Harry Potter fans—21 series you should check out
Unnatural forces? Check. Amazing monsters? Check. Heartwarming friendships? Check.
The adventures in the Harry Potter series has grabbed the hearts of so many fans—through books, movies, stageplays, games, and more. It’s now been been decades since the first Harry Potter book was published, but J.K. Rowling’s series is still a bestseller among kids and adults who can’t get enough of the Wizarding World. Granted, there have been controversies from the author (like, for example, this)—but that hasn’t stopped so many people from still connecting with the characters in the stories.
But once you’ve finished reading the books, what comes next? Below is a list of remarkable books for fans who want something that will connect with them like Harry Potter did.
#1 The Brooklyn Brujas series by Zoraida Cordova
Zoraida Córdova is an Ecuadorian-American author of children’s books and romance. Her Brooklyn Brujas series is a YA urban fantasy series that follows three sisters―and witches―as they develop their powers and battle magic in their hometown and worlds beyond. The series includes Labyrinth Lost, Bruja Born, and Wayward Witch.
Click here to read about all books in the series.
“As a whole, I hope that I have introduced readers to a magical system that I’ve created,” the author told #ReadLatinx. “Oftentimes I get asked what research books I used— I didn’t. I made up my own magical roots and gods because I needed this story as a girl. All I had were books with European witches. Or Brown girls who used European magic without actually discussing why. I loved those books and still do. But I hope that this might inspire someone to go off and create their own magical system. What would witches from your cultural background be like? Books are in conversation with each other and I hope this convo never stops.”
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#2 The Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stormlight Archive series, coauthor of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, and creator of the internationally bestselling Mistborn trilogy. His recent Kickstarter campaign broke records, gaining more than $41 million from some 180,000 backers—and becoming the most-funded Kickstarter in the crowdfunding site’s history.
His Reckoners series presents a world that’s somewhat the opposite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here, superpowers have turned people into villains and destroyers, and the world is now in a post-apocalyptic condition.
Click here to read about all books in the series.
“I’ve thought a lot about why fantasy is so appealing to me,” the author told Locus. “I often joke that [as a kid] I was given book after book about a young boy with a pet dog living in America, and the conventional wisdom says that’s what a young boy reader should want. I was just not interested in that. I knew what it was like to be a young teenage boy living in America, and it held no interest for me. I did not want to read about kids in school—I knew what it was like to be a kid in school. Part of what grabbed me about fantasy was the stuff I didn’t know.”
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#3 Legacy of Orisha series by Tomi Adeyemi
Tomi Adeyemi is a winner of a Hugo Award (World Science Fiction Convention), a Nebula Award (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), and picked by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2020. A Nigerian-American author and storyteller, her book Children of Blood and Bone showed up on a bunch of lists—and won the 2018 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.
In fact, Entertainment Weekly remarked that Harry Potter fans would love these books. Touted the magazine, “Meet Tomi Adeyemi―the new J.K. Rowling. (Yep, she’s that good).”
The first in the “Legacy of Orïsha” trilogy—ranked highly by Amazon in its category for Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Prejudice—the novel follows heroine Zélie Adebola as she attempts to restore magic to the kingdom of Orïsha, following the ruling class kosidáns’ brutal suppression of the class of magic practitioners Zélie belongs to, the maji.
Click here to read about all books in the series.
Marie Claire interviewed the author and shared: When Blood and Bone came out in 2018, it sparked conversation. The book captured the cultural ethos, the unrest and turbulence erupting across the nation, while still celebrating the lengths of imagination. It was a book that readers could slip into to both forget and be reminded of the world around them. Inspiring and destructive. Like Zélie, who faces discrimination and classism in both books, Adeyemi has witnessed the effects of systematic injustice firsthand. And, like Zélie, she still rises.
“The reason I’m here is because I’m a young black woman,” Adeyemi says, when asked if she felt resistance, professionally, as a young woman of color. “I’ve been a young black woman my whole life, so this is the grandest battle I’ve had to face and fight. But I’ve always had to fight battles. When you go through a personal war, you leave it a warrior.”—Tomi Adeyemi Makes Magic. Again.
