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20 Magical Books Like Harry Potter

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Blog – Posted on Wed, January 02

twenty Magical Books Like Harry Potter

When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, some of us thought we'd never discover another worthy book serial again. Merely piddling did we know that there are tons of other amazing books similar Harry Potter out there — you just accept to know where to look!

Fortunately, equally Albus Dumbledore (more or less) said, "Aid will always be given on the Internet to those who inquire for it." Hither are 20 magical books like Harry Potter that volition Portkey y'all right back to your Hogwarts days.

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1. The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman

Often hailed equally "Harry Pottermeets higher," The Magicians follows disillusioned 17-yr-old Quentin Coldwater every bit he comes to find much, much more than the magic of freshman parties. On the day of his supposed Princeton interview, Quentin instead gets interviewed and accepted to Brakebills — a highly selective academy of bona fide sorcery.

While he initially finds the Brakebills curriculum frustrating and tedious (they take to study hand positions and phases of the moon), Quentin ultimately rises to its challenges, forming potent bonds with his fellow classmates. Skillful thing, also, because he'll need them when trouble comes knocking… problem which, every bit we know from HP, is never far away from any given magic school.

The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)

2. The Kane Chronicles past Rick Riordan

Though he'southward best known for his Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, Rick Riordan'southward Kane Chronicles are just as thrilling as their Greek predecessors. The protagonists of this serial are Carter and Sadie Kane, siblings whose Egyptologist begetter reconnects them with their own ancient roots — that is, that they're descended from Egyptian pharaohs and magicians.

After their father is captured by Prepare, the Egyptian god of evil, Carter and Sadie must tap into parts of themselves they never knew existed and battle unimaginably powerful forces. For those of united states who had a childhood obsession with Egyptology (Cluefinders, anyone?), this book is a marvelous source of wish fulfillment and amusement all the way through.

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Pullman's works are perfect for the reader who craves an intellectual claiming. Taking place across multiple universes and containing some pretty circuitous religious references (not to mention criticisms), His Dark Materials grounds itself in the journeying of Lyra Belacqua, a 12-year-old daughter with a knack for lying. Lyra and her dæmon (the external, animal manifestation of her "inner self") travel the worlds of the serial in search of kidnapped children, and a mysterious elemental affair called "Dust." These quests reveal mind-angle twists and turns that Pullman masterfully narrates over the course of this ballsy trilogy.

School Library Journal, Starred

The Magician

[STAR] "Readers will be swept up by a plot that moves smartly along, leaving a wide trailer of destruction and well-timed revelations."—Kirkus Reveiws, Starred

The Sorceress

"Master yarnspinner that he is, Scott expertly cranks up the suspense while keeping his now-large cast in quick motion….This folio –turner promises plenty of activity to come."—\northward Kirkus Reviews\n

The Necromancer

"Unrelenting forward momentum….This book will thrill fans."—\northward School Library Periodical\north','url':'https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385733577?tag=reedwebs-20','covers':{'large':'https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388451397l/977841.jpg'},'provider':'amazon','authors':['Michael Scott']}" contenteditable="false">

4. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

Turns out J.K. Rowling didn't invent the character of Flamel, only based him on an actual person! And she wasn't the but one to find him a fascinating effigy, equally evidenced past the depth and intricacy of this vi-volume series past Michael Scott (not the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin).

Secrets begins with a pair of teenage twins, Sophie and Josh, who realize their employer "Nick" is none other than 700-yr-old alchemist Nicholas Flamel — and that their lives are prophetically intertwined with his. Every bit the series unfurls, many more shocking truths come up to low-cal about the twins' destinies and the nature of bloodshed, all of which are made particularly resonant by Scott's connections to the existent historical legend of Flamel.

five. Inkheart past Cornelia Funke

Many of the states will call back Funke's work from our elementary school library bookshelves, but information technology's also never as well late to get into this absolute classic. Inkheart follows young Meggie and her bookbinding father (so quaint!) as they discover their boggling ability: simply by reading aloud, they can bring fictional characters into the real world.

But for every character that comes out of a volume, someone else has to take their place. Such dire consequences drive our father-girl duo on a mission to get all the characters back in their rightful pages — but of course, those characters are non going to go down without a fight.

