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Books Like The Poppy War
If The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang worked for you, these indie books offer a similar reading experience. The comparison comes from AI analysis of each full manuscript (pacing, tone, tropes, and more), not from marketing copy.
A Study of Shattered Spells
Josiah DeGraaf
Only teachers know what really happens at a magic school… Chintor Academy is celebrated as the place where the best music mages are forged. But beneath the surface, bullies rule with cruelty, teachers scheme against each other, and the student destined to save their nation is far from ready. Kalina didn’t know what she was getting into when she agreed to teach at Chintor. Now, as a first-year teacher, she’s tasked with finishing the training of this prophesied violinist. Their nation’s sworn enemies are nearing victory, and she has mere months to prepare him before their country collapses. When Kalina uncovers the abuse of a vulnerable student, she’s thrust into a dangerous dilemma. Exposing the school’s underbelly means she’ll be fired and unable to prepare their hero. Keeping quiet means her students will suffer. The fate of the nation—and her soul—hangs in the balance.
Adventure
Embers in the SALT
Klood P. Trouvay
Syra, known in the fighting pits as the “Greykiss,” has spent years trying to leave that life behind. But in New Merserat, a monster’s reputation is a debt that’s never fully paid, and when someone from her past returns, Syra is pulled back toward the violence she thought she had escaped. Then there is Lienne Blumaker—a seemingly ordinary young librarian troubled by unexplained headaches, and one of the few people who sees the woman behind the reputation. When House Saltbird offers Syra a lucrative security contract at its remote Salt Field, the danger seems familiar enough: sabotage, hired blades, men willing to kill for coin. Instead, she finds herself among a mercenary crew that neither trusts nor wants her, while something far stranger moves through the white expanse beyond the camp. As fear closes in and the mystery deepens, Syra must decide whether survival still means keeping everyone at a distance—or whether some bonds are worth becoming vulnerable for. A literary, character-driven dark fantasy of mercenary tension, slow-burning intimacy, hard-won trust, and the monsters people become—and believe themselves to be.
Dark Fantasy
Wraithbound
HL Hopkins
Daisy Hartridge has never been good at life—but she's spectacularly bad at it when she is dragged through a dimensional rift into a world of wraiths and wraith riders. Thrust into Artonia, where her emotions literally take physical form. Three powerful wraiths that she must bond with, or lose. For the other riders, duty, control and routine are everything, and with her head full of chaotic brain-squirrels, those are definitely not areas she excels in. She can't even get to class on time! But as she's forced to navigate a conspiracy that reaches deeper than anyone realises, against a ticking clock none of them fully understand, she gains a creeping suspicion that, for once, she might actually be the only one equipped to stop it. With a found family of deeply flawed allies at her side, Daisy stumbles toward answers—and the uncomfortable truth that saving Artonia might require taking a closer look at herself first. Content Warnings Explained: Child Abuse - relationship between a child and caregiver featuring coercive control and verbal bullying. Graphic Violence/Gore - briefly features a character being shot, with a short reference to bloodshed. Mental Health Crisis - relates to a key character's struggle with guilt and self.
Fantasy
Keepers of the Sword Channel
Paul Wright Jameson
A vanished relic. A warparty on a perilous mission. A young warrior with awakening Powers. Jalinda has trained her whole life to defend her people, but nothing prepares her for the day the ancient Sword Channel—the source of her people's strength—disappears. Her encounter with a powerful creature leaves her with a rare ability: she can detect the Sword Channel’s presence across vast distances, making her the only person capable of tracking the Channel. Her warparty sets out across hostile lands, where every step reveals deeper secrets, older loyalties, and dangers no training could anticipate. As Jalinda learns to wield her new Powers, she discovers that recovering the Sword Channel may require more than skill—it may demand choices that will shape the future of her people. To succeed, she must use her intelligence, discipline, and emerging abilities to outwit an enemy who can sense her Power. One mistake could cost her life—and doom the companions sworn to stand beside her. A sweeping epic of warriors, soul‑bound blade magic, and a heroine who refuses to break. Perfect for readers of Abercrombie, Sanderson, Hobb, Gwynne, and military fantasy quests with deep worldbuilding.
Epic
Prowler
Nic Plume
He was trained to obey. Now he must choose who to become. Injured during his advancement trial, Luca wakes among those he was taught to fear. What begins as recovery becomes a reckoning—with the City’s teachings, the Wilders’ judgment, and his own unraveling certainty. Luca is a Prowler—an elite enforcer bred for loyalty, control, and obedience. His advancement trial was meant to test his readiness for promotion. Instead, an injury leaves him stranded in the Wilde, rescued by those the City calls dangerous and irrational. He expects hostility. What he finds is more complicated. Some Wilders want him gone. Some show restraint, even care. Most don’t trust him. But it’s the ones who hesitate—the ones who study him, question him, try to understand him—that leave him most off-balance. Not because of what they do… but because of what they make him begin to see. As his body heals, old certainties start to shift. What began as a test of endurance becomes something far more dangerous: a quiet unmaking of the beliefs he was never meant to question. Winner of the February 2026 International Impact Book Award and the 2025 Chaptermint Indie Book Award, PROWLER is a character-driven dystopian sci-fi thriller about indoctrination, perception, and identity, set in a fractured world where obedience is survival… and survival is no longer enough.
