7 Books Like Throne of Glass to Read Free Online
Throne of Glass hit different because Celaena Sardothien was not a nice person pretending to be tough. She was an assassin. The best in the land. Captured, enslaved, and forced to compete in a tournament to become the king's champion, she's a protagonist who kills people and knows she's good at it. Sarah J. Maas built a world where the heroine is dangerous before the story even starts, and the fantasy isn't that she becomes powerful. The fantasy is that she already is, and the system is trying to figure out what to do with her.
Every "books like Throne of Glass" list on Google recommends the same published series. A Court of Thorns and Roses. An Ember in the Ashes. Fourth Wing. Graceling. The Serpent and the Wings of Night. They're good. You've probably already read them. What you haven't read are the free web novels that scratch the same itch: lethal competitions, academies that train you to kill, hidden identities, kingdoms on the edge of civil war, and protagonists who were dangerous before you met them.
This is a list of 7 free web novels you can read right now on NovelDay, all sharing DNA with Throne of Glass. Strong female protagonists. Secret identities. Academies and trials. Epic fantasy worldbuilding. Political intrigue. No paywalls, no premium tiers, no "wait 23 hours for the next chapter" timers. Just free fiction, updated regularly by independent authors.
If you've read my books like Harry Potter guide, some of these novels will be familiar. Same books, different angle. Here the focus is specifically on what makes each one feel like Throne of Glass: the assassin, the academy, the trials, and the kingdom that's about to break.
What Makes a Book "Like Throne of Glass"?
Throne of Glass isn't one thing. It's at least seven. When readers search for "books like Throne of Glass," they're usually looking for one of these elements:
The dangerous protagonist: Someone who was lethal before the story started. Not a farm kid who learns to fight. An assassin, a soldier, a warrior who already knows how to kill and is trying to figure out what to do with that skill. The story is about the system trying to control someone who is already too dangerous to control.
The tournament: A structured competition where the protagonist must prove their worth through trials. Sometimes it's a death match. Sometimes it's a political game. The tournament is the engine that forces the protagonist into contact with the power structure and reveals what they're really capable of.
The academy: A training ground that's also a battlefield. The assassin's guild, the king's tournament, the magic school where the curriculum includes survival. The academy is where the protagonist meets their rivals, their allies, and the people who will eventually stand with them when the kingdom breaks.
The hidden identity: The protagonist is not who they appear to be. Celaena is Adarlan's Assassin, but she's also Aelin Galathynius, the lost queen. The hidden identity is the secret that changes everything when it's revealed, and the tension of keeping it hidden drives the story forward.
The rebellion: A kingdom on the edge of collapse. An empire that rules through fear. A political system that's rotten from the inside. The protagonist starts inside the system and ends up fighting against it, not because they chose rebellion but because the system gave them no other option.
The romance: A slow-burn subplot that doesn't overwhelm the plot but adds emotional stakes. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic, the rival who becomes an ally, the person who sees the protagonist for who they really are. The romance is the human element that keeps the protagonist from becoming the weapon the system wants.
The epic worldbuilding: Kingdoms with histories. Magic systems with rules. Political factions with competing interests. A world that feels like it existed before the story started and will continue after it ends. The worldbuilding is what makes the stakes feel real.
The seven novels below each capture at least three of these elements. Some capture all seven. None of them are Throne of Glass clones. They're novels that understand what made Maas's formula work and apply that understanding to different worlds, different magics, and different kinds of dangerous protagonist.
7 Books Like Throne of Glass to Read Free Online
The novels below are ordered by reading time, longest first. This puts the most substantial, developed binges at the top. The first novel is a 33-hour epic with 115 chapters. The last is a 2.3-hour political fantasy with 29 chapters. All seven are free to read on NovelDay with no paywalls.
1. Stillore: Shard and Canvas
After a century of war and disasters that the Archipelago of Andimica has chosen to forget, an uneasy peace holds the city of Bayork together. Beneath it, something stirs. Hel Frequency, an energy whose existence science has only begun to name, is bleeding into the world, and the organisations that want to control it are already moving. Lance Klint is eighteen, a caring delivery guy, and a brother searching for a sister who disappeared without a trace. During a failed delivery, he finds himself halfway between his old world and the new reality built by horrors beyond human comprehension and the very madness that is consuming the world.