6. The Dark Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This novel, originally written as a NaNoWriMo draft, chronicles star-crossed lovers Marco and Celia as they attempt to thwart their shared fate: to go up confronting each other in a dramatic duel. Their battleground is Le Cirque des Rêves, a night circus with performers whose true sorcery is bearded as mere illusions. As Celia and Marco both grow stronger — and accomplish increasingly magnificent exhibitions through their competition, such every bit an eternal blaze and a "Wishing Tree" — they realize the true implications of their bond, and start working confronting it to salvage themselves and each other.

7. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

"All the world's a phase, and all the men and women just players."

Such is the life of Beatrice Smith, the heroine of this surrealist meta-drama. Beatrice has grown up in the "Theatre Illuminata" surrounded by characters from various plays, especially those from Shakespeare (her best friends are Ariel from The Tempest and the 4 fairies from Midsummer). But as Beatrice learns more than well-nigh the theatre, she comes to empathize that it may exist more prison house than playground… and that the fates of its inmates are in her hands.

8.The Raven Bike by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Wheel combines many fantastical elements: clairvoyance, supernatural occurrences, historical symbolism, and more. Beginning, like many great stories, with an intriguing prophecy about its main character ("If Bluish ever kisses her true dearest, he volition die"), Stiefvater's Raven Bike goes on to runway the intertwining relationships of Blue and the eponymous "Raven Boys" — a quartet of wealthy private school kids whose greatest wish is to detect a dead Welsh king. Why they're then drastic to locate him can only exist explained in its pages, but only trust united states that this series is a totally wild ride from start to cease.

9. Pennyroyal University past Chiliad.A. Larson

Created by a old TV author for Cartoon Network and Disney, Pennyroyal Academy naturally has everything you could ever want in a fun middle-grade fantasy. There's a combat schoolhouse for knights and princesses, a memory-wiped girl who emerges from the woods, and of course an all-out state of war between good and evil. Luckily, the potential heaviness of this scenario is offset by the hilarity of characters like the academy'southward "Fairy Drillsergeant," as well equally the delightfully subversive vision of princesses scrabbling through mud and dogpiling on summit of each other during combat training.

10. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

If you've seen the movie simply never read the book, do yourself a huge favor and purchase information technology right now. In this immature developed fantasy novel, Levine skillfully weaves the tale of Cinderella into a incomparably darker, less Disney-esque tapestry. Our heroine Ella has been cursed to obey every society she receives, even when it endangers her life. She sets off on a quest to contrary the "souvenir," but has to contend with everything from hungry ogres to wicked stepsisters along the way — not to mention the constant threat of strangers discovering the curse and using it against her.

Gloriously imaginative and compulsively readable, Ella Enchanted has become simply every bit much of classic as the fairytale it emulates. It's tragically a standalone novel rather than a serial, but it could be credited with sparking the modern tendency of fairytale retellings. Speaking of which…

11. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Marissa Meyer'due south Lunar Chronicles series lends a modern voice non just to Cinderella, but too Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White — oh, and did we mention a good portion of information technology takes identify in outer space? From cyborgs and androids to intergalactic tyrants to "lunar gangs" that street-fight on the surface of the moon, every unmarried book in this sci-fi/fairytale mashup packs a serious punch. (The kind y'all wouldn't want to face solitary in a nighttime… crater? Or whatever the lunar equivalent of an alley is.)

12. Cerise Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This one sounds similar a fairytale retelling, only information technology'due south actually a biting, brutal examination of class hierarchies and blood feuds… literally. In Red Queen, the population divides and conquers — or is conquered — based on the color of their claret. Young, crimson-blooded commoner Mare Barrow is a lowly worker at the "Silverish Palace," until a sudden twist of fate launches her into their upper ranks. The Silvers immediately see that this blood-red-blooded girl threatens their sovereignty, and they hatch a programme to claim her every bit a "lost Silver princess" and go her on their side. Little do they know that Mare has a few of her ain tricks to play — and that she knows that blood solitary moves the wheels of history (argent claret, that is).

xiii. Neverwhere past Neil Gaiman

Though the Telly series technically came first, Neil Gaiman's novelized adaptation of Neverwhere has become a fantasy staple in its ain correct. Businessman Richard Mayhew gets sucked into the world of "London Below," a Stranger Things Upside-Down-esque version of the city — where Knightsbridge is not a posh shopping district simply an actual bridge with a knight, and where the trains runs on its ain random schedule. Though Richard's only intention is to right the wrongs that have transpired in "London Above," he rapidly becomes wrapped up in the drama of this "neverwhere," following a mysterious daughter named Door (#symbolism) who may or may not pb him to his doom.

