You will love this list of similar books like Caraval if you love Caraval. Caraval presents a spectacular, invitation-only circus and its perhaps nefarious creator,
Legend is the first installment of a duology that will attract comparisons to The Night Circus for all the right reasons. Scarlett Dragna has always wanted to go to Caraval. And she’s been composing Legend for years as a way to get away from her cruel father.
She worries that her chance to see the circus has passed as she prepares for an arranged marriage.
Scarlett and her sister, Donatella, get a letter inviting them to explore the absorbing, chaotic wonder of Caraval. If they aren’t careful, they may lose far more than they win once they arrive.
The only issue with Caraval the novel is that it is so captivating that you may find yourself unable to put it down. As a result, here are a few more similar books like Caraval that will take you to that luscious, binge-worthy fantasy realm.
1. The Cruel Prince
By Holly Black
The cruel prince follows the story of Jude and his sisters. When Jude’s parents were slain, she and her two sisters were kidnapped and taken to the difficult High Court of Faerie.
Jude, despite her mortality, wants nothing more than to belong there ten years later. However, many fey loathe humans—especially Prince Cardan, the High King’s youngest and most vicious son.
Furthermore, she must resist him–and bear the consequences–to gain a seat on the Court. In addition, Jude finds her propensity for deception and bloodshed as she becomes further immersed in palace intrigues and deceptions.
But, as treason threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in bloodshed, Jude will have to put her life on the line in a problematic partnership to preserve her sisters and Faerie.
2. Wintersong
By S.Jae-Jones
Wintersong is also one of the best books like Caraval because of its seductive nature. Wintersong combines everything of Caraval’s enticing allure with a dash of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.
Check your pulse and then ponder the pure magic of a coming-of-age fairy tale if it doesn’t have you head over heels.
Furthermore, Liesl, a young woman in 19th-century Bavaria, has long been fascinated by stories about the Goblin King, who is both harsh and lovely.
On the verge of maturity, Liesl thinks that she will soon lose her childhood goals, especially her musical ambitions. But everything changes when the Goblin King kidnaps her younger sister.
Furthermore, to save her sister, Liesl may wind up losing a piece of herself in the king’s dazzling, dizzying, darkly gorgeous underground, like in all good fairy tales.
3. The Gilded Ones
By Namina Forna
At first look, books like Caraval appear to be from another universe, but all good fantasy stories are based on real-life events.
At first sight, The Gilded Ones appears to be a typical fantasy, but as you start reading, you’ll realize you’ve picked up something far more interesting than the usual fantasy fare.
Additionally, Deka, a 16-year-old girl, is the novel’s protagonist. Deka is terrified and looking forward to a blood ceremony that will determine whether or not she may join her community as a full member.
Moreover, when Deka’s blood turns gold during the ceremony, she is horrified, but it signifies that she is an alaki, a near-immortal with unique abilities.
Meanwhile, Deka starts on a journey to see her training for the biggest war of her life after being forced to choose between a horrible fate in her community and joining an army of girls like her.
The Gilded Ones may not be for the faint of heart, but it is a fantastic story that every fan should read. It captures experiences that many women can relate to.
4. Labyrinth Lost
By Zoraida Córdova
Throughout much of Caraval, you’ll feel as if you’re falling. Even while the game players stay solidly in this plane of reality, there is an element of gateway fiction.
That’s why Labyrinth Lost’s reluctant heroine’s hidden magic makes it an ideal post-binge read. Additionally, Scarlett spends most of her life searching for a bit of magic.
While Alex, a powerful bruja, spends the majority of hers hoping she could get away from it. She attempts to rid herself of her abilities that send her family to the bizarre, dark, and wonder-filled world of Los Lagos.
In addition, Labyrinth Lost crackles with warmth and plunges you into an intriguing and colorful fantasy environment with a diverse cast of people (of culture, gender, and sexual orientation).
5. Throne Of Glass
By Sarah J. Maas
Celaena Sardothien, an 18-year-old assassin, is brought before the Crown Prince after doing a year of hard labor in Endovier’s salt mines for her crimes.
Prince Dorian grants her freedom on one condition: she must represent him searching for a new royal assassin. Additionally, Men-thieves, assassins, and warriors from throughout the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council, are her adversaries.
However, If she wins a series of eliminations, she will be forced to serve the kingdom for three years before allowing her freedom.
Celaena finds her training sessions with the guard captain, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. When the prince expresses an interest in her, things get a little more interesting. However, the gruff Captain Westfall seems to get her the best.
Then one of the other contestants is found dead and then another. Will Celaena be able to identify the killer before becoming a victim? As the young assassin conducts her investigation, she discovers a larger destiny than she could have anticipated.
6. Witches Steeped In Gold
By Ciannon Smart
Some books, like Caraval, are so similar that you can practically hear a delighted chuckle as you realize you aren’t reading what you thought you were.
In fiction, witches are common, but Smart’s witches are significantly more intriguing than others. Iraya has been imprisoned in Witches Steeped in Gold for a long time, but she is eager to be released and exact revenge on those who removed her people from the throne.
