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Book recommendation in a genre like Harry Potter?  

post #1 of 20
9/17/06 at 9:40pm
Thread Starter 
I love the Harry Potter series, is there a book or a series out there that is similar in genre/style that you can recommend? I've read the LOTR books and the Hobbit. I love the Hobbit too.

Any suggestions?

Oh and Ive read CS Lewis and his books too.
post #2 of 20
9/17/06 at 10:17pm
The Inheritance trilogy? (Eragon, Eldest, and third book yet to be published?)

The His Dark Materials series, by Philip Pullman?

I've never read either, but my ds likes both, and he loves the Harry Potter and Narnia books, and the LOTR movies.
post #3 of 20
9/18/06 at 1:50am
the dark is rising series by susan cooper is great!
http://www.thelostland.com/darksequence.htm

Ursula LeGuin A Wizard of Earthsea trilogy

any of the Garth Nix books.. they are a bit on the darker side..
Monica Furlongs books. wise child..juniper..
post #4 of 20
9/18/06 at 5:16am
I would recommend the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, which I enjoyed a lot (he even has some aside comments about Potter). You will find it in the same section as the Potter books.

I also highly second His Dark Materials (trilogy by Philip Pullman).
post #5 of 20
9/18/06 at 8:23pm
Another vote for His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman. I love the series.
post #6 of 20
9/18/06 at 8:39pm
I also recommend Lloyd Alexander's Prydain chronicles. I was enchanted by those as a child.

I haven't read Eva Ibbotson, but she's often mentioned when the Potter books come up.
post #7 of 20
9/18/06 at 8:41pm
The whole "school for wizards" thing has been done before (and done far better, imo) by Ursula Le Guin in her Earthsea Trilogy.

A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore

This is writing on the level of Tolkien, not Rowling.
post #8 of 20
9/18/06 at 9:04pm
I was thinking of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind but it's much much darker than Harry Potter. There are sections in the first book (The Wizard's First Rule) that turned by stomach (i.e. torture). Other than that it's a great series - there are wizards, witches, dragons, all sorts of magical creatures.
post #9 of 20
9/18/06 at 9:17pm
Kids' books:
Inkspell and Inkheart
The Blue Sword and The Hero's Crown (?) - sequel to Blue Sword
L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series (4 books IIRC)
Bartimaeous trilogy
Eragon, Eldest, and .... (unpublished third book as yet)

An old, old favorite of mine is The Princess and the Goblin (Tolkien read it as a kid) - if you can *find* it.

Adult books (still fantasy, not necessarily wizards):
Anne McCaffrey (especially the Pern/Dragon books)
Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan)
Song of Ice & Fire series (George R. Martin)
Patricia McKillip books (I particularly liked The Forgotten Beasts of Eld)
Song in the Silence etc. (a trilogy about dragons - author is Kerner)
post #10 of 20
9/19/06 at 12:17am
Thread Starter 
Oh wow you all amazing! Thank you for all these wonderful suggestions, heading to the library tomorrow, and Ive started reading the blurbs about them on amazon. Thank you so much! I am taking all these to make into a list!
post #11 of 20
9/24/06 at 1:03pm
My first response was Narnia and LOTR. LOL

The Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin (sp?) is truly wonderful.

Marion ZImmer Bradley's Darkover series is incredible too - in a slightly more psy power vs magic way. Her Avalon books are incredible too.

ANything by Diana Paxson, Mercedes Lackey, Patrica Wrede, Robin McKinley. Robin McKinley has some GREAT retelling of some classic fairy tales, very adult and kinda dark.

Andre Norton is also amazing.

hmmm....that is all I can remember...trying to invision my bookcase at home....

OH! Raymond or Robert Feist - WOW!

And Terry Goodkind - a great series - not sure the name of the series but some of the latest books are clingfire, pillars of creation, etc. I devour those books.

ANd I was just reading some Katherine Kerr books that are good - I am trying to find the rest of the Deverry series....

HTH!
post #12 of 20
9/24/06 at 1:38pm
Meant for children and a wonderful series of books:
The Borrowers, by Mary Norton.
There was a movie made, but it hardly covered all the books she wrote!
post #13 of 20
9/24/06 at 10:23pm
Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett.
post #14 of 20
9/25/06 at 1:23am
The Borrowers are wonderful. And so are Joan Aiken's novels for children -- not much outright magic, but lots of high adventure in an alternate-history version of England.
post #15 of 20
9/25/06 at 4:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sapphire_chan View Post
Terry Pratchett.
:

As an aside, Terry Pratchett made a very funny comment about J. K. Rowling's (feigned?) surprise that Harry Potter was considered a fantasy book:

"I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ts/4732385.stm
post #16 of 20
9/25/06 at 4:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ~pi View Post
:

As an aside, Terry Pratchett made a very funny comment about J. K. Rowling's (feigned?) surprise that Harry Potter was considered a fantasy book:

"I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ts/4732385.stm
Mr. Pratchett always has me slapping my my knee in delight!
post #17 of 20
9/25/06 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
"I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"
thats great! I picked up the Inkheart/spell from the library, I had brought the list, from what it had been at my last post, and that was all they had instock! Oh I got hte princess and the goblin too, me and the kids are starting that this evening.

But I accidently got the sequel... inkheart/spell, I cant remember which one is the sequel, but thats the one I have, so I have to go back to the library

This list is wonderful, wonderful! I wont have any problems filling this winter with good books!
post #18 of 20
9/25/06 at 5:14pm
I'd also recommend The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett.

I read all three books to 11 y.o. dd and we thoroughly enjoyed them. The story is inventive, the characters are endearing, and there's a great balance of action and thinking. He discusses some pretty complex ideas, especially about religion, and he gets his point across in a way that kids can understand. And the stories are very funny!

Dd and I agree, we like our fantasy stories to have a sense of humor.

Edited to add to the recommendations for "His Dark Materials".
post #19 of 20
10/14/06 at 7:56pm
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and American Gods
The Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning (Actually, anything in the Dragonlance series is good.)

Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara and The Elfstones of Shannara

There's also Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series:
Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (DW adds her endorsement of the Artemis Fowl Series )
post #20 of 20
10/15/06 at 6:41pm
sooooo bookmarking this one! I *LOVE* Mary Stewart's Meriln books.
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