Like bargains when it comes to your YA sci-fi and fantasy books?
This isn’t a bargain like a 50 percent off sale at the bookstore.
This is a bargain in a sense of a deal between two beings with agreed-to terms, sometimes involving magic, blood oaths, or an otherworldly being. Plus . . . possibly dangerous consequences of not upholding one end of the bargain, ignoring the bargain altogether, or trying to get out of said bargain.
Then there’s the binding magical contracts. Think deal with the devil (insert whatever being you want here).
Who doesn’t love the drama and intrigue of a character being locked into a bargain with another being? These deals very rarely go according to plan.
From the deal that goes wrong to the tricky bargain to the nail-biting I-have-to-save-someone agreement and more, check out this list of YA fantasy and sci-fi books with bargains or deals that will add a little excitement to your life.
By Stephanie Garber
The deal: The Prince of Hearts will stop the wedding of Evangeline’s love. In exchange, he asks for three kisses to be given at the time and place of his choosing. But is that all he wants?
By Lexi Ryan
The deal: Brie will steal three magical relics from the Seelie Court for the Unseelie king. The Unseelie king promises to free her sister from his captivity. But of course it can never be as simple as that.
By Kay L. Moody
The deal: Elora will travel to Faerie to help Prince Brannick become the next High King. In return, he will give her wings to use at her discretion.
By Elise Kova
The deal: Luella will marry the elf king, and her people (humans) will avoid war with the powerful elves. But is that really all there is to it?
By Kerri Maniscalco
The deal: Emilia is offered plenty of deals from the princes of hell in this one. I’ll let you read to see which bargain she chooses to agree to.
By Rebecca Kim Wells
The deal: Lena will assist Miranda with her quest to wake a sleeping princess she believes to hold the key to liberating the Gather from its tyrannical rule, and Miranda will help break Lena’s debilitating curse.
By Tessonja Odette
The deal: Gemma will help the Wolf King break the curse that plagues him and his pack. In turn, he will offer her employment, the means to achieve her freedom in a male-dominated society.
This book contains mature situations and moderate steam.
By Brie Tart
The deal: Riona will heal a mother and unborn child after a car accident. In exchange, the mother will surrender the child when Riona comes to collect her.
Later on, Daire offers to help Maya escape Tir Na Nog, but only if she will help him unlock the power of the Key that will unlock the walls of Tir Na Nog.
This book contains mature themes such as abuse, themes surrounding mental illness (including schizophrenia, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts), violence, kidnapping, and death of a family member.
By Angelina J. Steffort
The deal: Negotiations and bargains are common between the Lightbringers, beings who take souls to heaven, and Shadowbringers, beings who take souls to hell.
By Clarissa Gosling
The deal: The queen of the Dawnlight Court promises to release Evan, Zoe’s ticket back home to the human world, if Zoe gives her something unique from her heritage (which is unknown). If Zoe fails, the queen will own them for a year.
By Sylvia Mercedes
The deal: Valera agrees to be Eloras's wife for a year and a day. In exchange, he will give her anything she wants. He doesn't expect anything of her but patience—and that she never see his face.
By Abigail Hair
The deal: The Sea Witch will provide Saoirse with a potion that will allow her to get past her father's magical enchantments keeping her in the sea, which will then allow her to enter a deadly tournament. In exchange, Saoirse will give the Sea Witch her power over the water, to be restored if she wins the tournament. Also, the Sea Witch wants her to kill the prince of the Aerials during the tournament in order to claim a magical dagger. If Saoirse fails, she will die, as the deal is sealed with blood magic.
By Joanna Reeder
The deal: Aria agrees to pretend to be a faerie queen, as she looks just like the one who disappeared, to keep others off the throne. In exchange, she will be returned to the human world to the exact moment she left.
By Adrienne Tooley
The deal: Sofi agrees to travel with Lara and write her songs anonymously. In return, Lara will agree to take her on as an apprentice, though Sofi’s plans are much different than this spoken deal between them.
By Emily Lloyd-Jones
The deal: The demon gets to “use” Dee’s heart for two years. Dee would do his bidding—which involves closing magical portals/”voids”—and simply exist in a sort of stasis, not aging. In return, she would receive the money she needs to stay at boarding school.
By Ann Aguirre
The deal: Edie finds herself at the point where she is about to die, a pivotal moment when bargains can be made. This is when the otherworldly Kian offers her a deal: three favors now in return for three favors later.
This book contains themes such as suicide and bullying that may be triggering for some readers.
By Valia Lind
The deal: Nikita's father enters into a blood bargain with a "beast" over a rose that was to be a gift to Nikita (which he tried to steal). He had a day to get his affairs in order, then he had to return and be in service to the beast until the end of times using a ring as magical transportation.
But instead, Nikita takes the ring and her father's place in the blood bargain.
By Ann Hunter
The deal: Sylas, a water creature, in one thousand moons, will change Aowyn's brothers from swans back to human if she will not speak of their deal. If she does, her brothers will die. But that can’t be all there is to it, right?
By Anthea Sharp
The deal: As a part of a simulation game, the Dark Queen demands Jennet answer a riddle correctly or forfeit her "life essence." And the consequences of this bargain follow Jennet back into the real world.
By Olivia Wildenstein
The deal: The bargains are complicated in this one and intricately woven into the plot.
They're also rather tricky. When bargaining, faeries always demand something in return. And when they don't and no bargain is struck before they agree to do something, they can then ask for anything in return, at any time, and the human will have to do it.
By Adrienne Tooley
The deal: When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin (a witch cursed with the inability to love) will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father.
By Kristen Ciccarelli
The deal: Emeline promises her voice to the Wood King in exchange for her grandfather’s freedom.
This article was written by Allison Rose.
Allison Rose writes YA fantasy featuring magic and otherworldly beings. Her current series feature a truly unique world of Faerie. Click the covers below to check them out.
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