragon’s Breath (the dragon bond, and on almost no other list). Full picks below, sorted by which part of Fourth Wing you loved. Last verified 28 August 2026.
Describe what you loved about Fourth Wing in your own words
Most “books like Fourth Wing” lists throw fifteen romantasy titles at you and hope one sticks. This one works backwards: it splits Fourth Wing into the specific things readers loved, then matches each one separately, with at least one well-known comp and at least one genuinely under-listed pick per section. The under-listed picks were checked against the major rival lists: if it appears on them, it isn’t called hidden here. Every title is a real, in-print book you can buy in the UK. Buy links to independent bookshops are coming, and when they land, every one funds an independent bookshop. No spoilers for anything, including Fourth Wing itself.
One note on pacing: unputdownable isn’t a shelf you can browse, it’s a quality. So instead of a pacing section, every pick carries a pace tag, and where a book trades speed for something else, that’s said plainly before you buy it.
If you loved the rider and dragon bond
1. Fireborne, Rosaria Munda (2019)
well-known comp · YA · low spice · measured, political pace
Competitive testing into a dragonriding elite, a rider and dragon bond at the story's centre, rival cadets circling the top spot. Differs: muted slow-burn romance and a slower, more political engine. The bond here is emotional and ideological, not spicy.
2. To Shape a Dragon's Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose (2023)
under-listed pick · crossover · very low spice · cosy, slow pace
A human and dragon bond formed by an outsider, who then has to survive a hostile, rule-bound academy on her wits alone. Differs: cosy, cerebral and built around a colonial critique, the near-opposite of Fourth Wing's adrenaline. The romance is a quiet sapphic subplot, not the spine.
3. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey (1968)
the trope's origin · adult · no spice · classic pace
Where the telepathic dragon partnership began. If the bond is all you want and pace is negotiable, start here. Differs: fifty years older in style, no academy, romance of its era.
4. His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik (2006)
well-known in fantasy, rarely on Fourth Wing lists · adult · no spice · steady pace
Dragon and rider as true partners in the Napoleonic Wars, the bond itself done better than almost anywhere in romantasy. Differs: naval historical fantasy, zero romance.
If you loved the brutal academy
5. Red Rising, Pierce Brown (2014)
well-known comp · adult crossover · low spice · propulsive pace
A murderous training crucible where students kill and scheme to advance. The purest survive-the-school analogue, with the same underdog-outsmarts-the-system spine. Differs: science fiction, not fantasy, heavier on-page violence, minor romance, no dragons.
6. The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (2018)
well-known comp · adult, grimdark · negligible romance · fast, then harrowing
A poor, underestimated girl claws into an elite military academy on raw wits as war closes in around the training. Differs: very dark, with real atrocity content in the back half. Tonally far heavier than Fourth Wing.
7. Vita Nostra, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (2007, English translation 2018)
under-listed pick · adult · no romance · slow, cerebral
A coercive institute where failure carries lethal stakes and the training itself may unmake you. The survive-the-training dread of Basgiath, distilled to its bones. Differs: literary, romance-free, philosophical and bleak, with zero commercial propulsion. Recommended for the dread, not the escapism.
If you loved Violet and Xaden
8. The Cruel Prince, Holly Black (2018)
well-known comp · YA · tension over heat · brisk pace
Barbed enemies-to-lovers between a powerless outsider and a cruel, high-status antagonist she has to out-scheme to survive. Differs: YA and closed-door, and the arena is fae court intrigue rather than a battlefield.
9. A Promise of Fire, Amanda Bouchet (2016)
under-listed pick · adult · medium to high spice · propulsive, banter-driven
Captor and captive enemies-to-lovers with relentless needling tension and a warlord love interest who initially wants to weaponise her. Differs: the captor-turned-lover setup carries baggage some readers avoid, and it's a Greek-myth road trip, so no academy and no dragon. Worth knowing: the cold, dangerous partner secretly on your side is the Xaden archetype, and this delivers it directly.
If you loved that Violet wins on wits, not strength
This is the section every other list skips. Violet is chronically ill and survives Basgiath by being smarter, not stronger. Genuine disability representation paired with a wits-based underdog is a small field, so here are two strong picks rather than three padded ones.
10. Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo (2015)
well-known comp · crossover · low spice · propulsive pace
Kaz Brekker is a cane-using protagonist in constant pain who wins entirely on cunning and turns being underestimated into a weapon. The closest mirror of Violet's illness-plus-wits survival, and Bardugo wrote him from her own experience with a degenerative condition, so the representation isn't decorative. Differs: ensemble heist, slow-subplot romance, no dragons, no training arc.
11. Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (2021)
under-listed pick · YA · low to medium spice · relentless pace
A disabled heroine, never magically cured, who survives a lethal system on wits and fury, plus a psychic pilot-pair bond that structurally echoes the rider and dragon link. It rarely makes Fourth Wing lists only because readers file mecha separately from dragons. Differs: science fiction, a romantic-polyamorous bond, and a tone that runs grim and rage-forward rather than swoony.
The honest bit
Two things other lists won’t tell you. First, if what you loved was purely the can’t-stop-reading feeling, the fastest books here are Red Rising, A Promise of Fire and Six of Crows, and the ones that will not scratch that itch are Vita Nostra and To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, which are recommended for other reasons. Second, no book on this list is Fourth Wing. Each one matches a piece of it and honestly differs on the rest, and the differences are stated on every pick so you can choose with your eyes open.
Highstreett is a book search engine: describe what you want in your own words, built so your money reaches independent bookshops.
Not every famous bookshop name is an independent one, so we checked who owns each Amazon alternative.
Tell it what you loved about Fourth Wing
Questions
When is Fourth Wing book 4 out?
There's no release date. Rebecca Yarros confirmed in early 2026 that she'd started writing it, and based on her pace the realistic window is late 2027. Three books are out now: Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. A short story collection, Threshing Day, arrives 29 September 2026.
What should I read after Fourth Wing if I loved the dragons but not the romance?
Go straight to the bond section above: His Majesty's Dragon and Dragonflight are dragon and rider partnership stories with little to no romance, and Fireborne keeps the riders and the academy while keeping the romance muted.
Are there books like Fourth Wing with real disability representation?
Yes, and it's the most under-served part of the question. Six of Crows and Iron Widow both centre disabled protagonists who win on wits, written without a magical cure. See the final section.