As a teen, I loved reading YA novels, especially if they were set in fantastical worlds that helped me escape reality for a moment. YA novels have become increasingly popular, exploring nuanced and diverse characters and profound themes that are also found in adult fantasy. We’ve taken a couple popular YA fantasy novels and found similar reads. Whether you enjoy tales about witches reclaiming their power or legends of magic and captured gods, the characters will inspire new perspectives and the worlds will enthrall you to see the beauty in life. And if you haven’t already, you can check out the YA novels in this list too.
For fans of Jennifer Lynn’s Inheritance Games who enjoy puzzles and twists that can be found in One of Us is Lying and Knives Out:
Hugo award-winning New York Times bestselling author brings us this epic fantasy within the ancient, wealthy city of Kithamar that has a complicated, bloody history. After Aly’s brother is murdered, she sets out to find who killed him and why. She learns more about herself on this journey and finds herself closer to danger than she’d like as she gets closer to the truth.
In this captivating debut, we follow January Scaller, a ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke. In the mansion filled with off treasures, she is a curiosity herself. She, like the other artifacts, is carefully maintained, largely ignored, and out of place. Until she finds a strange book that tells a tale of secret doors, love, and adventure. Each turn of the page reveals truths about the world and January increasingly learns how this story is intertwined with her own.
For fans of Holly Black’s The Stolen Heir and like a little romance:
Theodora Ettings has no sense of fear or embarrassment, thanks to a faerie’s curse, leaving her prone to accidental scandal. During the London Season, she hopes to be a quiet wallflower but that changes when she meets Elias Wilder, handsome, peculiar, and ill-mannered Lord Sorcier, who discovers her condition. Her and her family have a chance to reclaim their normal place in the world if her reputation can survive her curse and sudden connection with high society’s least-liked man. Even with only half a soul, she begins to suspect a chance at falling in love.
For fans of Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams:
Bridget Bishop was hanged as a witch in 1692 and two hundred years later, her legacy lives on through the descendants of two very different families. One is dedicated to using their powers to help women in need. The other is determined to hold onto as much power for themselves through any means necessary. Tensions between the two families reach a climax through Annis, who finds herself a pawn and is trying to claim her own power before a darkness overcomes them all.
In 1893, witches are a thing of the past. After the burnings, witches are nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. Women turn to the ballot box if they want power. But when James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna, the Eastwood sisters, join New Salem’s suffragists, they pursue the ways that might transform their movement into the witch’s movement. They’ll need to search through the oldest magics, form new alliances, and heal the bond between them to survive. Witches are about to make a comeback.
For fans of The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill:
Red, the only Second Daughter born in centuries, has only one purpose: be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in hopes he’ll return the world’s captured gods. Cursed with an uncontrollable power, she’s relieved she won’t be able to hurt those she loves again. But the legend is a lie. The Wolf is a man and her magic is a calling. She’ll need to learn how to use it before the monsters the gods have become destroy her world as she knows it.
Emily Hoang is a writer and editor, who is obsessed with haunted houses, ghosts, and dreams. More info can be found on her website.