Additionally, Jazmyne is the daughter of Doyenne Cariot, the current ruler, but her mother sees Jazmyne as a method to keep power after she dies.
Furthermore, Iraya and Jazmyne have a familiar foe, and the two witches band together to defeat Doyenne. However, their ultimate objectives are different. Here’s a fascinating look into what the human condition is all about.
There is no such thing as pure good or evil. Both Jazmyne and Iraya have their murky morality to go through, which makes for a fascinating read.
7. Revenge And The Wild
By Michelle Modesto
This steampunk thrill ride has as much enchantment as Rogue City’s bar does booze, which may sound strange for lovers of bright fantasy.
It also features Westie, the notoriously foul-mouthed and hard-headed young lady whose mechanical arm pales compared to her mind—and memory.
Additionally, the cannibal attack that took her arm and her family still haunts Westie. When a wealthy family relocates to Rogue City, a lawless, darkly magical colony, Westie has a strong feeling they were responsible for the attack.
Westie sets out to prove the truth with the help of her quirky adoptive father and his stalwart aide. Also, no monster, human or otherwise, will stand in her way.
8. The Girl From Everywhere
By Heidi Heilig
Some books like Caraval make you feel as though you’ve jumped right into a story you’d like to read for yourself.
In The Girl from Everywhere, Nix and her father had been sailing aboard his ship for quite some time. They travel from one location to another, through myth and tale, and even through time.
Her father can sail to any time, place, or story as long as he has a map. Nix’s father searched for the one map that would lead him back to Honolulu. And his long-lost love, Nix’s mother, may result in Nix’s extinction.
Furthermore, Pirates, ships, treasure, dashing thieves, strange pastries, and pocket-sized dragons all feature this fascinating love, grief, and hopeful story.
9. The Glittering Court
By Richelle Mead
Mead’s Glittering Court trilogy begins with a bang in every sense of the term. The plot spans continents and societies, with love stories, strong female friendships, and plenty of Elizabethan balls thrown in for good measure.
Furthermore, it entices the senses almost as much as the young Countess of Rothford dazzles as a protagonist.
She, like Scarlett, is concerned about the idea of an arranged marriage, and rather than accepting her fate, she devises a plan and sets out to forge her path in the new world.
Meanwhile, Adelaide disguises herself as a servant and sets out for the Glittering Court, a finishing school that transforms lower-class females into polished brides for new-world nobles.
10. Darkfever
By Karen Marie Moning
Darkfever is also one of the binge-worthy books like Caraval you should read. MacKayla Lane has a happy life. She has lovely friends, a promising career, and a car that only breaks down every two weeks or so.
To put it another way, she’s your typical twenty-first-century woman. Or so she believes until something unexpected occurs.
Furthermore, Mac travels to Ireland in search of answers after her sister is murdered, leaving only a cryptic note on Mac’s cell phone as a clue to her death.
Her search for her sister’s killer leads her into a shady world where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same seductively devious mask. She is soon confronted with a far more difficult task.
Which is staying alive long enough to learn how to control a power she didn’t realize she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the domain of man and into the deadly realm of the Fae.
11. Red Queen
By Victoria Aveyard
This is a universe where blood is separated into two types: red and silver. The Reds are commoners dominated by a Silver elite who wield godlike powers.
And it appears that nothing will ever change for Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the impoverished Stilts. That is until she is offered a job at the Silver Palace. \
Additionally, Mare realizes that, despite her red blood, she wields a lethal power of her own here, surrounded by the individuals she despises the most.
Furthermore, Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers declare her a long-lost Silver princess who is now engaged to a Silver prince and conceal her in plain sight.
12. Dorothy Must Die
By Danielle Paige
Like Wicked before it, Dorothy Must Die takes a unique approach to the Wizard of Oz. Meet Amy Gumm, the other Kansas girl.
Nevertheless, when Amy arrives in Oz, the yellow brick road collapses, winged monkeys can be punished for rebellious deeds, and good witches can’t be trusted.
And it was all because Dorothy became enraged with power and took the throne of Oz for herself.
Furthermore, Amy has been assigned a new duty by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked: Dorothy must die.
Books like Caraval frequently put a unique take on well-known stories, and Dorothy Must Die is no exception. However, the negative spin can be effective, and it is in this case.
13. The Wrath And The Dawn
By Renée Ahdieh
The plot of Caraval is as much about Scarlett, a girl caught between a rock and a hard place, as it is about the primary game. Shahrzad, the protagonist of Ahdieh’s rendition of A Thousand and One Nights is no exception.
Every night, Khorasan’s youthful caliph marries a different woman. Furthermore, the sun rises on a dead woman every morning.
Until that bride is Shahrzad, who survives night after night, enchanting and perplexing the caliph with his stories, along the process, the murderer she assumed was her husband begins to take shape in front of her eyes.
Additionally, there are secrets there that Shazi has to discover. The mystery quickly transforms into soaring fantasy, and then, before Shazi realizes it, romance.
