11 Of The Best Books To Read If You Love Harry Potter

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“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

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There’s just something uniquely comforting about Harry Potter. Whether you grew up waiting for your Hogwarts letter, spent your teenage years devouring the books, or discovered the series later in life, it’s easy to understand why so many readers struggle to find something that captures quite the same magic. Fortunately, there are plenty of books to read if you loved Harry Potter. From magical boarding schools and secret societies to unforgettable friendships, sprawling fantasy worlds and young characters discovering that they’re capable of more than they realised, there are plenty of stories out there that scratch that Hogwarts-shaped itch. Naturally, no book can truly replace Harry Potter. But the books on this list each offer something that fans of the series may love – whether that’s the magic, the adventure, the humour, the characters, or just the feeling of getting lost in another world.

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The Magicians (The Magicians #1) – Lev Grossman

Kicking off our list of books like Harry Potter is Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough education in the craft of modern sorcery. 

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be far darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart. 

Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson And The Olympians #1) – Rick Riordan

Look,  I didn’t want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporised my maths teacher. Now I spend my time battling monsters and generally trying to stay alive. This is the one Zeus, god of the sky, thinks I’ve stolen his lightning bolt – and making Zeus angry is a very, very bad idea.  

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Nevermoor: The Trials Of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) – Jessica Townsend

Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she’s blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks – and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday. But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoked hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor.  

It’s then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city’s most prestigious organisation: the Wundrous Society. To join, she must compete in four dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each of them boasting an extraordinary talent. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests – or she’ll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate. 

The School For Good And Evil (The School For Good And Evil #1) – Soman Chainani

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to learn where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate as a storybook princess. Meanwhile, Agatha,  with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School of Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed – Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are? 

A Deadly Education (The Scholomance #1) – Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik’s acclaimed A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) – until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! 

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic may also kill all the other students. 

The Worst Witch (The Worst Witch #1) – Jill Murphy

Mildred Hubble is the worst witch at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches – she’s always getting her spells wrong. But she manages to get by until she turns Ethel, the teacher’s pet, into her very own deadly enemy in this middle-grade fantasy read, perfect if you loved Harry Potter. 

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) – Maggie Stiefvater

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them – not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore. 

The House In The Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #1) – T.J. Klune

Linus Baker leads a steady, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is summoned by Extremely Upper Management, he’s given the task of visiting Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether they’re likely to bring about the end of days. 

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. 

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The Once And Future Witches – Alix E. Harrow

In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters – James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrie Belladonna – join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote – and perhaps not even to live – the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. 

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The Girl Who Drank The Moon – Kelly Barnhill

Every year, the people of the protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorising their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise swamp monster and a perfectly tiny dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. 

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling an ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. But as Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge, with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the procterate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Strange & Norrell #1) – Susanna Clarke

The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation’s past. But scholars of this glorious history discover one who remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice, Jonathan Strange. 

Young, handsome, and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men, which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.