This is the longest novel on the list and the one that most directly captures the epic-fantasy-worldbuilding element of Throne of Glass. Maas built Erilea across six novels, layering kingdoms, magic systems, and political factions until the world felt like it had existed for centuries before Celaena's story started. Stillore does the same thing with the Archipelago of Andimica. The city of Bayork has a century of forgotten war behind it. The organizations that control Hel Frequency have been moving in secret for longer than anyone can prove. The world is bigger than the protagonist, and the story is about what happens when he gets pulled into conflicts that were already happening without him.
The hidden-identity and secret-organization elements are the Throne of Glass connection that makes this novel fit the list. Throne of Glass was built on the tension between what Celaena appeared to be and what she actually was, and the organizations that knew the truth before she did. Stillore runs on the same engine. Lance is searching for his sister. The organizations are searching for control of Hel Frequency. Neither of them knows the full picture, and the story is about what happens when the picture turns out to be bigger and darker than either of them imagined. At 115 chapters and 33 hours, this is the most substantial binge on the list by a wide margin. If you liked the way Throne of Glass expanded from a single tournament into a continent-spanning war, Stillore does that from chapter one.
Read it if you like: Throne of Glass (the later books, when the world opens up), The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, epic fantasy where the worldbuilding is the point and the secrets go all the way down.
Read Stillore: Shard and Canvas free on NovelDay →
2. Heirs of Hyarch
A young noblewoman harboring a hidden talent. A fugitive thaumaturge seeking to make amends. A journeyman healer desiring a place to call home. A battle-weary warrior caught between duty and love. Drawn together, be it by chance or by fate, this group must take up blades and spells as they face the trials of a kingdom broken by civil war. For underneath it all, ancient magics stir, hidden alongside a terrible secret. Those who possess the wit and will to pierce the veil of the distant past will inherit its burdens as well as these forgotten powers, and with them, the future of Hyarch itself.
This is the kingdom-broken-by-civil-war novel on the list. The Throne of Glass connection is the political structure. Erilea was an empire held together by fear, with factions competing for power and a rebellion building in the shadows. Heirs of Hyarch is built on the same framework. The kingdom is broken. The factions are moving. The ancient magics are stirring. And the group of protagonists, each with their own secrets and their own reasons for being there, have to navigate a political structure that's collapsing around them.
The hidden-talent element is the Celaena connection. The young noblewoman harboring a hidden talent is the Throne of Glass structure: someone with power they can't reveal, surviving a court that would destroy them if it knew the truth. The multiple-protagonist structure expands on what Maas did in the later books, where the story followed several characters whose arcs converged. At 148 chapters, the author has room to build Hyarch the way Maas built Erilea: slowly, from multiple angles, showing you how the kingdom works before showing you what happens when it breaks. If you wanted Throne of Glass with more viewpoints and a deeper political system, this is the closest match.
Pick this up if you enjoyed: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Throne of Glass (the multiple-POV structure of the later books), epic fantasy where the kingdom is the story.
Read Heirs of Hyarch free on NovelDay →
3. Azela Incarnate
Catherine was raised to be a priestess, but on the day of her ordination, she was exiled from the only home she ever knew. With nothing left to lose, she steals what may be the most profane and cursed item in the universe and sets out on a journey. By chance, she witnesses a woman being saved from a magical attack. This woman, Azela, finds herself in a bizarre world she knows nothing about. Their journeys intertwine and evolve into an odyssey of wonders, horrors, and mystery as they seek to uncover the secret behind Azela's origin, though they may not survive the answer.
This is the dangerous-female-protagonist novel on the list. The Throne of Glass connection is Catherine. She was raised to be a priestess. She was exiled on the day of her ordination. And her first move, with nothing left to lose, was to steal the most profane and cursed item in the universe. That's Celaena Sardothien in a different costume: a woman who was trained by an institution, betrayed by it, and responded by taking something the institution wanted kept hidden. The story is about what happens after the theft, which is the same structure as Throne of Glass after Celaena's capture.
The hidden-identity element runs through Azela's storyline. She finds herself in a world she knows nothing about, with an origin she doesn't understand. That's the Aelin Galathynius structure: someone who doesn't know who they really are, whose identity is the key to everything, and whose journey of self-discovery is also a journey into the political heart of a world that's bigger than she imagined. The sword-and-magic action and the romantic subplot seal the Throne of Glass connection. If you wanted the version where the assassin is a priestess who stole a cursed relic instead of a killer who entered a tournament, this is the NovelDay novel that carries that DNA.
