Books Like Harry Potter
Finished Hogwarts and need more magic in your life? Jim's picked the best fantasy adventures with the same coming-of-age charm, magical world-building, and chosen-one energy that made Harry Potter unforgettable.
Jim's Picks
Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
Children of Blood and Bone
by Tomi Adeyemi
An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir
The Color of Magic
by Terry Pratchett
Why Each Pick
- Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- The closest match in age and spirit: a twelve-year-old learns he belongs to a hidden magical world, a summer camp stands in for Hogwarts, and a trio of friends sets out on a quest. Riordan swaps wizards for Greek gods and narrates in Percy's wisecracking first person, so it is funnier and faster. Suitable for the same middle-grade readers.
- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
- For adults who loved the Hogwarts years: a gifted orphan enrolls at a university of magic, where tuition, rivals and hostile teachers matter as much as spells. Kvothe tells his own story, which makes it slower and more lyrical than Rowling, at 662 pages. Written for adults, with violence and darker themes; best for older teens and up.
- A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
- One of the earliest wizard-school stories, nearly three decades older than Harry Potter: a talented boy is sent to a school for wizards, where pride leads him to unleash something dark that he must then face. Le Guin's tone is quiet and mythic, with none of Hogwarts' humor or house rivalries, and at 183 pages it is the shortest pick. Fine for confident younger readers.
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Shares Harry Potter's cozy beginning that opens onto a dangerous wider world, plus a wise wizard guiding the hero. But Bilbo is a comfortable, middle-aged homebody rather than a chosen child, and there is no school: it is a straight quest story with dwarves, riddles and a dragon. Written for children, with a narrator who speaks directly to the reader.
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
- Trades a school for a criminal underworld but keeps the found family of Harry Potter's later books: loyal friends taking on a scheme far too big for them. The six-person crew and heist plot make it more intricate and morally gray than Rowling. For older teens: it includes violence, trauma and references to sexual exploitation.
- Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
- Shares Harry Potter's core conflict: a young hero whose family was shattered by a ruthless enemy, fighting for people persecuted because of their magic. Adeyemi's world draws on West African mythology, and the story alternates between several narrators. It is darker and more violent, with brutal on-page scenes, so it suits older teens rather than younger Potter fans.
- An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
- Blackcliff Military Academy is the dark mirror of Hogwarts: a school where students are trained, through cruelty, to serve an oppressive empire. Two narrators, a rebel spy and a soldier who wants out, create the same student-versus-institution tension in a much harsher key. For older teens: it contains torture, violence and threats of sexual assault.
- The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
- For readers who loved Rowling's humor more than her peril. Rincewind is a hopeless wizard from Unseen University, and the Discworld pokes fun at fantasy conventions that Harry Potter plays straight. It is episodic, satirical and written for adults, though gentle enough for teens. It opens a series of more than forty novels with many entry points.
What to Read After Harry Potter
If the magic school was the draw, with its classes, rivalries and a building full of secrets, The Name of the Wind and A Wizard of Earthsea are the strongest matches, one sprawling and adult, the other short and mythic. For a grim, military take on the school story, there's Blackcliff in An Ember in the Ashes. If it was the humor and the friendships, Percy Jackson is the obvious next step, and The Color of Magic suits readers who most enjoyed Rowling's comic side and want something sillier.
If what you loved was a young hero against a powerful dark enemy, Children of Blood and Bone and Percy Jackson both pit a young hero against forces far bigger than them. If it was the found family and the sense of a loyal group facing impossible odds, Six of Crows delivers that with a heist plot and a sharper edge. And for anyone who wants the classic that much modern fantasy grew from, The Hobbit is a short, warm adventure that sits comfortably alongside the early Harry Potter books.
For Younger Readers vs Older Teens
Harry Potter grows up with its readers, and these picks span the same range. For middle-grade readers, roughly Harry's age in the first book, Percy Jackson and The Hobbit are the safest choices: exciting and sometimes scary, but never graphic. A Wizard of Earthsea is mild in content but serious in style, so it suits strong younger readers. The Color of Magic contains little to worry a parent, though much of its satire lands better with readers who know the fantasy it is spoofing.
Four picks belong on an older reader's shelf. Six of Crows, Children of Blood and Bone and An Ember in the Ashes are young adult novels, but they include on-page violence, torture or abuse well beyond anything in the early Harry Potter books, and An Ember in the Ashes also includes threats of sexual violence. The Name of the Wind is an adult novel, slower and longer at 662 pages, and a better fit for readers who were drawn to the later, darker Potter books. Check content notes before passing any of these to a younger reader.