If You Like The Magicians…
I could have easily titled this post “If You Like The Chronicles of Narnia…” because each of these books owe a debt to C. S. Lewis’s series. They are all about hidden, magical worlds and the people who travel to them. Some are about what happens to people in those magical worlds, and some are about what happens when they leave and have to return to the “normal” world. I have a lot of fun reading these books because the opportunity for contrast is delightful — what pieces of culture do we take for granted that look ridiculous through the eyes of the magical world citizens? But they are all also exciting, suspenseful stories.
Lev Grossman’s The Magicians series (started 2009) is about nerdy kids who love a book series about a magical land called Fillory. When Quentin is in high school, he is offered entry to a magical school and discovers that Fillory may not be a story after all. The book’s world of magic is full of danger and complicated by those pursuing magic illicitly. If you haven’t already enjoyed the trilogy (and graphic novels), start there and then explore the options below.
Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire (started 2016)
What happens to children who have gone through doors to magical worlds and then returned to this reality? One option is to attend a boarding school for others like them, where they try to cope with being stuck in this world and wait for the day when their magic doorway reappears. The series follows many different characters, sometimes in this world, sometimes in the magic worlds, and sometimes in between.
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (2017)
This is marketed as YA, and certainly has a lot of the finding-oneself, coming-of-age material typical of the genre, but I think adults would enjoy it as well. Elliot is 13 when he is offered the opportunity to enter a magical world. Elliot is a know-it-all and a pain, in an ultimately lovable way, who questions everything about the magical world. He immediately falls in love with an Elf warrior, Serene, who is also attending the borderland training school. When she allies herself with a chosen son of the magical world, Luke, Elliot has to put up with the kind of privileged sap he couldn’t stand in the real world. Watching Elliot find his place in both worlds is a delight.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (2019)
When Zachary discovers a magical book in a campus library that tells stories of his own life (though written before he was born), he is drawn into a mystery. He uncovers a secret society and hidden world. Interestingly, this is not Zachary’s first encounter with magical doors. He can’t help but dig deeper and try to navigate The Keeper’s realm.
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (2024)
Fifteen years ago, two teenage boys disappeared in the West Virginia woods. They reappeared, unharmed, six months later. One of them (Rafe) became a recluse. The other (Jeremy) became a celebrity who seems to have a magical ability to find lost girls and women. When a woman asks Jeremy to find her half-sister in the same West Virginia woods where he was lost, the pair must reenter the magical land where they spent those months. Complicated and stirring, I loved traveling with Rafe and Jeremy in both worlds.