[Top Ten Tuesday] Books for Harry Potter Fans

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish. A prompt is given each week, and I hope to do it every week so I always have something going up on Tuesdays. We are back from hiatus! Which feels great. This week prompt we are to give book recommendations for a group of people or fans of a specific genre or book series. I chose Harry Potter because I understand the major book hangover Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows holds over you, and I feel like these books may help you get back into reading after reading such an amazing series.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

This book series is amazing so far. There are two currently (and one novella) and I am just impatiently waiting for book three. First, Rothfuss's writing is so warm and welcoming. It reminds me a lot of J.K. Rowling's in the sense that it feels familiar and like home. This book is about Kvothe, a notorious wizard and almost myth, who poses as a bartender with a different name. A writer comes into his pub asking for his story. Kvothe tells the story of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king. Like most of these books on this list, I highly, highly recommend this book if you loved Harry Potter.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins 

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father - an elusive European warlock - only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters. I loved this trilogy, it's a lot of fun and definitely gives you a lighter fantasy wizard school story. It kind of reminds me of a fantasy version of the movie Wild Child with Emma Roberts. I highly recommend both that movie and this series.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket 

This story is less witch/wizard/fantasy and more about young kids being put into tough situations. Like Harry Potter, this series starts off okay for children and as you keep reading it gets deeper and darker. I think I see this series as a great one to read after reading Harry Potter because most of the generation that grew up with Harry also grew up with Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. This series is about three siblings who are orphaned and sent to live with their uncle, a man they've never heard about in their lives and who makes it blatantly obvious he's only interested in them for their family's fortune.







 

 Alanna: The First Adventure 

Okay, I am cheating with this one. Technically I have only read two out of the four books. I do plan on reading the rest of the series, I just keep getting distracted by other books. However, I love what I have read so far. This quartet is about a young girl named Alanna who wants to become a knight, her twin brother Thom doesn't want to be a knight but instead wants to learn magic. So they decide to switch places and Alanna, while pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page. This book is one I always want to recommend for kids. It teaches girls that you can be strong and want adventure.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 

There are so many spin offs to this series, but this is the only one I've read so far. I think it's such a great series to pick up when you're in the mood for another young boy growing up and becoming the hero everyone knows he can become. Percy is such a fun character to read. Percy finds out that he is the son of Poseidon, and his mother (a human) sends him to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods. Mystery unfolds and together with his friends - one a satyr and the other a demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underwood and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman 

This series is a great one. It's another where I still need to finish the last in the series, but I am so happy I started reading it this year. It's got one of the best child characters I've ever read about, Lyra Belacqua. Children are disappearing - victims of the so called "Gobblers" - and Lyra needs to rescue her friend that has disappeared. In doing so mystery unfolds and Lyra becomes aware of this whole other world. The writing in this series is beautiful, and the story just takes hold of you. I cannot recommend it enough.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 

If you are someone that has stayed up late for a midnight release of a Harry Potter book (or really any book), or a movie, this book is for you. If you've written fanfiction for your favorite stories, created fan art, find yourself re-reading those stories over and over again, this book is for you. It's about a girl named Cath who suffers from an anxiety disorder. She is a internet famous fanfiction writer for a series called Simon Snow (kind of their Harry Potter) and she is dealing with a culture change from her safe routine living at home to now living on a college campus. I highly recommend this book.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

This is a combination of the fanfiction Cath writes in Fangirl with the "real" story that Cath is in love with in the Simon Snow series with Rainbow Rowell''s additions. I bought this book really unsure if I'd even like it, and I ended up really loving it. The magic system is so cool/unique, the wizarding world is really fun, and the characters are great. It's a love letter to Harry Potter and to the readers who love Harry Potter. I highly recommend it. Plus the LGBTQ+ elements of this series is so well done, and something that a lot of people who like non-cannon ships will enjoy.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab 

This book is about the complexity of good and evil. It is about Victor and Eli who started out as college roommates - brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals a intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from academic to experimental things go horribly wrong. The characters are so well done and the plot has you unsure what is happening in the best ways. I think a lot of the darker elements in the last few Harry Potter books reminds me a lot of the dark elements in Vicious, so if that's something you're interested in I highly recommend this being the book you pick up.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

If you know me, you know I had to throw in a graphic novel or comic book, and Nimona immediately came to mind. This book is great for Harry Potter fans because it (like many books on this list) deal with good and evil and the idea that it isn't as black and white as some may assume. It also has a lot of great humor and adventure. Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreck some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosis Goldeloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

 Thanks for reading!