12 Incredible Books Like Crescent City

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Buy it on Amazon or listen to it as an audiobook while supporting local bookstores on Libro.

This book definitely reminds me of Divergent. Deka is preparing for her blood ceremony which will determine whether she will become a member of her village. She hopes to see red to align with those around her despite feeling she’s always been different because of her unnatural intuition. But, on the day of the ceremony Deka’s blood runs gold and she knows this means a punishment worse than death.

A strange woman gives Deka a choice with this new discovery either stay in the village and face death or join an army of women like her to fight for the emperor. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. As Deka makes her way to the capitol she beings to uncover all the secrets and mysterisies hidden behind the capitol walls.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

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The author behind The Priority Of The Orange Tree also wrote an incredible fantasy series called The Bone Season.

We’re heading to the year 2059 in this book where we follow our main character Paige Mahoney. Paige is a clairvoyant or a dream walker as some might say. Her job and abilities in the criminal underworld of Scion London is simple: scout for information by breaking into peoples minds.

On one rainy day her life is changed forever when she is kidnapped and brought to the city of Oxford – a city kept as a secret for 200 years. There she is assigned to Warden. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But, if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass

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Now this wouldn’t be a list of books like Crescent City if I didn’t include other books by Sarah J. Mass right?

Welcome to the exciting (and very long) bookish world in Throne of Glass.

Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince after serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines. The prince, Dorian, gives her a choice either continue serving her time or fight as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. If she beats all her opponents she can live at the castle as an assassin and be granted her freedom three years later.

This both brings fantasy, mystery and romance to life as Celaena find herself exhilarated by the training taught by the head guard Westfall and sparks begin to fly between her and the prince. But, things begin to get complicated when a contestant turns up dead…and then another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she turns up dead as well?

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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The author of my favorite duology, Six of Crows is coming in hot with this mysterious novel.

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is a freshmen at Yale University with quite a past. Originally raised with a hippie mother, Alex has had her share of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs and more. But, things got worse when she was the sole survivor of an unsolved multiple homicide. In her hospital bed, Alex has been given a second chance to attend Yale on a full ride. Mysterious, I know, but it get’s even more interesting.

As Alex arrives on campus she is tasked by her benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. Secrets unravel as Alex begins to reveal the occulant activities performed by this society.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

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If you love fae, you’re going to want to read this book! Meghan Chase always felt something was off about her life. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. That is until a strange dark figure starts watching her from afar. And her seemingly normal best friend starts acting oddly suspicious.

Meghan senses change is on the way, but she’d never guess that she was the daughter of a mythical faery king. In the middle of a deadly war, and with the lives of everyone she cares about on the line Meghan will see how far she’ll go to save what she loves.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Mass

Buy it on Amazon or listen to it as an audiobook while supporting local bookstores on Libro.

Did you think I wouldn’t include one of my favorite series on a post about books like Crescent City? You really don’t know me at all.

If you haven’t read A Court of Thorns and Roses, now is the time! Welcome to a world divided by human and fae. Feyre is a huntress and thought nothing of it as she killed a wolf in the woods as she normally does to feed her family.

That is until she realizes the wolf was shapeshifter and belonged to the fae world. As punishment, Feyre is dragged to the part of her world most humans fear. There she is forced to live the rest of her days in the fae world. While trying to adapt to this new life, sparks begin to fly between her and her captor. With a dark evil looming across the fae world will Feyre risk her life for a new world she was forced into?

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout

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One of the first books I picked up after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses was From Blood and Ash. I heard raving reviews about this author and was beyond excited to find a book like Crescent City and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Poppy is a maiden chosen from birth to bring in a new era of life into the kingdom. She’s never had a moment of solidarity as she is the kingdoms most prized possession and protected as such.

When Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden. A kingdom built on lies is coming crashing down, and a fallen kingdom feared by many is now rising.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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Random fact, did you know Holly Black was one of the authors of The Spiderwick Chronicles. Am I the only one who read and loved those books in middle school?

Anyways, The Cruel Prince is favored and recommended for its character development and plot. It takes the fae world and makes it something to fear than love.

When Jude’s parents died she and her sisters were whisked away to the Faerie world. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing to do with fae, especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan

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Brie hates fae, and will do anything to keep her self away from them. That is until her sister is kidnapped by the sadistic fae king of the Unseelie court and Brie is forced to enter the world to find her.

Brie makes a deal with the king to steal three magical items from the Seelie Court. But this would be so much easier if she wasn’t posing as the fake potential bride to the beloved Seelie court prince, Prince Ronan.

Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.

Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moaning

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A murder mystery and fae book? Yes, please.

When MacKayla’s sister was murdered, she left a single clue to her death, a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone. Journeying to Ireland in search of answers, Mac is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to master a power she had no idea she possessed – a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae.

A mysterious dark figure following her every move, a ruthless Alpha fae out to get her and a powerful book that needs to be claimed before it lands in the wrong hands. That’s all, and more when you read this book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

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“Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands;” she speaks many languages–not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When one of the strangers–beautiful, haunted Akiva–fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?”

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L Jensen

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Lara is a warrior princess trained to know two things: King Aren of the Bridge Kingdom is her enemy and she will be the one to bring him to his knees.

With a quest to bring him down set around disguising herself as bride to bring peace, Lara is prepared to do what she’s always known. That is until she gets a deeper understanding of the world and war around her. Lara begins to question whether she is the hero or the villain and if it comes to it will she save the kingdom she was meant to destroy?