Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows discussion

I love Harry Potter and I am a children's librarian in a public library, but I've never found any series that I quite feel comfortable saying, "If you loved Harry Potter then you'll probably love this!" So I would love to know if you all have any you'd heartily recommend!

Here are the series that I recommend half-heartedly.

If someone says they liked the magic school element, I recommend Magisterium/The Iron Trial series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare... I thought that had the most similar "magic school feel" to HP, but I have never continued the series passed the third book or fourth book because I wasn't loving them.

One of the things I most love about the HP books is the camaraderie and the fact that you get to know and love so many characters by the end of the series. Based on that, here are the ones I recommend (I've read each of these series at least twice):

Juvenile fiction: Lockwood & Co./The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud, and Beyonders/A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

Teen fiction: The Raven Cycle/The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (okay, I haven't read these two twice, but I liked them enough that I plan to read them again in the future)

Adult fiction: The Mistborn Saga/The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

So for my reading pleasure and for reader's advisory sake, what do you all recommend and what elements of those recommendations remind you of HP? As you may have picked up on, my list is very white, so some great diverse books/authors would be great!

Amari and the Night Brothers has potential, but I need to get around to reading the second book in the series to find out for sure!

Side note: I've read/listened to The Raven Cycle at least 3 times, there's so much love among so many characters in those! :) Friendship, romantic, and family love.

Thanks for your input!

So, I have two reccomendations. Well, technically three. And those are:

Keeper of the Lost Cities: it's very similar to Harry Potter while still being its own thing. 9/10

Shadow and Bone/Six of Crows: Honestly, these series are better than Harry Potter. They have that fantasy feel, but... better. Infinity/10

Percy Jackson: I hate Percy Jackson, but I know loads of people who love it, so you might be one of those people. It reminded me of HP a little too much and was poorly written, but I might be wrong because almost everyone I know loved it. 1/10

Thanks! I'll have to check out the Keeper books.

I loved Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, but didn't go past the the first Shadow and Bone book because I didn't care for it...so the fact that they're better than HP is a matter of opinion. ;)

Yeah, I didn't care for Percy Jackson either, I didn't even make it all the way through the first book... but thanks for the recommendations!

One I just recently finished that's taken the place of The Iron Trials, in terms of a kid's series that's most similar is The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton.

It had some things that were annoying, things that could have been improved, but I still give it 4-stars and am hoping Clayton grows as a writer as the series progresses (just like Rowling did in HP).

Artemis Fowl, because he managed to bring a different mythology to something that already exists. It's in a world with fairies, but it has a technological element reminiscent of fantasy and science fiction. My second favorite point is the friendships that are formed along the way. And of course the protagonist is intelligent and also a little trickster, which makes him distant from Harry and 95% of characters in children's books. Disney made a movie and of course they cut out all the best elements and left the character bland.
It's already a finished series and the books are short and I think they can please children aged 12 and over and adults too (I read them myself when I was 26).

Cool! Thanks for the suggestion!

the shadow magic series

I read the first in the trilogy but never read the other two, even though I remember liking the first. Thanks for reminding me of it!

Jared wrote: "I read the first in the trilogy but never read the other two, even though I remember liking the first. Thanks for reminding me of it!"

you should read the other two I'm on the third but I know the second is really good!!