For readers who liked: Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Throne of Glass (Celaena's exile and return), stories about women who were betrayed by the institution that trained them and responded by stealing its secrets.
Read Azela Incarnate free on NovelDay →
4. The Sky That Lied
Stars are liars, not because they speak but because the people who record them bury their secrets in blood. Shiro Aratani is a slum boy who carves stars to prove he exists. Kuro is the boy who finds him, gilded, sharp and breaking under a weight he will not name. Valeria is the soldier who refuses to let either boy be erased. When their lives collide, a forbidden pattern forms, one the powerful would bury, one the Academy whispers about, one a quiet shadow watches with unsettling certainty. Because the danger isn't in the sky. It's in the stories everyone agreed to believe.
This is the academy novel on the list. The Throne of Glass connection is the Academy and the soldier. Valeria is the Celaena analogue: a soldier who refuses to let the people she cares about be erased. She's not an assassin. She's something more dangerous in an academy setting, a person with military training who has decided that the system's rules don't apply to her. The Academy is the tournament structure: a place where the powerful set the rules, where the forbidden pattern is the thing you're not supposed to discover, and where the whispers are the only warning you get before the system comes for you.
The hidden-identity element is the spine of the novel. Shiro carves stars to prove he exists. Kuro is breaking under a weight he will not name. Both of them are hiding something, and the Academy is the institution that would destroy them if it knew the truth. That's the Throne of Glass structure: the protagonist inside an institution that's designed to control them, hiding the thing that makes them dangerous, and the soldier who stands between them and the system. The gods and goddesses in the tag list add the mythological layer that Maas built into the later books. If you wanted Throne of Glass set inside the academy instead of the tournament, this is the NovelDay novel that does it.
Read it if you like: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (the academy), Throne of Glass (the early books at the Glass Palace), stories about academies where the curriculum includes survival and the secrets are worth killing for.
Read The Sky That Lied free on NovelDay →
5. Timeless Empress
You're a thief who managed to steal a Heritage you couldn't possibly understand, and I will take it back. In the chaos of the abyss between worlds, Anja Kyrov followed her desire. She reached out and stole Time from a Regressor. By interfering with his plan, Anja seized a SoulRune she had no right to claim. Now, she wields a power that is slowly consuming her from within, acting as a beacon for the most dangerous beings in existence, putting her in the crosshairs of a Regressor who knows her past, future, and every move she hasn't yet made, and a Reincarnated Evil who will stop at nothing to claim what she stole.
This is the strong-female-protagonist novel on the list. The Throne of Glass connection is Anja. She stole something she had no right to. She's wielding a power that's consuming her. She's being hunted by beings who know her past and her future. That's Celaena Sardothien in a different framework: a woman who took something the powerful wanted kept hidden, and whose survival depends on being more dangerous than the people hunting her. The difference is that Anja's power is time itself, which adds a layer that Celaena never had.
The rebellion element is here too, but it's personal rather than political. Anja isn't fighting an empire. She's fighting the Regressor and the Reincarnated Evil, both of whom are more powerful than her and both of whom want what she stole. That's the Throne of Glass structure scaled down: one woman against forces that are bigger and older and meaner than she is, surviving because she's clever and ruthless and refuses to give back what she took. The dragons, gods, and knights in the tag list add the epic-fantasy texture that Maas built into Erilea. If you wanted Throne of Glass with time manipulation and a protagonist who is unapologetically a thief, this is the entry point.
Read it if you like: The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, Throne of Glass (Celaena's ruthlessness), stories about women who steal power and then have to survive the consequences.
Read Timeless Empress free on NovelDay →
6. The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family
All she wanted was to live. Death gave her a second chance. Celia had fought creatures called Visitors for as long as she could remember. Together with Pan, a Visitor of Special Grade himself, her single goal was to survive. Yet after dying an unexpected death one day, she woke up and found herself as that one inconsequential, short-lived villainess from a novel she used to read. Rowena Dynari van Varnhagen, the daughter of the only Grand Duke of the Arlen Empire. Said villainess, equipped with a few minor personality quirks, offended the female lead at the beginning and was promptly cut right out of the story. What now? Determined not to let people trample on and use her again, Celia, no, Rowena, decides to fight for a life worth living.
