What to Read After Harry Potter

Harry Potter is for millions of readers the series that made them readers. Finding what comes after — something with the same sense of wonder, the same world-building, the same satisfaction of a well-constructed series arc — is one of reading’s great quests. Here’s where to go, depending on your age and what you loved most.

For Younger Readers (8–12)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians — Rick Riordan

The most natural successor for younger Potter readers. Percy Jackson has the same core structure — a child discovers they belong to a hidden world, attends a school for people like them (Camp Half-Blood), makes lifelong friends, and faces progressively darker threats. The mythology is Greek rather than magical; the humour is very similar to Rowling’s early books.

Rick Riordan’s world extends to Egyptian, Norse, and Roman mythology series too — years of reading after the original five.

The Chronicles of Narnia — C.S. Lewis

Older than Harry Potter but timeless. Seven books in the land of Narnia; Christian allegory that operates independently of its allegorical intent. Aslan is one of literature’s great characters.

For Teen Readers

His Dark Materials — Philip Pullman

The most intellectually serious fantasy series for teen readers. Pullman’s trilogy — Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass — is set in parallel worlds with daemons (physical manifestations of the soul). Darker than Potter and theologically provocative.

Eragon / The Inheritance Cycle — Christopher Paolini

A farm boy finds a dragon egg. Written by Paolini when he was 15; derivative of Tolkien and McCaffrey but with genuine charm. Four books; a fifth (Murtagh) published in 2023.

For Adult Readers

The Name of the Wind — Patrick Rothfuss

Often called the adult Harry Potter for the school scenes: Kvothe attends a university of magic, scrapes for tuition, and becomes a legend. The prose is extraordinary. Two books published; the third has been in progress for over a decade.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell — Susanna Clarke

Magic in Regency England; two magicians who disagree about how magic should work. The single most Harry-Potter-adjacent adult novel in terms of its world — British, ironic, deeply concerned with the history and rules of magic.

The Magicians — Lev Grossman

Quentin Coldwater discovers a school for magicians. Explicitly a meditation on what it means to grow up loving fantasy — Narnia and Hogwarts are both present as influences the characters have read. Darker and more cynical than Potter.

The Stormlight Archive — Brandon Sanderson

For readers who want the longest possible commitment to a fantasy world. Sanderson’s Roshar is the most comprehensively built secondary world in current fantasy. The magic system, the world history, the cultural depth — all of it rewards the substantial reading investment.

The Honest Answer

No series fully replaces Harry Potter because what makes Potter irreplaceable isn’t the magic — it’s the specific experience of growing up with the characters. The closest experiences:

• Percy Jackson — for the community of peers in a hidden world
• His Dark Materials — for the scope and the willingness to engage with big ideas
• The Name of the Wind — for the prose quality and the school-of-magic setting
• The Magicians — for adult readers who want to interrogate what Potter meant to them