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#4 Books of Magic series by Neil Gaiman and more
From Neil Gaiman, the best-selling novelist and creator of the world-renowned comics title The Sandman, came a mesmerizing tale of the dangers and opportunities of youth, and its endless possibilities. Timothy Hunter could be the most powerful magician in the world, but does he really want to be?
Guided through the magical world starting at the beginning of time by a group of DC Universe magicians (John Constantine, Phantom Stranger, Mister E, and Doctor Occult), they attempt to aid Timothy in his decision whether or not to embrace his gift. However, by the time Timothy makes a choice, it may have already been made for him. A comic book series originally illustrated by four of comics’ most accomplished artists—John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess, and Paul Johnson—The Books of Magic was then picked up by writer Kat Howard and artist Tom Fowler.
Click here to find out about all the collected volumes.
“Any fans of the Harry Potter universe who may be looking for an enjoyable replacement should look no further, as the Vertigo & DC Comics series Books of Magic is exactly what they are looking for! Originally created and written by Neil Gaiman in the 90s, Books of Magic’s hero is Tim Hunter, a young magical boy with glasses and a pet owl, who debuted seven full years before Harry Potter did.”—Screen Rant
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#5 Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake
Introducing the world of Three Dark Crowns! Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose...it’s life or death.
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
“One of the really cool aspects of this series is the matriarchal society,” noted SERIESous Book Reviews. “Women are the rulers and decision makers for the entire populace. It isn’t young women being carted off to the potential King to get married: it’s the young men to the potential Queen. It isn’t the men who decide what the triplets will do, it’s the women.”
Kendare Blake is the author of several novels and short stories, including the Buffy the Vampire Slayer follow-up In Every Generation series, as well as the Anna Dressed in Blood series, and the Goddess War series. Several of Blake’s fiction projects have been optioned for media adaptations.
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#6 Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
“Move over Harry Potter,” notes Fantasy Book Review, “because Percy Jackson could kick your butt.”
Percy Jackson & the Olympians, a five-book fantasy series written by Rick Riordan, is set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. Percy Jackson is a young demigod who must prevent the Titans from destroying the world. In addition to the original novels, several bonus books were also released. (There have also been subsequent series.) One of the best-selling book series of all time, two of the books were adapted into films. As of this writing, Disney+ is developing a TV show based on the book series.
Like the young characters in the Harry Potter series, the kids in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians are students who age with the passing of each book. However, instead of school year vs summer like for Harry Potter, Percy and his friends find their adventures at camp during school breaks, like summer or holidays.
These adventures are a lot more straight line than in Harry Potter books. As such, they're a faster read—but some Potter fans complain that they’re too simple. (Personally. I enjoyed these books a great deal.)
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
“The plot is more complex than you’d expect for a humor-tinged fantasy,” noted Common Sense Media. “It’s hard to decide who the enemy really is and who he or she is working for until the very end. Kids who read on will be rewarded with a series that is consistently well written and entertaining.”
Rick Riordan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. For 15 years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools. While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre—the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus.
Riordan turned to children’s fiction when he started The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his oldest son. Today, more than 35 million copies of his Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Kane Chronicles, Trials of Apollo, and Heroes of Olympus books are in print in the United States, and rights have been sold into more than 35 countries. Rick is also one of the the authors of The 39 Clues series, another #1 New York Times bestseller.
Related: Rick Riordan: Complete Percy Jackson and the Olympians + Q&A
#7 Pandava series by Roshani Chokshi
Rick Riordan’s popular books had readers asking for more—especially drawing upon religious ideas from other parts of the world, like Native American legends, Chinese mythology, and Hindu gods and goddesses. To fulfill his readers’ wants—and calling upon authors more qualified to write about these beliefs—Riordan and his publisher, Disney-Hyperion, launched Rick Riordan Presents, an imprint devoted to mythology-based books for middle grade readers.
