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City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
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City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
Speaking of fanfiction, Cassandra Clare was a big-name Harry Potter fic writer before publishing the Mortal Instruments series and other books in the Shadowhunters universe. You may even be able to figure out who Clare’s favorite Potter ‘ships were by reading her work.
The Magicians trilogy is for former Harry Potter kids who have grown up and are ready for something a little more mature. Quentin Coldwater, the outsider accepted into Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy at the start of the series, is not a child. (In the SyFy adaptation, Brakebills is more of a grad school.) The characters are messy and dark in ways that would make even Sirius Black clutch his proverbial pearls.
If what you’re looking for is a Harry Potter alternative for a younger reader, this might do the trick. And if you want to read it yourself, by all means go for it! I’m a big advocate for YA as self-care and relaxation. There are a lot of similarities between Mildred Hubble’s tenure at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches and Harry’s time at Hogwarts. They both have snooty, rich kid rivals! They both hate their Potions teacher! But Mildred doesn’t have the weight of the magical world on her shoulders. She’s just trying to get better at the whole being a witch thing and it is NOT going well.
Bookstores positioned the A Series of Unfortunate Events novels as the “next Harry Potter” even though they were released more or less simultaneously. But they weren’t wrong in that the literary adventures of the Baudelaire orphans appealed to the same kind of readers. They’re dark, clever, and by the end of them you feel like you’ve lived a lifetime with these characters.
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Disney Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan
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Disney Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan
Later on in the ’00s, this series seemed poised to become the “next Harry Potter.” There’s a Disney+ adaptation coming out later this year, so now is the perfect chance to catch up. It’s about a troubled, very special boy hero (check) who goes to boarding school (check) and discovers a supernatural world hiding in plain sight (check). But instead of witches and wizards, his world is full of gods and goddesses. This one is for the Greek mythology fans.
Why am I including a graphic novel about the budding romance between two ordinary British boys in this list? Call me a basic Anglophile, but reading Alice Oseman’s sugar sweet story reminds me a lot of the lighter moments shared between Hogwarts students. Maybe I just think all school uniforms look the same. You can make fun of me if you want. Plus, Heartstopper normalizes trans joy and a whole host of sexual identities in a truly lovely way, and it’s nice to see that in a world that at least resembles Harry Potter when you squint.
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Blood Like Magic, by Liselle Sambury
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Blood Like Magic, by Liselle Sambury
Voya Thomas is a teenage witch in the future. That is, she will be once she completes a quest she doesn’t actually want to do or think she can. (The quest is to kill your first love, and how can you do that when you’ve never been in love?) Refusing the call puts her whole family’s magical ability at risk. Now she’s duty-bound to save their legacy. All she has to do is fall in love and commit a simple murder. Easy, right?
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Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
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Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
This take on 19th-century literature has a magical twist. The Learned Society of York Magicians don’t do magic. They study it. They’re so academic that when a practical magician comes along the Society is shocked, shaken, and then disbanded by a spell. That magician is Mr. Norrell. Jonathan Strange comes along later, and becomes his student. The two shake up England and discover many supernatural happenings along the way.
Alina Starkov, a young orphan, doesn’t want to go to magic school. She wants to stay in the orphanage with her friend Mal. Even though she doesn’t know she has magical abilities, she’s not willing to risk it and flubs the test on purpose. But when she grows up and joins the army, all it takes is one stressful incident for her magic to emerge. She’s whisked off to the Little Palace to train with other magic-users called Grisha. Her world, and theirs, changes forever.
YA literature took a hard turn from fantasy into post-apocalyptic when The Hunger Games became the big post-Harry Potter and Twilight obsession for millennial readers. But Divergent brought back one element from Harry Potter that had us in a chokehold: fictional personality test as plot point. This is like a whole series about a sorting ceremony and how defining people and communities by one trait can cause problems.
One of my favorite tropes in fantasy is a setting, like a kingdom, that has outlawed magic. That’s the case in Elizabeth Lim’s novel. Princess Shiori has been hiding her magic… until her engagement to a man she’s not chomping at the bit to marry. Her magical outburst sets off a chain reaction that sets her on a path towards saving the kingdom, learning how to use her suppressed powers, and maybe bonding with the aforementioned fiancé.
In this fantasy series, magic is called “grace” and magical folk are called “gracelings” who work for the king. The protagonist is a graceling girl named Katsa who works as a royal assassin. During a mission, she crosses paths with a graceling prince nicknamed Po. The two set off on an adventure to uncover the truth behind a potential conspiracy.
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Gregory Maguire Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire
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Gregory Maguire Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire
The world-building in Gregory Maguire’s Oz is so detailed it will leave you stunned. Not everything is explained in kid-friendly terms the way it is in the Harry Potter books. You need to quickly decide whether you’re going to put in the work or just vibe. Both are valid options! Besides that, this is yet another book about special students at a special school where magic is an available course. It’s not just an origin story for Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West.
This novel takes the real-life history of the Dahomey Amazons (an all-female army that’s the subject of The Woman King and inspired the Dora Milaje in the Black Panther films and comics) and adds a magical twist. It might also remind you of The Hunger Games and Divergent a little bit. And yes, it’s a series!
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The Paper Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg
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The Paper Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg
This story takes place after its protagonist, Ceony Twill, has already graduated from a magical school. Despite her academic success, she gets placed in the field of paper magic and sent to a cottage to start her apprenticeship. Despite her initial disappointment (she wanted to work with metal magic) she gets really into the origami-like enchantments. And of course, there’s mystery and danger lurking around the corner. Why can’t we ever just let the magical students do their homework in peace?
Unlike Harry Potter, Sir Robin Blyth, the protagonist of Freya Marske’s Edwardian-era set novel, did not come from humble beginnings. He may not be high up in the aristocracy, but he is granted a position by parliament. That’s nothing to scoff at! But after discovering that his job is the liaison to the hidden magical world, he does find a way to scoff–mostly at Edwin Courcey, the magical world’s liaison to his world. Surely these ENEMIES won’t become anything else TO each other… right??
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Deborah Harkness A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
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Deborah Harkness A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
This title may have caught your eye recently due to the television adaptation on Sky in the UK and AMC+ in the US. The book trilogy is about the romance between a witch and a vampire. So if you’re the type of person who dove into the Twilight books the second the last Harry Potter book was back on your shelf, this could be the one for you. There’s also enough about the occult and history in these novels to tickle your inner academic.
Two quests intertwine in this fantasy trilogy. Finn is a shapeshifter. Alfie is a prince. Both of them have complicated relationships to magic and accidentally set loose an evil force that they then must defeat. Why settle for a single Chosen One when you can have two? And if the magical adventure of it all wasn’t enough to tempt you, there’s theft, friendship, and palace intrigue galore.
Leah Marilla Thomas is an entertainment writer, UNC alum, and former Hasbro Toy Tester (yes, that’s a real thing) who loves The Good Place and Love Island equally. In her alleged spare time, she’s probably either at the theater, in a park, or watching basketball.
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