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl, Book 1) (Artemis Fowl (1))

14. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

This is another classic fantasy serial that you absolutely can't miss. For those who never read the books, the titular Artemis is a preteen genius-slash-billionaire-slash-criminal-mastermind who kidnaps a fairy (you heard that correct) to ransom for gold. Fowl's nefarious nature is a great twist on the "precocious youngster uses special gifts to save the world" trope and so oft seen in fantasy YA — non to mention it sets the stage for an extremely satisfying redemption arc.

15. Half Magic by Edward Eager

Coming up next, another nostalgic entry! Indeed, Half Magic (originally published in 1954) is one-time enough now to exist a septuagenarian'due south addicted childhood memory. But its hilarious premise and timeless story of kids discovering magic have helped information technology suffer. In Half Magic, siblings Jane, Mark, Katherine, and Martha find an enchanted money that will grant whatsoever wish they speak to it — but only halfway.

Eager's execution of this concept is brilliant, his comic timing elevation-notch. You'll express mirth nonstop at the children's hijinks, from making their cat speak gibberish to going back in time to meet Lancelot (merely to detect that he'due south a jerk). But by the end of the book, you'll also understand — as the kids do also — that wishing itself can only become you lot so far, and that imagination is the truest source of magic.

The Field Guide (1) (The Spiderwick Chronicles)

16. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

More fairies, hurrah! The Spiderwick Chronicles is some other unproblematic schoolhouse favorite, post-obit the adventures of the Grace children later they move into the aging, mysterious Spiderwick Manor. They soon notice a "field guide" to the magical world effectually them, full of details nearly all sorts of spectacular fairy creatures. Only this book was never meant to autumn into mortal hands — which means the Grace children must learn to utilise it wisely, or else face terrible consequences.

The Uncommoners #1: The Crooked Sixpence

17. The Uncommoners by Jennifer Bong

A recently released treat for the younger crowd, Bong'southward Uncommoners series is a bit of an simple-appropriate Neverwhere: it besides takes us on a journeying to a mysterious city under London (though this time the "under" part is literal). The subterranean city of Lundinor is full of enchantments and oddities — and even as our young protagonists Ivy and Seb struggle to navigate this hugger-mugger world, they discover that Lundinor may too concord answers to all their questions.

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha)

18. Children of Claret and Os by Tomi Adeyemi

Ane of the most fascinating and original YA debuts in recent years, Children of Blood and Bone is a story set in the West African-inspired state of Orïsha. It's a place of magic and possibility, only its tyrant ruler King Saran believes that only he should determine its destiny. Enter Zélie: a "divîner" with magical claret, she is 1 of the last descendants of her maji people after Saran massacred them all — and she is hell-bent on returning magic to Orïsha and defeating the evil male monarch in one case and for all.

nineteen. Shades of Magic by 5.E. Schwab

Did you call up nosotros were done with multiple Londons? You thought wrong. The Shades of Magic series involves non two, not three, but four different Londons: Grey, Ruddy, White, and the dreaded Blackness. Our main grapheme Kell is a magician with the unique power to traverse amid them. And with this groovy power comes great irresponsibility, at least for Kell — he uses his talents to illegally smuggle things between these Londons. That is until one day, later on landing in Grayness London, he meets his friction match in a scrappy pickpocket who'll change his life forever.

xx. These Witches Don't Burn down by Isabel Sterling

This ane doesn't come up out until May 2019, but equally we Potter fans know, it's always nice to have something to anticipate. These Witches Don't Fire is a sharp, contemporary tale of a young Elemental witch named Hannah, whose life is pretty much sunshine and rainbows (well, more than similar candles and crystals, just you go information technology), even if she does encounter her ex-girlfriend Veronica from fourth dimension to time. All that changes when Hannah realizes that a shadow of dark magic hovers over her town of Salem (of class)... and she and Veronica (who's also a witch!) must work together to save information technology.

It may exist incommunicable to ever completely fill the Harry Potter-shaped void in your soul. Only each creative, daring, magical volume on this listing volition give you something brand new to appreciate, and something nostalgic to revisit once more years from now. Just remember (to quote Dumbledore one last fourth dimension — he's a smart guy!), the written word truly is "our almost inexhaustible source of magic."

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Promise you lot constitute a corking new read to help y'all through your Harry Potter withdrawals! Though of course, there's goose egg like the originals — check out this post to relive the magic of HP all over once again.