The imprint kicked off with Aru Shah and the End of Time from author Roshani Chokshi, the first book in the Pandava series. Named one of the best fantasy novels of all time by Time magazine, the author dug into Hindu mythology with fiction described by Entertainment Weekly as a “mix of Riordan’s own Percy Jackson series and the Sailor Moon franchise.”
The inventive series kicks off with 12-year-old Aru Shah, who tries to cover up a fib by lighting a special lamp—and accidentally freeing an ancient demon with plans to awaken the God of Destruction. With Aru’s mother and classmates in danger, the only way to save them is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?
“Each in-joke got a laugh out of me,” notes the reviewer at Courtney Reads Romance. “The cultural elements are top-notch. If you love Roshani Chokshi and/or Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan, it’s definitely not too late to give this series a try!”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
Roshani Chokshi is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling series The Star-Touched Queen, The Gilded Wolves, and Aru Shah and The End of Time, which Time Magazine named one of the Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and often draw upon world mythology and folklore. Chokshi is a member of the National Leadership Board for the Michael C. Carlos Museum.
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#8 Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs
Ransom Riggs is an author and filmmaker best known for the book series featuring Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Riggs had collected curious vernacular photographs, and asked Quirk Books about using some of them in a picture book. They suggested her Riggs use the photographs as a lead for a novel. The result, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, made New York Times’ bestseller list, and was adapted into the 2016 film from director Tim Burton.
As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive…
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
“This book is definitely one of my favorites. It is an amazingly unique book unlike any I have read before. I would recommend this book to everyone and would encourage people to read it before seeing the movie. Even better, have a group of friends read this book then watch the movie together so you can discuss and compare the two.”—Pikes Peak Library District
#9 The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
Gods and mortals. Power and love. Death and revenge. This fantasy trilogy is from award-winning author N.K. Jemisin—the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years (and the first to win for all three novels in a trilogy—the Broken Earth series).
In this series, gods dwell among mortals and one powerful, corrupt family rules the earth. Three extraordinary people may be the key to humanity’s salvation.
After her mother’s death, a young woman named Yeine Darr is summoned to the floating city of Sky. To her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king—but the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.
“The Inheritance Trilogy is really three related, sequential, but separate stories set in the same universe, not one story in three parts,” Jemisin told A Dribble of Ink of Fantasy and Science Fiction. “Each book has a different protagonist, and a different storyline which is resolved at the end, and even a slightly different style of narration. That said, Yeine will put in an appearance in all three books, as will most of the gods we meet in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. And there’s one important plot thread that will run through all three books…”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
N. K. Jemisin is the first author to have won three consecutive Best Novel Hugo Awards—for her Broken Earth trilogy. Her work has won the Nebula and Locus Awards, and she is a 2020 MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow. The first book in her Great Cities trilogy, The City We Became, is a New York Times bestseller. Her speculative works range from fantasy to science fiction to the undefinable; her themes include resistance to oppression, the inseverability of the liminal, and the coolness of Stuff Blowing Up. She’s been an instructor for Clarion and Clarion West writing workshops. Among other critical work, she was formerly the science fiction and fantasy book reviewer at the New York Times.
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#10 The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
This series—full title is The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel—refers to historical character of Nicholas Flamel (who Harry Potter fans have heard of). The greatest Alchemyst to ever live, the records show that Flamel died in 1418—but what if he’s actually been making the elixir of life for centuries? The secrets to eternal life are hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage, the most powerful book that has ever existed.
In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that’s exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. There is one hope. If the prophecy is true, Sophie and Josh Newman have the power to save everyone. Now they just have to learn to use it…
“I have always been interested in mythology and history," the author told Jean Book Nerd. “The more I read, the more I realized that there have always been people at the edges of history—like Dee and Dare, for example—that we know very little about. I wanted to use them in a story and bring them back into the public’s consciousness. Similarly with mythology: everyone knows some of the Greek or Roman legends, and maybe some of the Egyptian or Norse stories too, but what about the other great mythologies: the Celtic, Chinese, Native American? I wanted to tell some of their stories too. In total I did about ten years of research into the entire series, before I wrote a single word.”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
Michael Scott is an Irish writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. He is also a collector and editor of folklore.