Dystopian
Frost and Iron, the Ashland Chronicles, Book One
Edale Lane
“A very detailed and deeply drawn vision of how people will survive and rebuild in the aftermath.” —The Lesbian Review A hunter from the marsh. A queen forged by duty. A bond neither expected. Lark Sutter has never feared the wilds of Saltmarsh Reach. Raised by her iron-willed grandmother and tempered by wild weather, loss, and hard survival, she’s become a hunter and fighter who protects her own. But when a raider attack leaves her friend on the brink of death, Lark is driven to the last place she ever thought she’d go: Verdancia’s gleaming capital, demanding aid from a queen she has no reason to trust. Queen Azaleen Frost is no stranger to sacrifice. Crowned young, she rules Verdancia with a steady hand and a heart kept tightly guarded. Duty rises above all—until Lark storms into her hall, mud on her boots, fire in her eyes, and desperation in her voice—shaking Azaleen’s resolve in ways she cannot ignore. As Verdancia edges toward open conflict, fate binds Lark and Azaleen in an uneasy alliance. Threatened by war hawks, cultists, looming shortages, and scheming politicians, the two women must stand together if they hope to save their people and fortify the kingdom for what lies ahead. A sweeping post-apocalyptic sapphic epic, Frost and Iron blends political intrigue, survival, found family, slow-burn romance, and front-line action. Perfect for readers who love fierce heroines, dangerous alliances, heart-wrenching stakes, and richly drawn worlds on the brink of war.
Post-Apocalyptic
Born of Water
Autumn M. Birt
Some magic is best not to be born with. Afraid that she could control the elements, Ria discovers her magic is something else, something forbidden. And its use is punishable by death. Terrified after accidentally using magic to save her best friend’s life, Ria must flee everything she has known to outrun a creature sent to capture anyone using tainted magic. Her best chance of survival lies with Niri, an outcast Water Priestess who might choose to betray her as much as help her. As they embark on a perilous journey across the land of Myrrah, Ria must uncover the truth about her mysterious powers and why the Church of Four Orders wants anyone born with them killed. Joined by unlikely companions, Ria must uncover the secret of her magic before it sparks a war that could shatter the world. A fast-paced epic fantasy with rich worldbuilding, powerful magic, and unforgettable characters. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Mercedes Lackey.
Adventure
The Last Safehouse, A Love Worth Dying For
K.C. Mitchell
They took everything from her. Now, she’s their biggest threat. Krista Fitzpatrick’s eighteenth birthday was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, it ended in bloodshed. Her parents, highly trained government assassins, were executed, and now the killers are hunting her. Targeted for a microchip she knows nothing about, Krista is plunged into a world of espionage, deception, and deadly alliances. Krista must rely on the one person she’s not sure she can trust to keep her alive: Oliver Paige, a former Navy SEAL with one mission. He’ll break the rules, cross lines, and defy orders to protect her. But the more time they spend together, the more dangerous their growing connection becomes. As the stakes become greater, Krista must decide who to trust. Because sometimes the last safehouse… is you. 🔥 Perfect for fans of Red Sparrow, The Bourne Identity, The Bodyguard, and Every Last Breath, a high-stakes romantic thriller where love could be the ultimate weapon—or the greatest risk of all. This is the first book in The Last Safehouse Series. Each book follows The Firm’s elite operatives as they risk everything for love, loyalty, and the fight for justice with hope, faith, and redemption threads that weave throughout.
Romantic Suspense
Beyond Power: A Supernatural Sci-Fi Romance
Miscelleana Tsalikis
Three Timelines. Six Fates. One Destiny. In 2104, technology rules society, and Angelia’s quiet life is upended when she falls for a mysterious man with silver eyes. Together, they discover hidden truths that unravel their reality, thrusting them into a fight they never anticipated. Dr. Atlas, driven by obsession, experiments with human evolution, creating powerful beings whose destinies become dangerously intertwined with humanity's future. In a desolate 2125, Marina survives within her isolated compound, one of only a million left on Earth—until an unexpected visitor arrives, reigniting hope and uncovering secrets from the past. Across timelines, their stories weave a gripping saga of love, power, and survival, where evolution collides with humanity's darkest ambitions. In the end, the battle between evolution and power will decide their fate. 6 POVs • Spicy Romance • Twisted Time-Hopping Plot • Supernatural Powers He falls first • Secrets & Lies • Futuristic & Dystopian Settings
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