My wife has been struggling to find a good book to get into. Last year, she read the whole Harry Potter series and loved it. She has read lots of other books since this, some of which I will list below so y'all can get a sense of her tastes:
- Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson
- The Cronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- Inkheart by Cornilia Funke
- The Wicked Will Rise/Yellow Brick War/The End of Oz by Danielle Page
- And several books by Melanie Dickerson (Christian Historical Fiction/Romance)
As y'all can probably tell, she is mostly into YA fiction. The only thing she definitely wont read is anything spicy. Her big worry is that she won't be able to find something that she enjoyed as much as the enjoyed Harry Potter. Can y'all help her out with some reccomendations?
by IFightForTheUsers1
18 Comments
Try Redwall by Brian Jacques. It’s a series and appeals to all ages.
She might also enjoy the original Oz series by L Frank Baum
Red rising by pierce brown
Has she read the Percy Jackson series plus spinoffs?
Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger
The Scholomance Trilogy by Naomi Novik has the dangerous fantasy school thing going.
ETA Actually I think there was some little bit of spice in there
* The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
* The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
A wrinkle in time
The Lunar Chronicles, the first book is Cinder. The books are re-tellings of fairy tales like Rapunzel and Cinderella
This is a super popular book so she may have already tried it, but Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is the first book (well, duology) that I read that got me as hyped as Harry Potter. It’s a little darker but no spice. It sounds like we have pretty similar taste in books so if she hasn’t tried it yet I highly recommend!
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, as someone else mentioned.
The Nevermoor Series by Jessica Townsend – about a girl raised to believe she’s cursed, who is wisked away to compete for entry into a magical school of incredibly gifted and magical kids. It’s more middle grade, and it’s not finished yet, but it’s got a similar (but better, in my opinion) feel to Harry Potter.
Townsend’s writing is so that the books feel action packed but you can feel the overall series plot building to a crescendo that she has a clear idea for, but is taking the appropriate time to get there and is taking great care not to rush.
Marie Lu Legend Series or The Young Elites. So good.
The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin, followed by The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik, starting with A Deadly Education.
Two series by Jaclyn Moriarty: The Colors of Madeleine (YA) and Kingdoms and Empires (middle grade, and the books are more just related than direct sequels to each other).
The Wandering Inn Pirate Aba
Michelle Sagara West Chronicles of Elantra,
Jim Butcher Codex Alera series,
Have her try Georgette Heyer and Annette Larsen
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan
The Book of Longings – Sue Monk Kidd
It’s a reimagining of the New Testament from a feminist lense.
The narrator (a fictional character) is a woman named Ana, who in the book was the wife of Jesus during his “lost years”.
Not sure if that’s outside her comfort level for Christian fiction, but thought I’d recommend.
She might also like The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.