Friends of Montclair Library

Can’t wait for “Fantastic Beasts 2” to open later this month? You could read the book or watch the first movie from the library.

Or, you can get your magic fix this fall with these books for older teens and adults who loved Harry Potter. Spanning genres from science fiction/fantasy to literary fiction, these books, like Harry Potter, overlay a magical world over the real one or transport everyday people to magical lands.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (YA FIC ROWELL) – In this homage to the Potter books, set at the Watford School of Magicks, “Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen….Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire.” (Publisher) This book is a spin-off of the also-excellent (but less outright magical) Fangirl.

The Magicians By Lev Grossman (FIC GROSSMAN) – In this first book in a trilogy, Quentin Coldwater, who’s preoccupied with a magical land he read about in a childhood book series, is unexpectedly admitted into an exclusive college of magic and rigorously educated in modern sorcery.

Neverwhere By Neil Gaiman (FIC GAIMAN) – The story of Richard Mayhew, a young London businessman with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he is plunged through the cracks into an alternate city beneath London. If he is ever to return to the London Above, Richard must join the battle to save this strange underworld kingdom from the malevolence that means to destroy it.

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (FIC MORGENSTE) – Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (SF CLARKE) (not at Montclair) – All is going well for rich, reclusive Mr. Norell, who has regained some of the power of England’s magicians from the past, until a rival magician, Jonathan Strange, appears and becomes Mr. Norrell’s pupil, in a witty fantasy set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century England.

All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (SF ANDERS) (not at Montclair) –
From an early age, Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead had different–and sometimes opposite–ways of seeing the world. As they navigated the nightmare of junior high school, they became wary allies until an enigmatic guidance counselor with a hidden agenda intervened. Ten years later, they meet again, drawn into the opposite sides of a war between science and magic. Plus, it’s set in San Francisco.

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (YA FIC OLDER) (not at Montclair) – When the murals painted on the walls of her Brooklyn neighborhood start to change and fade in front of her, Sierra Santiago (“proud, strong, and body-positive“) realizes that something strange is going on–then she discovers her Puerto Rican family are shadowshapers and finds herself in a battle with an evil anthropologist for the lives of her family and friends.

Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster (e-book) – Jonathan Thomas Meriweather is a typical college student, interested in girls, music and pot. But when an interdimensional portal lands him in another world, he learns that his musical ability can create magic, which he’ll need in order to stop a dark force.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (YA FIC SCHWAB) (not at Montclair) – Traveling between four parallel Londons, (the regular one and three magical ones), Kell is the personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. He’s also a smuggler, which soon puts him on the run through the Londons. “Perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn.”

The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker (FIC BARKER) (not at Montclair) – This book starts off like a typical romantic comedy: Nora Fischer’s dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman. But during a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she’s transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning beauty. It’s almost too good to be true….

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (SF CHO) (not at Montclair) – In this historical fantasy novel set in Regency London, Zacharias Wythe, England’s first African Sorcerer Royal, ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (FIC HARKNESS) (not at Montclair) – Witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of a 1,500-year-old vampire. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk and harass her.

City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (FIC FLYTE) (not at Montclair) – A music student working in Prague cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts discovers clues that her deceased mentor may not have committed suicide and becomes involved with a time-travel drug, a 400-year-old dwarf, a handsome Prince and a powerful U.S. senator.

Bonus list: If you’re on the other end of this spectrum and have a kid who’s not quite ready for Harry Potter yet, check out this list from Nourishing My Scholar.