#11 Sorcerer to the Crown series by Zen Cho
Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers in England, attempts to save the future of British magic in this whimsical and inventive regency fantasy series.
“I write funny books with serious bits, or possibly serious books disguised as light-hearted fare,” Cho told The Fantasy Hive. “My debut novels, Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen, are a Regency-set diptych—think Jane Austen only with PoC protagonists and magic. Sparky women, upright men, dragons with monocles and more! My release The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is a fantasy novella about bandits and nuns in a wuxia take on Emergency Malaya, featuring dumb jokes, dark pasts and lots of hijinks.”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
Zen Cho is the author of the Sorcerer to the Crown novels and a novella, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, as well as the short story collection Spirits Abroad. Her work has won the LA Times Book Prize (Ray Bradbury Prize), as well as the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards, and been shortlisted for the Locus and Astounding Awards. Born and raised in Malaysia, she now lives in the United Kingdom.
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#12 The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss
The fantasy trilogy Kingkiller Chronicle centers on Kvothe, a man who is an infamous adventurer and musician telling his life story to a scribe. Told in a “story-within-a-story” format, it is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.
The first novel, The Name of the Wind, won the Quill Award and was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. Its sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear, debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller chart and won the David Gemmell Legend Award.
“When I started writing [The Name of the Wind]," Rothfuss told the WIRED Book Club, “I was trying to not write the novel that I wrote in high school, which was a trainwreck of bad decisions. That novel was a lot of fantasy clichés mashed up in a very unappealing structure. So I wanted this story to be something a little new and a little different. But at the same time, I wanted it to be familiar and warm and exciting in nostalgic ways. That was a hard needle to thread.”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
Patrick Rothfuss’ novels have appeared on NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books list and Locus’ Best 21st Century Fantasy Novels list. Pat lives in Wisconsin, where he brews mead, builds box forts with his children, and runs Worldbuilders, a book-centered charity that has raised more than six million dollars for Heifer International.
#13 The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik
Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for. With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules—sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.
With flawless mastery, the author has created a school bursting with magic like you’ve never seen before, and a heroine for the ages—a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.
“It’s influenced by Harry Potter fandom,” the author told Polygon. “I’ve been a Harry Potter fan at various points of my life, I’ve written fanfic for Harry Potter. But for me, fandom is not a passive experience. The only things I care enough about to be a fan of are the things I want to pull apart, to see how it works. ‘What’s missing here? What is jangling with me?’”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
“I really enjoyed Novik’s writing style and it was so easy to get completely wrapped up in the story for hours at a time. My favorite thing about this series is the characters and I absolutely love El and Orion. El is such a grumpy, prickly character but she’s still determined to do what’s right.”—The Bibliophile Chronicles
In addition to the Scholomance series, Naomi Novik is the acclaimed author of the Temeraire series, and the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver. She is a founder of the Organization for Transformative Works and the Archive of Our Own.
Related: Naomi Novik: The Scholomance series + Q&A
#14 The Magicians series by Lev Grossman
Quentin Coldwater is a high school senior, but he’s still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read when he was little, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, everything in his real life just seems gray and colorless.
That changes when Quentin finds himself admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. But magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure and meaning he thought it would—until he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real.
The Magicians reinterprets the grand tradition of C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling in a novel for adults. The Magicians was a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback. It was adapted as a TV drama on Syfy.
As Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin remarked, “If you’re looking for a more mature follow-up to the Potter series. you should try out this one. The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. Grossman’s sensibilities are thoroughly adult, his narrative dark and dangerous and full of twists. Hogwarts was never like this.”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
“On first glance the reader may be forgiven for thinking that this is simply another novel about gifted youngsters attending a school of magic, albeit aimed at a more mature audience. They would be mistaken. The author has taken all that is held dear in the fantasy genre, reverently (most of the time) tipping the hat to Rowling, Tolkien, Lewis, Le Guin and others, and shown it from a completely different and unique angle.”—Fantasy Book Review
#15 All Souls series by Deborah Harkness
Harkness, a professor of history, drew upon her experiences for A Discovery of Witches, a historical fiction story that details the experiences of of a present-day witch who accidentally conjures up an ancient enchanted manuscript at a university library—attracting the notice of other witches, demons, and an ancient vampire. “My career in fiction began in September 2008,” the author shares on her website, “when I started to wonder if there really are witches and vampires, what do they do for a living? A Discovery of Witches was the unexpected answer to that question.” The novel led to a book series, which inspired a British TV series.
Want a Harry Potter follow-up with vampires and witches? People magazine called the All Souls series “a wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight.”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
“Harkness is clearly very knowledgeable and has done great research into the time periods and science in the books, and this shines through, the details adding depth and connection to the characters and the story, enriching the worldbuilding and building intrigue.”—Fiona Reads
#16 Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud
A series of paranormal fantasy thrillers, Lockwood & Co. follows three young operatives of a psychic detection agency as they fight ghosts in London. These thrillers pack all the mystery and emotion of the Harry Potter books, and a lot of the suspense and fun, too.
“If you enjoy a nice rush of adrenalin from fictions,” notes Booktrack, “vivid ghosts roaming around, strong characters, funny dialogue and an overall well-built fantasy world in your paranormal young-adult, this is one series you shouldn’t miss.”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
British fantasy author Jonathan Stroud, also known for the Bartimaeus YA series, generally writes books set in an alternate history London with satire and magic reflecting struggle. The Bartimaeus books have received the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards. Stroud’s fiction has also been featured on ALA Notable lists of books for children and young adults. Netflix is working on a TV series based on Lockwood & Co.
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#17 Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep
The Mythos Academy YA urban fantasy series focuses on Gwen Frost, who is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more. A 17-year-old girl with the gift of psychometry—or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it—Gwen’s magic lets her see everyone who has ever touched or used an object as well as feel their emotions—the good, the bad, and the ugly…
“Author Jennifer Estep writes one hell of a YA story! Happy to say I will be adding the Mythos Academy series to my TBR.”—I Smell Sheep
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. Jennifer is the author of the Galactic True Bond, Section 47, Elemental Assassin, Crown of Shards, Gargoyle Queen, Mythos Academy spinoff, Black Blade, and Bigtime fantasy series. She has written more than 40 books, along with numerous novellas and stories.
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#18 Shades of Magic by V. E. Schwab
The Shades of Magic series is the gaslamp fantasy phenomenon from #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab. Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.
“Full of magic, intrigue, adventure, deception, a bit of piracy…this will engage both adult and young adult fantasy readers alike.” —Booklist (on A Gathering of Shadows)
Schwab told the Washington Post that she tries to take the typical gender characteristics of strong men and emotional women and flip them. “I always say that my female characters are the Lannisters and the Slytherins, and my male characters are all Hufflepuff with just a touch of Gryffindor…”
Click here to read about all the books in the series.
Victoria “V.E.” Schwab is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books, including the acclaimed novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, the Shades of Magic series, Villains series, This Savage Song, and Our Dark Duet. Her work has received critical acclaim, been featured in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post and more, translated into more than a dozen languages, and has been optioned for television and film. When she’s not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and is usually tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
#19 The Great Library series by Rachel Caine
New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine (1962-2020) told The Eater of Books that this series is Harry Potter combined with The Book Thief. The author created a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time. Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service. When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn….
Paper Fury shared a lot of love for the series: “The whole series is set in an alternate reality (I think in the not-so-distant future) where the Alexandria Library WAS NEVER DESTROYED (!!!) but it is not also, unfortunately, evil. (!! Still excited about this don’t judge me !!) And it controls what people read and basically has kept the world stuck in an early 19th century vibe, because they’re scared of change and people having their own thoughts. Wow. It’s like this series knows what’s up.Anyway. Basically we have a lot of Harry Potter vibes going on with blank books that get magically written in from Obscurists in towers and automaton monsters that are “technically” mechanical but also SUPER MAGICAL and types of wizards and teleportation and SO MANY THINGS.”