14. Heartless
By Marissa Meyer
Catherine may be one of Wonderland’s most sought girls and the unmarried King of Hearts’ favorite, but she has other interests. She’s a brilliant baker who only wants to build a bakery with her closest buddy.
However, according to her mother, such a goal for the young woman who could be the next queen is unfathomable. Then Cath meets Jest, the intriguing and gorgeous court jester.
She feels the tug of true attraction for the first time. She and Jest begin an ardent, secret courtship at the risk of insulting the king and infuriating her parents.
Additionally, Cath is set on defining her fate and falling in love on her terms. However, in a nation awash in magic, lunacy, mischief, and monsters, the future has other plans.
15. Dances Of Thieves
By Mary E. Pearson
Dances of Thieves is also one of the books like Caraval that is binge-worthy. When the Ballenger empire’s father dies, his son, Jase, becomes the new ruler.
Even neighboring kingdoms bow to the might of this criminal dynasty, which has always followed their own set of rules.
However, a new era is on the horizon, which will be ushered in by a young queen, who will target the dynasty’s resentment and anger.
At the same time, the queen dispatches Kazi, a legendary former street thief, to investigate transgressions against the new settlements.
When Kazi arrives in the foreboding country of the Ballengers, she discovers that Jase is more than she imagined.
Additionally, they play cat and mouse games as unexpected events spiral out of their control, bringing them closer together.
16. Ignite Me
By Tahere Mah
Juliette has no idea if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are still alive now that Omega Point has been destroyed. However, that won’t stop her from ending The Reestablishment for good.
Now she must rely on Warner, Sector 45’s dashing leader. She’d never believed she’d be able to trust anyone. She was saved by the same person who had previously saved her life.
Furthermore, he vows to assist Juliette in mastering her abilities and saving their dying world, but that’s not all he has in mind for her.
17. Yesterday Is History
By Kosoko Jackson
For books like Caraval, time travel is always a lot of fun to experiment with. In Yesterday is History, we meet Andre Cobb, a young man who recently got a liver transplant and is eager to begin his life.
Then he passes out one night and wakes up in 1969, where he meets Michael, who is magnetically alluring. However, suddenly he’s tugged back to present-day Boston, where he meets Blake and his family.
Who explains that Michael’s replacement liver came from Blake’s younger brother and gave Andre the power to travel across time as a side effect.
Andre’s attraction to both Blake and Michael intensifies as he jumps back and forth between the past and the present.
Yesterday is History, told from the perspective of a queer African American boy, is a complicated and beautiful story of Andre’s battle to find his place in the world.
18. Siege And Storm
By Leigh Bardugo
Alina must struggle to create a life with Mal in a foreign land while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner is hidden, as she is pursued across the True Sea and plagued by the lives she took on the Fold.
But she won’t be able to avoid her History or her fate for long. Additionally, the Darkling has risen from the Shadow Fold with a horrifying new power and a dangerous scheme that will push the natural world to its limits.
Alina returns to the country she abandoned with the help of a notorious privateer, determined to fight the forces forming against Ravka.
On the other hand, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic as her power develops further away from Mal.
19. Meet Cute Diary
By Emery Lee
The Meet Cute Diary is also one of the binge-worthy books like Caraval. Noah Ramirez’s popular blog has unintentionally become a beacon of hope for all transgender people hoping for love happily-ever-afters.
The only problem is that Noah made everything up! Noah’s life begins to fall apart when a troll reveals the blog as fiction, and he uses it to convey his dream for a happily-ever-after.
Noah persuades Drew to fake-date him to salvage the site by convincing everyone that the stories are authentic.
But, as in life, things don’t always go as planned, and Noah quickly learns that updating stories for a blog and dating in real life are vastly different.
20. Crooked Kingdom
By Leigh Bardugo
Kaz Brekker and his band of ruthless outcasts have just pulled off a daring heist that they didn’t think they’d be able to pull off.
But instead of splitting a large sum of money, they’re back to battling for their lives. Additionally, the team is betrayed and severely weakened, with little resources, allies, or hope.
As solid forces from all over the world rush on Ketterdam to discover the mysteries of the hazardous narcotic known as jurda parem, old opponents and new foes arise to test Kaz’s wits and the team’s frayed loyalties.
Furthermore, on the city’s dark and twisting streets, a battle for vengeance and atonement will be fought, and the fate of the Grisha world will be decided.
21. To Kill A Kingdom
By Alexandra Christo
Last on our list of binge-worthy books like Caraval is to kill a kingdom. Princess Lira is the most dangerous of all the sirens. She is respected across the sea for possessing the hearts of seventeen princes until fate drives her to assassinate one of her own.
Additionally, the Sea Queen punishes her daughter by transforming her into the one thing they despise the most: a human.
Lira has been stripped of her singing and has until the winter solstice to give Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen, or she will forever be a human.
Even though he is the heir of the world’s most powerful kingdom, Prince Elian calls the ocean his home.
In addition, Hunting sirens is more than an ugly hobby—it’s his calling. She is more than grateful when he saves a woman drowning in the ocean.
Are you looking for a similar book like Caraval? Do you have any ideas that didn’t cut? Let us know what you think in the comments!
