Hey everyone, I’m trying to get my wife to keep reading. She got hooked on stormlight archive and the cosmere with me and now there’s no books left and she’s ready to tap out.
For what I know she likes, she’s into fantasy where the main character didn’t quite know they were special. She loves the Harry Potter movies, and that’s kind of the direction I’m thinking.
Any suggestions in the fantasy realm that might fit this bill?
by uganyy
21 Comments
Jim Butcher Codex Alera series,
If she’s okay with children’s books, *The Dark is Rising* sequence?
Dungeon Crawler Carl
The Bloodsworn Saga. There’s a couple main characters but at least one of them doesn’t/didn’t know they’re special. At least so far where I’m at. I’m on the second of the trilogy and loving it so far. It could be up her alley.
Lyra in His Dark Materials. Such a good series.
Okay the giver quartet by Lois Lowry, I promise the other three books are even better than the Giver.
I also really enjoy the Wrinkle in Time quartet by Madeline L’Engel
The Scholomance Trilogy by Naomi Novik.
Very similar to Harry Potter in that it’s set in a school environment for the first 2 books, but – the main character certainly knows she special but doesn’t truly understand why or the sheer impact of it until book 3.
Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko is like a dark Harry Potter, kinda. It was weird, and I was sure my book club was going to kill me, but everyone ended up liking it.
There’s a Cozy mystery series by Ellery Adams called The Charmed Pie Shop Mysteries where the lore of the world is that you can’t talk about magic with those who are not awakened to magic. The main character has a late awakening. It’s fun. Just don’t tell her what’s coming because the existence of magic isn’t even confirmed until the end of the first book but the second book is a full blown magical mystery.
I’m going to suggest Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer Series.
The first book (of seven) is [The Black Prism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Prism) where you’re introduced to Kip. Kip doesn’t know that he’s special in some way.
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater.
The Magician’s Guild. Magical fantasy. I enjoyed it.
I would recommend Uprooted by Naomi Novik! I also loved Stormlight Archives and Harry Potter, and I just picked this one up at the Library and really enjoyed it. The main character feels incredibly down to earth and believable throughout, it has a simple but wonderful magic system and a lovely fairytale feel. It’s a standalone book, but she has a series as well if her writing style clicks well.
I would also recommend Tress of the Emerald Sea if she likes Sanderson! Tress is a very “ordinary” person who goes on a big journey. It’s a simple and lightweight but delightful story and I breezed through it!
The Belgariad series by David Eddings
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Earthsea series by Ursula K LeGuin
The Magicians series by Lev Grossman
Dune somewhat has this vibe
How would she like tearing apart a series that’s laughably bad?
1. The wheel of time – Robert Jordan (14 books!)
2. Dune Series – Frank Herbert (6 books!) (only the first two are v good IMHO)
3. The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch (3 books?) (he’s promised a fourth one for ages and has broken lots of hearts without one!) (it’s VVVV GOOD!)
Faithful and the Fallen!! I ripped through this series in less than a month (it takes a bit to keep track of the characters in the beginning tho)
Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones. Quite different from the Ghibli movie version, but Sophie is still the same, only it’s mentioned a lot more in the book that she’s always thought she was normal and dull, completely unaware of her abilities
It’s YA, but so is harry potter. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray- girl goes to a small boarding school for girls after her mom dies and realizes she has certain magical abilities.
You say she loves the harry potter movies, but has she read the books? If she hasn’t yet, do that!
The Light Pirate!