Click here to read about all books in the series.
Rachel Caine was the NYT, USA Today, and #1 WSJ bestselling author of more than 50 books in several categories and genres, including adult thriller and adult urban fantasy/SF as well as books for younger readers aged 12-18. Caine lost her fight with a rare and aggressive cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, in November of 2020. With over 56 books in print and millions of copies sold, she was a frequent guest at conventions in the United States and around the world. In addition to the Great Library series, her popular book series also included the YA Morganville Vampires novels, and the #1 bestselling Stillhouse Lake novels in adult thrillers.
#20 Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix
Welcome to the word of the Old Kingdom—where only the Abhorsen can keep the living safe from the dead…
Nix’s series the Old Kingdom features a long line of necromancers tasked with making sure the dead stay dead. The books are set in Ancelstierre, modeled after World War I England—and, on the other side of the wall, a magical Old Kingdom where time and reality operate differently, whose existence is officially denied by the government of Ancelstierre. The main character of the first book is the teen daughter of the last Abhorsen, who has disappeared and whom she must rescue.
“I think for fantasy to work it needs to feel real—it needs to have a very solid foundation in reality,” the author told The Harvard Crimson. “Of course, one of the best ways to do this is to make the characters feel real. In terms of them being in a fantasy world, I do tend to write my stories following the main character. I often don’t know much about my fantasy world until I start writing and not very much about the character either. I typically start with how I imagine a person in a situation, sort of like a frame picked out of a film, where I don’t know anything that’s gone before or coming after, and then I explore fleshing out the story and then the world and inevitably what happens to that character.”
Click here to find out about all the books in the series.
Garth Nix has been a full-time writer since 2001, but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve.
Garth’s books include the Old Kingdom fantasy series: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel, Goldenhand and Terciel and Elinor; SF novels Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes; fantasy novels Angel Mage and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London; and a Regency romance with magic, Newt’s Emerald. His novels for children include The Ragwitch; the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence; The Keys to the Kingdom series and Frogkisser! His short fiction includes more than 60 published stories, some of them collected in Across the Wall and To Hold the Bridge.
He has co-written several books with Sean Williams, including the Troubletwisters series; Spirit Animals Book Three: Blood Ties; Have Sword, Will Travel; and Let Sleeping Dragons Lie.
More than six million copies of Garth’s books have been sold around the world, they have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller and others, and his work has been translated into 42 languages. He has won multiple Aurealis Awards, the Ditmar Award, the Mythopoeic Award, CBCA Honour Book, and has been shortlisted for the Locus Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award and others.
#21 Demigods Academy by Elisa S. Amore and Kiera Legend
Demigods Academy is a YA urban fantasy series for fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. On their eighteenth birthday, everyone in the world receives a Shadowbox—a magic box that is a gift like no other… because it comes from the Gods. For the majority of people, there’s only a birthday message inside their Shadowbox. For a few chosen, though, there’s something more. Nobody knows what those special guys receive. What’s known is that they disappear and never come back. Rumors say they are invited to join the Gods’ Army—but Melany Richmond thinks it’s just a load of crap.
Click here to read about all books in the series.
Elisa S. Amore, an Italian writer of YA fantasy, is author of the Touched series, a supernatural romance saga about Heaven and Hell. Originally published in Italian by Italian publisher Editrice Nord, Vanity Fair Italy called Amore “the undisputed queen of romantic fantasy.” She produced the audio version of the saga with Hollywood star Matt Lanter (Jupiter’s Legacy, 90210, Timeless, Star Wars) and Disney actress Emma Galvin, narrator of Twilight and Divergent.
Kiera Legend writes Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance stories that bite. She loves books, movies and TV shows. Her best friends are usually vampires, witches, werewolves and angels. She never hangs out without her little dragon. She especially likes writing kick-ass heroines and strong worldbuildings and is excited for all the books that are coming.
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