Books Like Harry Potter for Adults: Magic, Mystery, and Schools With Secrets

If you grew up with Harry Potter, you probably remember exactly where you were when you first opened the door to that world. And if you've spent years chasing that feeling since, you know how hard it is to find.

The trick is figuring out what you actually loved. Once you know that, it's easier to find the next book.

What Harry Potter fans usually love

• A hidden world right next to ours. Magic that's been there the whole time, if you know where to look.
• A school or institution with secrets. Old rules, strange corridors, and teachers who know more than they say.
• Found family. A small group of friends who become your people.
• A mystery that keeps deepening. Every answer opens a bigger question.
• Humor and heart together. Wonder that still makes you laugh.

The books below keep that spark but grow up with you, with more danger, sharper dialogue, and romance that's allowed to be part of the story.

Six series to try

1. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Quentin Coldwater is a bored genius who gets pulled into a world of magic that's darker and more decadent than the fantasy he grew up on. Think of it as the grown-up version of "what if the wizard school were real and nobody was kind about it."

2. The Windhaven Witches (mine)

I'll be honest, I wrote this series because I wanted a gothic magic school with real mystery in it, and this is where I'd start if you love the idea of a school with secrets.

Autumn Blackwood is accepted to Windhaven Academy under mysterious circumstances. The school is gothic and full of gargoyles, her family manor is full of ghosts, and the Blackwood name carries a legacy nobody ever explained to her. She digs into her family's past, the academy's darker purpose, and a curse that's haunted her family for generations. You'll find a love story that hits fast and runs deep, friends who become family, and humor to cut the dread. It's YA+ paranormal fantasy romance, so expect stronger language and some mature situations.

• Book 1: Secret Legacy
• Book 2: Soul Legacy
• Book 3: Haunted Legacy
• Book 4: Cursed Legacy
• Bonus story: Sin Eater (free ebook, told from the Angel of Death's point of view)

You can also grab all four in the omnibus edition.

3. The Scholomance by Naomi Novik

The first book is A Deadly Education. The Scholomance is a school with no teachers, built outside normal reality, where monsters hunt the students and about half of them don't make it to graduation. The heroine, El Higgins, is trying to survive while holding back her own destructive power. It's darker than Hogwarts ever was, with plenty of dry humor.

4. Elementals Academy by Michelle Madow

The first book is The Discovery of Magic. College student Summer Donovan discovers she's a witch after defending herself with magic, and she's invited to a school for witches descended from the Greek gods. If you want a magic school with romance in the foreground, this one is for you.

5. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

This one doesn't have a school, but it has that same sense of wonder. Kell is an Antari, someone who can travel between four parallel versions of London, and his questionable choices get him into trouble. If the best part of Harry Potter for you was the discovery of a hidden world, this will scratch that itch.

6. Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

It's set in Regency London, where Zacharias Wythe is England's first African Sorcerer Royal. Rumors swirl around him, and he has to clear his name. It's the first of three books and a good pick if you like your magic with a side of manners and wit.

How to choose

• Want a school with secrets? The Windhaven Witches or The Scholomance.
• Want romance up front? Elementals Academy or Windhaven.
• Want it darker and more grown-up? The Magicians.
• Want pure wonder without a school? A Darker Shade of Magic or Sorcerer to the Crown.

If you'd like more options set at a school, here's a full list of magic academy books for adults.

Not sure where to begin with my books? The reading order page will point you to a first book.