Rebecca Yarros’s The Empyrean series has made a particular kind of fantasy obsession hard to replace. There are dragons, of course, but the real appeal is the volatile mix of peril and desire. There’s ruthless training, dangerous magical bonds, and a romance that only intensifies as the world’s secrets come to light.
While some offer trials, tournaments, and warrior training, others offer a heroine at the center of a rebellion or a steamy forbidden bond. What they all share is the idea that love and survival are bound together, and that falling for the wrong person may be as dangerous as facing down a dragon.
The good news is that the dragon-romantasy boom has produced plenty of great contenders, so if finishing The Empyrean left you craving another book with fire-breathing creatures and equally combustible chemistry, these reads belong on your TBR.
Threshing Day (The Empyrean)
While it is not book four of The Empyrean, Threshing Day is Yarros’s surprise companion anthology to the series, and definitely at the top of the list for readers still emotionally camped outside Basgiath War College.
The book contains thirteen short stories that follow familiar characters and their dragons around the very ceremony that gives the book its title, offering readers a chance to see the world beyond Violet’s central perspective. Xaden’s story is confirmed to be among them, and the deluxe first edition even ships with sixteen full-color illustrations. For anyone desperate to spend more time at Basgiath, Threshing Day is out on September 29, 2026.
Aether and Bone
Amber Toro’s Aether and Bone begins with an irresistible romantasy setup: Oliviana Lux is the daughter of a traitor executed for wielding forbidden magic, and she may be next to pay for the same dangerous inheritance. In a world where dragons rule the skies of The Above, and humanity survives in the dark cavern cities of “The Below,” the magic powering their underground cities is beginning to fail.
To clear her name and save her people, Oliviana is forced into an uneasy alliance with Caius, the guard captain responsible for her father’s death. Together, they must travel to the legendary dragon hatching grounds and hope that befriending a dragon will allow for peace at last.
To Touch A Silent Fury
For readers who loved watching Violet fight for her place in an institution designed to break her, To Touch A Silent Fury offers another heroine forced to prove herself in a hostile magical world. Tani is the only woman among the powerful Moontouched Brotherhood on the isolated island of Eavenfold.
When Tani’s fate ceremony binds her to marry the winner of an upcoming tournament, an insubordinate dragon-bonded prince decides he’ll do whatever it takes to stop her—even if it means falling for her instead. Can these characters resist their destinies? Or are they stuck in their fate?
Wings of Silver and Lilac
Cara is a survivor from the streets of Easthaven who has a strange birthmark that burns near danger, and when a witch reveals the mark makes her dragon-touched, Cara’s life is pulled into something far more perilous.
There’s dragon lore, political betrayal, and a competition in which warriors fight for the marriage rights of Cara’s dear friend, Devon. As Cara enters the competition to protect Devon, she finds herself falling for a warlock and facing major consequences. This story combines dangerous trials and romantic pressure as Cara discovers that the mark she has long carried may be a source of extraordinary power.
Heart of Chaos (Chaosborn Book 1)
Eisa is a woman trapped by a life of servitude and an incurable illness. When she is offered a deal impossible to refuse by Arik, second-in-command of the king’s dragon-bonded warriors, Elisa is drawn into a fate she may not be able to escape.
To free the people she loves, she first must travel to a chaos-ravaged wasteland, soul-bond with a dragon, and become one of the legendary Drage.
Vitalia
When the King’s Circus rolls into her village and its performers shift into dragons who commit unspeakable acts of violence, Naevyn should be dead. Instead, she’s swept into a centuries-old rebellion and discovers her blood holds a rare and deadly power.
Pulled into the fae realm, Naevyn must protect her family while uncovering the truth about her identity and a prophecy that names her as a possible savior. Her only guide is Cairos, a dangerous dragon shifter cursed to serve the king he once followed. As their uneasy alliance becomes something more, Naevyn must decide whether she can trust a monster long enough to destroy a tyrant and break a cycle built on blood.
The Lure of Evil
Aelia is a 27-year-old woman cursed by a lack of magic in a world where that absence leaves her vulnerable. Her struggle for survival becomes even more desperate after genocidal radicals destroy her world, and Aelia leaves her village determined to get revenge.
Keeran is fighting the darkness inside him as he and Aelia hunt the anti-human extremists threatening the kingdom, but as their resentment turns into desire, his secrets could shatter Aelia’s trust and plunge the entire realm into chaos.
Born of Fire: A Dark Dragon Rider Romantasy (The House of Ash and Gold Book 1)
The opening book in The House of Ash and Gold series follows a defiant heroine sent to a dragon station to die under a cruel emperor’s rule. She must navigate lethal creatures, ruthless keepers, and a system designed to break her.
As Oni finds an unexpected connection with a man willing to risk everything to protect her, she also catches the attention of the empire’s most powerful dragon, and survival becomes something far more dangerous.
