Fourth Wing is the book that turned me from someone who liked fantasy into someone who reorganizes her entire life around romantasy. Dragons, a war college that doubles as a death trap, and a slow burn that made me a little feral. If it did the same to you, then you know the specific ache of finishing it and immediately wanting that exact feeling again.
The next Empyrean release, Threshing Day, is still ahead of us, and book four is further out than any of us would like, so the wait is real. Here's what I'd hand you to fill it, sorted by the part of Fourth Wing you're actually chasing: the dragons, the deadly school, or the enemies-to-lovers of it all. Everything here is spoiler-free.
Dragons and Deadly Skies
If it's specifically the dragons you can't let go of, you already have my answer, because I wrote a whole love letter to it two weeks ago. Sarah A. Parker's Moonfall series is where I'd send you first, and rather than repeat myself, here's what I said about When the Moon Hatched and The Ballad of Falling Dragons. If you skipped it, fix that.
The dragon book I bought purely on the strength of its pitch is Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling, sold as Fourth Wing meets Game of Thrones, which is possibly the most efficient route anyone has ever taken to my wallet. Full honesty: I haven't cracked it open yet. It's a faith purchase; one look at that comparison and I clicked buy, and it's sitting near the top of the pile.
War Colleges and Deadly Trials
This is the Basgiath itch, the school where the whole curriculum is survival.
Arcana Academy by Elise Kova is the one I'd put in your hands first. Clara is a street thief with an illegal talent for inking tarot magic, and to keep her hidden, she ends up in a fake engagement to the academy's brooding prince headmaster, with deadly trials to survive before she's even allowed to belong there. Enemies to lovers, dark academia, and a heroine with a real spine. It's also our current Lunaria Society read, and book two, Prince of Swords, just came out, so it's the club's next pick. If you'd rather read one of these with people rather than alone at 2 am, this is your way in. All the past discussion stays in the Fable club, so you can join mid-stream and catch up whenever.
On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn is the closest thing on this whole list to the actual Fourth Wing experience. It gets pitched as Fourth Wing meets Zodiac Academy, the heroine is the last of the dragon riders, and Bloodwing Academy is less a school than a battlefield with a class schedule. Fair warning that it leans dark academia with a bully-romance edge, so glance at the content notes and read what's right for you. I loved the first two enough that I own all three that are out in deluxe editions. I'm deliberately holding off on book three, though, because With Hearts of Flame lands in October and I refuse to get cliffhangered this close to having book four in hand. The plan is to reread the whole run back-to-back once it's here.
Powerless by Lauren Roberts is the trial-by-competition pick. An Ordinary girl with no powers passes herself off as one of the gifted, gets thrown into a brutal competition where losing means dying, and falls for precisely the wrong prince along the way. Hunger Games energy with the romantasy dial turned all the way up.
Enemies to Lovers with a Morally Grey Love Interest
For when the thing you actually miss is Violet and Xaden. The training, the tension, and the man you're not quite sure you should trust.
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen is Norse-flavored and one of my favorites. A shield maiden with a drop of a goddess's blood gets bound by oath to an ambitious jarl and left in the reluctant care of the warrior sworn to protect her, and she has to learn to fight and wield her magic while the gods keep testing her. About as on-brand for a Fourth Wing reader as it gets.
Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent, the first in the War of Lost Hearts, is a favorite I own front to back. A former slave with a rare kind of magic apprentices herself to a reclusive, war-scarred mage, and the slow burn between them is the kind I read romantasy for. It goes to some heavy places, so check the content notes, but the payoff earns every page.
Quicksilver and Brimstone by Callie Hart, the Fae & Alchemy series, are both favorites of mine. An alchemist thief gets pulled into the fae world and bound to a warrior with the worst attitude and the best secrets, in what reads like a darker, edgier, spicier cousin of the ACOTAR-style fae romance. Heads up that it earns its content warnings, so go in knowing that.
Where to Start
If you want the closest thing to the Fourth Wing feeling, the dragon-rider lore and the deadly school in one, start with On Wings of Blood. If you'd rather not read alone, start with Arcana Academy and come do it with us in the Lunaria Society, since it's exactly what we're reading right now.
And if somehow none of these scratch the itch, the whole romantasy shelf is right here, and I am always, always taking recommendations in return.
