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- Narnia
series26 books1950
part of Narnia Universe
similar byfantasysecondary world+1 more
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts, and talking animals. It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Except in The Horse and His Boy, the protagonists are all children from the real world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are sometimes called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician's Nephew to its eventual destruction in The Last Battle.
- Lewis Barnavelt
series12 books1973
similar byfantasycontemporarymiddle gradeeerie+2 more
Lewis Barnavelt is a lonely orphan who moves in with his uncle Jonathan, an amateur wizard, in a rambling old house that turns out to hide a doomsday clock built into its walls by a previous, malevolent owner. John Bellairs introduced the character in The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973), illustrated by Edward Gorey, and after Bellairs's death Brad Strickland continued the series from his notes and outlines for most of its later volumes. It blends gothic horror atmosphere with a gentler, more whimsical strain of children's fantasy.
- His Dark Materials Universe
universe13 books1995
Start hereHis Dark Materials · Start here
similar byfantasyyoung adult+2 more
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. This is the country of His Dark Materials: a company of parallel worlds across which an invisible dust of consciousness drifts down upon the waking mind; where a Church that calls itself the Magisterium would sooner sever a child's soul than let that Dust be understood; and where a golden instrument, the alethiometer, answers true questions for anyone with the patience to read it. Philip Pullman's design stands in two trilogies and a scatter of shorter tales. His Dark Materials — Northern Lights (published in America as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass — carries Lyra Belacqua from the rooftops of a shadow Oxford across the borders between worlds. The Book of Dust returns to that same territory: La Belle Sauvage looks back to Lyra as an infant carried through a great flood, while The Secret Commonwealth follows her grown and less certain into adulthood, with a concluding volume closing the arc. Around them sit slim companion books — Lyra's Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North, Serpentine — and Nicholas Wright's stage adaptation, made with Pullman's blessing. The register is grave and luminous at once, its title lifted from Milton and its quarrel drawn from Blake: a story that takes the side of curiosity, love, and the physical world against any authority that would forbid them. It reads as adventure — armoured bears, aeronauts, knife-cut windows between skies — yet reasons like philosophy. Begin with Northern Lights / The Golden Compass and read the first trilogy through before turning to The Book of Dust, which deepens everything the first has already made you feel.
- Charlie Bone Universe
series14 books2002
similar byfantasymagic schoolscontemporarymiddle grade+1 more
- Magisterium
series5 books2014
similar byfantasymagic schoolssecondary worldmiddle grade+2 more
The Magisterium Series is a five-book children's fantasy series written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. It is their first collaboration. The series was acquired by Scholastic in April 2012. The first book, The Iron Trial, was published on September 9, 2014, and hit third on the New York Times Middle Grade Bestseller List. The series is set in an underground school where mages train apprentices to control the elements. The books are illustrated by Scott Fischer. The final book, The Golden Tower, was published on September 11, 2018.
- The Dark Is Rising
series5 books1965
similar byfantasycontemporary+4 more
The Dark Is Rising Sequence is a series of five contemporary fantasy novels for older children and young adults that were written by the British author Susan Cooper and published from 1965 to 1977. The first book in the series, Over Sea, Under Stone, was originally conceived as a stand-alone novel, and the sequence gets its name from the second novel in the series, The Dark Is Rising. The Dark Is Rising Sequence is used as an overarching title in several omnibus, boxed-set, and coordinated editions; but the title of The Dark Is Rising is also used for the whole series.
- Once Upon a Broken Heart
series4 books2021
similar byfantasycursessecondary worldyoung adult+1 more
Stephanie Garber's romantasy series opens with Evangeline Fox striking a desperate bargain with the immortal Prince of Hearts, three kisses in exchange for his help stopping her true love's wedding to another woman, only to learn that bargaining with an immortal always costs more than expected. Once Upon a Broken Heart and its sequels follow the fallout of that bargain across a fairy-tale-inflected world of curses and dangerous magic.
- Howl's Castle
series3 books1986
completed
similar byfantasysecondary world+3 more
Howl's Moving Castle (1986) follows Sophie Hatter, cursed by the Witch of the Waste into an old woman's body, who takes refuge in the wandering castle of the wizard Howl and strikes an uneasy bargain with his fire demon Calcifer while trying to break the spell. Diana Wynne Jones returned to the same magical kingdom in Castle in the Air (1990), following a new lead character, Abdullah, with Sophie and Howl appearing in supporting roles, and again in House of Many Ways (2008).
- Mythago Wood
series7 books1984
completed
similar byfantasycontemporaryeerie+1 more
Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood is set around Ryhope Wood, a small patch of ancient British woodland that is somehow far larger on the inside, generating 'mythagos' -- physical embodiments of myth and legend drawn from visitors' own collective unconscious. The first novel follows Stephen Huxley investigating his family's obsession with the wood after his father's death; Holdstock continued the cycle across further novels and stories exploring different characters and eras. It blends fantasy with psychology and British folklore rather than a conventional quest structure.
- World of the Five Gods
series23 books2001
similar byfantasysecondary world
World of the Five Gods is a fantasy series by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold. It was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2018. It consists of four novels and eleven novellas, with six of the novellas included in the award. Three novels and two of the novellas were nominees for or winners of major awards.
- The Tapestry
series4 books2007
similar byfantasymagic schoolsmiddle grade+5 more
The Hound of Rowan opens Henry H. Neff's Tapestry series with Max McDaniels, a twelve-year-old who discovers a strange Celtic tapestry in a museum's secret room and finds a letter afterward directing him to Rowan Academy, a hidden school for gifted children like him. The series follows Max's education and the wider magical conflicts Rowan is drawn into across The Second Siege, The Fiend and the Forge, and The Maelstrom. Neff both wrote and illustrated the series.
