Universe

Books like Primal Powers: 9 series to read next

Primal Powers is fantasy, set in contemporary and secondary world. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Primal Powers is 12 books across 4 series, 2019–2023.

“Everyone spends their whole life certain magic is a bedtime story.”
from the catalogue description

The Primal Powers page →Narrow this list →

Earthsea
Grishaverse
Tolkien's legendarium
Stephen King multiverse
His Dark Materials
Tortall
Ixia & Sitia milieu
The Old Kingdom / Abhorsen milieu
Kyralia series

EarthseaUniverse

universe19 books1964

Epic fantasy, reflective in tone.

“There is a lesson every wizard of Earthsea learns young: to know a thing's true name is to hold its whole being, and to speak it is to move the balance of the world.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

GrishaverseUniverse

universe19 books2012

“Saints are canonized here the way soldiers are buried elsewhere — quietly, and too often.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Tolkien's legendariumUniverse

universe163 books1923

Fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Before the seas were bent and the mountains raised, there was Music — and from that Music came Arda, and in the west of Middle-earth the long defeat and stubborn hope of those who dwell there.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Stephen King multiverseUniverse

universe46 books1967

Dark in tone.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Gunslinger →

His Dark MaterialsUniverse

universe13 books1995

Set in parallel universe.

“In a world like ours and unlike it, every human soul walks outside the body in the shape of an animal — a daemon, who speaks, who cannot be lied to, and who settles into one fixed form only when childhood ends.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

TortallUniverse

universe25 books1983

“In Tortall she does it anyway — and earns the right the hard way, through bruises, cold mornings in the training yard, and the slow winning-over of people who swore she'd fail.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Ixia & Sitia milieuSeries

seriesMaria V. Snyder12 books2005

Fantasy, adventurous in tone, set in secondary world.

Reading order →

The Old Kingdom / Abhorsen milieuSeries

seriesGarth Nix11 books1995

Start with An Essay on Free Magic: (A manuscript fragment from the Great Library of the Clayr) →

Kyralia seriesUniverse

universe8 books2001

Epic fantasy, about political intrigue.

“Once a year the magicians of Kyralia sweep the beggars out of the capital, and once a year the beggars throw stones.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Primal Powers?: Earthsea — the closest match to Primal Powers on what it is about, not on what sells.
How big is Primal Powers?: Primal Powers is 12 books across 4 series, 2019–2023.

Books like Primal Powers: 9 series to read next

Read next in Primal Powers

Why these

Questions readers ask

Other series like this one