What to Read After Harry Potter
The books below are organised by age and what made Harry Potter special to you — the school setting, the found family, the magic system, or simply the feeling of being completely inside another world.
For Younger Readers (8–12)
Ages 8–12Percy Jackson and the Olympians — Rick Riordan
A 12-year-old discovers he's the son of a Greek god. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover go on quests pulled from Greek mythology. Riordan's humour and pacing are very close to early Harry Potter — funny, fast, and genuinely warm. The most recommended HP follow-up for the same age group. 5 books complete; followed by 4 more series in the same universe.
View on Amazon →The Chronicles of Narnia — C.S. Lewis
Four children step through a wardrobe into a magical world ruled by a White Witch. Lewis's world-building and the moral seriousness underneath the adventure make it the closest in spirit to the later Harry Potter books. Read in publication order — start with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
View on Amazon →The Ranger's Apprentice — John Flanagan
Will is chosen as apprentice to a mysterious ranger who protects the kingdom. The mentor-apprentice relationship and the sense of a young person discovering hidden depths in themselves maps closely onto Harry and Dumbledore. More action-adventure than magic, but the emotional beats are similar.
View on Amazon →For Teens
Ages 13–17His Dark Materials — Philip Pullman
Lyra Belacqua lives in an Oxford where everyone has a visible animal soul companion — and discovers a cosmic conspiracy. Pullman matches Rowling's world-building depth and surpasses it in ambition. The series gets darker and more philosophically complex with each book. The HBO adaptation is excellent.
View on Amazon →Eragon — Christopher Paolini
A farm boy finds a dragon egg — and is pulled into a war that will determine the fate of the empire. Written by a 15-year-old and famously uneven as a result, but the sense of wonder and the dragon-bonding have made it beloved by teenagers for two decades. 4-book series complete.
View on Amazon →A Wizard of Earthsea — Ursula K. Le Guin
A young boy with great power attends a school of magic — the template Rowling built on. Much shorter (180 pages) and more austere than HP, but the spell-logic and the moral weight of magic are more carefully thought through. The series that taught Rowling how a magic school could work.
View on Amazon →Sabriel — Garth Nix
A girl at a boarding school on the normal side of a wall must cross into a magical kingdom to find her father — an Abhorsen, a necromancer who puts the dead back to rest. Nix's bell-magic system is one of the most original in fantasy. Atmospheric, darker than HP, and with a female lead.
View on Amazon →For Adult Harry Potter Readers
Adult ReadersIf you grew up on HP and want something similar but grown-up: The magic-school setting, the chosen-one structure, and the sense of a hidden world behind the mundane one are all present in the books below — but the stakes and the prose are adult.
The Magicians — Lev Grossman
What if Hogwarts was a real American university and magic was real — but didn't make anything easier or better? Quentin Coldwater gets into Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy and discovers that the fantasy world he's dreamed about since childhood (Narnia + HP combined) actually exists. Darker, funnier, and more honest about depression than either of its inspirations.
View on Amazon →Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell — Susanna Clarke
Two magicians attempt to restore English magic during the Napoleonic era — written in the style of a Victorian novel with footnotes quoting magical histories that don't exist. Slow (150 pages before it really starts), but if you loved the texture of the wizarding world in HP, Clarke's world is even more fully realised.
View on Amazon →The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) — Brandon Sanderson
A heist in a world where ash falls from the sky and a small group of rebels tries to overthrow an immortal ruler. Sanderson's magic systems are the most rigorously designed in modern fantasy — readers who loved figuring out HP spell rules will love understanding Allomancy. Self-contained Book 1, complete trilogy.
View on Amazon →The Name of the Wind — Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe — the most legendary figure in the world — tells his own story at a university where magic is studied as a science. The school sections feel closest to Hogwarts in spirit: a young prodigy discovering what he's capable of, rivals, a great library. Note: the trilogy is unfinished; Book 3 has no release date.
View on Amazon →Piranesi — Susanna Clarke
A man lives alone in a House of infinite halls and tidal statues. Clarke's second novel distils the Harry Potter feeling — a hidden world that runs on different rules — into something stranger and more purely magical. 272 pages. Read it in one sitting.
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