This is the hidden-identity novel on the list. The Throne of Glass connection is the villainess who refuses to be erased. Celaena was Adarlan's Assassin, but she was also Aelin Galathynius, the lost queen whose identity had been hidden from her. Rowena is the villainess of a novel, the character who was supposed to be cut out of the story, and her response to discovering that her narrative role is to be disposed of is to refuse. That's the Celaena move. The system says you're supposed to lose. You say no.
The royalty element is the Throne of Glass structure. Rowena is the daughter of the only Grand Duke of the Arlen Empire. That's the same political architecture as Erilea: dukes, empires, and a protagonist whose bloodline puts her at the center of a power structure that would rather she didn't exist. The hidden-abilities and hiding-true-identity tags are the Celaena playbook: concealing what you can do and who you are while surviving a court that would destroy you if it knew the truth. The sword-wielding and aggressive-characters tags add the combat element that Maas built into Celaena from the first chapter. If you wanted Throne of Glass with the villainess as the protagonist, this is the NovelDay novel that does it.
This one's for you if you liked: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (the hidden-identity court politics), Throne of Glass (Aelin's return to her rightful place), stories about women who were written off and decided to write their own ending.
Read The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family free on NovelDay →
7. Strongest Healer is a Brawler
The world has already chosen its heroes. For centuries, the Twelve Heavenly Virtues have ruled as humanity's saviors, their Church deciding who is righteous and who deserves to be branded a heretic. Benjamin Almond couldn't care less. An unconventional SSS-class healer who fights like a front-line warrior, Benjamin accepts what should have been an ordinary escort mission. Instead, he finds himself caught between idealists, politics, uprising, and a Church whose greatest miracle may also be its greatest deception. Every faction believes it is saving the world. Every side has blood on its hands. And sometimes the greatest evil wears a halo.
This is the rebellion-against-the-institution novel on the list. The Throne of Glass connection is the Church. The Twelve Heavenly Virtues are the Throne of Glass king: an institution that claims to protect humanity while deciding who counts as righteous and who gets branded a heretic. Benjamin is the Celaena analogue: someone who was trained by the system, who operates inside the system, and who is slowly discovering that the system is built on a lie. The secret-identity tag is the Celaena playbook. Benjamin is an SSS-class healer who fights like a front-line warrior. He's hiding what he can do, which is the same tension that drove Throne of Glass from the first chapter.
The political-intrigue element is the spine of the novel. Every faction believes it is saving the world. Every side has blood on its hands. That's the moral complexity that Maas built into the later Throne of Glass books, when the rebellion turned out to be just as capable of atrocity as the empire it was fighting. The dragons, elves, and secret organizations add the epic-fantasy texture. At 29 chapters, this is the shortest novel on the list, but the political density is higher than anything else here. If you wanted Throne of Glass with the moral complexity of the later books and a protagonist who is inside the institution rather than fighting it from the outside, this is the closest match.
Read it if you like: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (the military institution), Throne of Glass (the later books, when the morality gets complicated), stories about healers who fight and institutions that lie.
Read Strongest Healer is a Brawler free on NovelDay →
What Should I Read After Throne of Glass?
The honest answer is: it depends on what you're missing. If you miss the epic worldbuilding and the secret organizations, start with Stillore: Shard and Canvas. At 33 hours and 115 chapters, it's the most substantial fantasy on the list. If you miss the kingdom broken by civil war and the multiple viewpoints, start with Heirs of Hyarch. If you miss the dangerous female protagonist who was betrayed by the institution that trained her, start with Azela Incarnate. If you miss the academy and the secrets worth killing for, start with The Sky That Lied. If you want the shortest binge, Strongest Healer is a Brawler is 2.3 hours with 29 chapters of political intrigue.
If you've already read all seven and want more, NovelDay has a larger Fantasy catalog and Adventure catalog with novels that overlap with the epic-fantasy and political-intrigue spectrum. You can also browse by tag: Magic, Found Family, and Secret Identity all surface novels with Throne of Glass-adjacent themes. The full library has everything in one place.
Famous Books Like Throne of Glass (And How These Novels Compare)
Every "books like Throne of Glass" list on Google recommends the same published series. Here's how the novels on this list compare to the ones you've probably already read:
If you liked An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: The brutal Roman-inspired military academy and the oppressed lower class are the DNA of Strongest Healer is a Brawler. Both novels feature a protagonist inside the military-religious institution, caught between factions that all claim to be saving the world while shedding blood to do it. The difference is that Benjamin is a healer who fights, not a soldier, and his rebellion is quieter and more political.
