If you were gripped by the plots swirling around the masked Duchessa of Bellezza and the way Luciano gets swept into safeguarding her during the regatta and assassination attempts, you’ll love how Eugenides (“Gen”) navigates rival courts and hidden agendas in The Thief. The theft of Hamiathes’s Gift turns into a battle of wits where every alliance is suspect—much like the way the di Chimici schemes shadow Bellezza’s glittering ceremonies.

If Bellezza’s moonlit canals, masked festivals, and clandestine meetings with the Duchessa drew you in, The Thief Lord gives you that same intoxicating city atmosphere in real-world Venice. Following Prosper, Bo, and the mysterious Scipio through crumbling palazzos and shadowy alleyways captures the same sense of wonder and hidden worlds that Luciano discovers when he first stravagates into Bellezza.

If the talisman-driven “stravagation” and Bellezza’s ritual-laced magic appealed to you, The Magicians of Caprona offers a similarly loose, mysterious enchantment woven through an Italian city-state. As rival magical houses feud and civic pageants turn perilous, it echoes the way Bellezza’s pageantry can tip into danger—the very tension Luciano feels serving the Duchessa amid plots and parades.

If you admired the steel and savvy of the Duchessa Silvia—and Arianna’s courage standing beside Luciano—then Sabriel will resonate. Sabriel crosses into the Old Kingdom to confront necromancy head-on, much as the Duchessa faces assassins with unflinching resolve. The way duty and compassion shape Sabriel mirrors the leadership you loved in Bellezza’s masked ruler.

If Luciano’s transformation—from a sick boy in our world to Luciano of Bellezza, protecting the Duchessa and finding his place with Arianna—hooked you, Graceling delivers that same coming-of-age momentum. Katsa’s journey from weapon to self-directed hero, alongside Po, balances peril, politics, and romance with the kind of personal growth that defined Luciano’s path.