Books Like A Snake Among Swans
by Hannah Kaner
A Snake Among Swans opens on a wound: Tilde is the lone heir of a defeated kingdom who can hear her ancestors through the kithwood, a wild, uncanny presence that grants both counsel and peril. She trades herself into marriage to infiltrate the court of the conqueror, endures a cruel king while quietly arranging the knots of revenge, and must navigate growing intimacy with the king’s daughter that threatens to undo her plans. The novel’s engine is intimate political calculation — quiet manipulations, whispered magic, and the slow accrual of leverage inside a palace built on violence.
If you loved this book, it could be for different, specific reasons. Maybe it was the particular blend of female rage and sapphic longing played out in courtly rooms rather than battlefields; or the way wild, ancestral magic functions as both guide and threat; or the pleasure of watching a protagonist execute a long, patient scheme by social means rather than brute force. The list below separates picks by which of those exact elements they share so you can pick the next read by the aspect of Kaner’s novel that mattered most to you.
Recommended for fans of A Snake Among Swans
The Priory of the Orange Tree
Samantha Shannon
Epic court politics, queer female relationships, and high-stakes magic woven into dynastic conflict.
Pick this if you want large-scale dynastic stakes and queer female relationships threaded through high-stakes magic — this is the most epic, panoramic match.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Seth Dickinson
Cold, methodical revenge enacted through ruthless court and economic manipulation.
Pick this if it was Tilde’s patient, methodical pursuit of retribution via political and economic means that gripped you — expect ruthless long-game strategy.
The Jasmine Throne
Tasha Suri
Slow-burning sapphic tensions, imperial politics, and intoxicating, ruinous magic in a conquered realm.
Pick this if the slow, ruinous queer intimacy inside a conquered realm was what mattered to you — this matches that emotional arc closely while leaning into intoxicating, imperial magic.
The Curse of Chalion
Lois McMaster Bujold
Courtly maneuvering and a protagonist burdened by lineage and spiritual/magical interference.
Pick this if you valued the interplay of lineage, spiritual or divine interference, and court maneuvering; this is more religiously inflected but similarly careful in politics.
The Goblin Emperor
Katherine Addison
Court intrigue through the eyes of an outsider thrust into power and navigating deadly etiquette.
Pick this if you liked watching an outsider navigate deadly etiquette and court intrigue; tone is gentler here, so expect kinder politics than Kaner’s darker edges.
The Fifth Season
N.K. Jemisin
Savage worldbuilding with powerful, volatile magic and protagonists shaped by systemic oppression.
Pick this if you responded to the wild, world-shaping quality of magic and the way systemic oppression shapes protagonists — this shares those structural, tectonic elements.
The Bone Season
Samantha Shannon
Hidden supernatural networks, oppressive power structures, and a heroine learning dangerous gifts.
Pick this if you were drawn to a heroine discovering dangerous powers within oppressive structures — this shares the hidden-supernatural-and-resistance element, though in a different modern-fantasy register.
The Bird Tribunal
Agnes Ravatn
Psychological intensity and morally ambiguous revenge in a claustrophobic, lyrical setting.
Pick this if you want morally ambiguous, psychologically intense revenge in a tight, lyrical setting — this is a looser, more literary match but closely aligned on mood.
The Salt Roads
Nalo Hopkinson
Mythic, feminine-centered narratives and transgressive desires against colonial/imperial backdrops.
Pick this if you were drawn to mythic, feminine-centered storytelling and transgressive desire against imperial backdrops; this is the loosest fit here but resonates thematically around feminine power and resistance.
At a glance
Matches were chosen for how they echo this book’s core mechanics: inner-court maneuvering and slow-burn revenge, queer female relationships, the presence of wild or divine-mythic magic, and a tonal mix of political darkness and intimate psychological pressure. Percentages reflect which combination of those dimensions each pick shares.
| Book | First published | Pages | Closest match on | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Priory of the Orange Tree Samantha Shannon | 2018 | 848 | Epic queer politics | 92% |
The Traitor Baru Cormorant Seth Dickinson | 2015 | — | Cold, strategic revenge | 90% |
The Jasmine Throne Tasha Suri | 2021 | 512 | Slow-burning sapphic tension | 89% |
The Curse of Chalion Lois McMaster Bujold | 1991 | 442 | Courtly, spiritual intrigue | 84% |
The Goblin Emperor Katherine Addison | 2014 | 480 | Outsider in court | 78% |
The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin | 2015 | 512 | Volatile systemic magic | 76% |
The Bone Season Samantha Shannon | 2013 | 528 | Hidden networks & gifts | 72% |
The Bird Tribunal Agnes Ravatn | 2016 | 185 | Claustrophobic revenge | 60% |
The Salt Roads Nalo Hopkinson | — | — | Mythic feminine narratives | 58% |
About A Snake Among Swans
Published 8 September 2026 by HarperVoyager, A Snake Among Swans is book one of The Wing and the Ways trilogy by Hannah Kaner, the author of Godkiller. The novel foregrounds kithwood-driven ancestral magic, court intrigue inside a conquered realm, and a revenge plot complicated by sapphic intimacy.
Frequently asked questions
I loved the sapphic courtship in A Snake Among Swans — what next?+
If it was the slow-burning, high-stakes queer tension you loved, The Jasmine Throne is the closest emotional match here; The Priory of the Orange Tree also foregrounds queer female relationships but on a broader epic canvas.
Want more books about revenge enacted through politics?+
The Traitor Baru Cormorant directly explores cold, methodical revenge carried out through economic and court manipulation. For a less ruthless but still politically focused perspective, The Curse of Chalion emphasizes courtly maneuvering tied to lineage and spiritual forces.
Is the magic in A Snake Among Swans like big, world-changing power or personal, rooted magic?+
Kaner’s kithwood behaves as personal, ancestral, sometimes dangerous guidance rather than a flashy, apocalypse-level force. The Fifth Season shares the idea of volatile, systemic magic affecting lives and societies, while The Jasmine Throne and The Priory of the Orange Tree show magic that is intimate and politically entangled.
Which picks are best if I want quieter psychological intensity rather than epic scope?+
The Bird Tribunal offers claustrophobic psychological pressure and morally ambiguous revenge on a small, intense stage; The Goblin Emperor provides quieter court navigation from the viewpoint of an outsider, though with a different emotional register.
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