If you liked Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: The deadly academy where survival is the curriculum is the core of The Sky That Lied. Both novels are set in academies where the powerful set the rules and the forbidden knowledge is what gets you killed. The difference is that The Sky That Lied is darker and more psychological, with no dragon-riding and no romance subplot in the foreground.
If you liked Graceling by Kristin Cashore: The fiercely skilled female warrior moving through kingdoms and political corruption is the DNA of Azela Incarnate. Both novels feature a woman with dangerous skills who was shaped by an institution and then betrayed by it. The difference is that Catherine is a priestess-turned-thief rather than a king's assassin, and her journey is about uncovering someone else's origin rather than her own.
If you liked The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent: The lethal tournament and the protagonist who survives by being more dangerous than the competition is the core of Timeless Empress. Both novels feature a woman in a world of beings more powerful than her, surviving because she's clever and ruthless. The difference is that Anja's arena is the entire world, not a tournament, and her power is time itself.
If you liked A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: The hidden identity at court and the protagonist whose bloodline puts her at the center of a power structure are the DNA of The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family. Both novels feature a woman who was written off by the system and decides to fight for a life worth living. The difference is that Rowena is a reincarnated villainess, not a human taken to a faerie court, and her fight is against a narrative that already decided she loses.
FAQ: Books Like Throne of Glass
Are these novels actually like Throne of Glass?
They share the structural elements: dangerous protagonists, academies and trials, hidden identities, rebellions against institutions, epic fantasy worldbuilding, and political intrigue. But they're not Throne of Glass clones. Throne of Glass is a specific story with specific characters in a specific world. What these novels share is the experience of reading Throne of Glass: the tension of being inside a system that wants to control you, the moment when the hidden identity changes everything, and the question of whether one person's refusal to comply can actually break an empire.
Are these novels free to read?
Yes. Every novel on NovelDay is free to read with no paywalls, no premium tiers, and no "wait or pay" timers. Authors post chapters on their own schedules, and you can follow novels to get notified when new chapters drop.
Are these novels appropriate for teens?
Most of the novels on this list are written for adult audiences and contain violence, mature themes, and political complexity comparable to the later Throne of Glass books. Some carry Mature or Adult genre tags. Throne of Glass itself was published as YA but progressed into adult territory with explicit content in the later books. If you're looking for cleaner options, browse the School Life genre for lighter fare.
How long are these novels?
The longest is Stillore: Shard and Canvas at 33 hours with 115 chapters. The shortest is Strongest Healer is a Brawler at 2.3 hours with 29 chapters. All seven are ongoing with regular updates.
Can I write my own fantasy novel on NovelDay?
Yes. If you have a fantasy, adventure, or political-intrigue story of your own, you can publish it on NovelDay for free and keep all rights to your work. The platform is open to independent authors, and there are no submission fees or exclusivity requirements.
More Reading Guides
For more free reading guides, I've written several that overlap with this list:
- 10 Books Like Harry Potter to Read Free Online — the companion guide for readers looking for hidden worlds, magic schools, and coming-of-age fantasy
- 7 Books Like The Hunger Games to Read Free Online — if the rebellion and academy elements of Throne of Glass appeal, this covers survival and resistance
- 7 Books Like Percy Jackson to Read Free Online — if the academy and training elements appeal more than the romance, this covers mythology and coming-of-age
- 7 Best Urban Fantasy Books to Read Free Online — if the hidden-world-in-plain-sight element is what grabbed you, this covers fantasy set in the modern world
- What is Found Family? And Best Books to Read Free Online — if the chosen-family element of Throne of Glass is what you're after, this covers the trope in depth
- 7 Best Dystopian Books to Read Free Online — if the rebellion-against-the-empire element is what you want, this covers oppressive regimes and resistance
- 9 Best Sci-Fi Books to Read Free Online — if the political-intrigue and system-fighting elements appeal in a science-fiction setting
Every novel on NovelDay is free to read. No paywalls, no premium tiers, no "wait or pay" timers. Authors post chapters on their own schedules, and you can follow novels to get notified when new chapters drop. If you're a writer with a fantasy or political-intrigue story of your own, you can publish it on NovelDay for free and keep all rights to your work.
For more free fiction, browse the full NovelDay library or explore the Fantasy genre and Adventure genre for more novels that share the dangerous-protagonist-and-epic-worldbuilding DNA of Throne of Glass.
