What to read when you've finished the Harry Potter series

Skulduggery Pleasant

You've reached the final page of The Deathly Hallows. You've rattled through the twists and turns of The Cursed Child play (and maybe even seen it at the theatre).

What now? How do you fill that big Harry Potter-shaped hole in your life?

Don't worry. Here are some excellent and magical adventures to get lost in, next...

  • Inkheart

    Inkheart

    Author: Cornelia Funke
    Publisher: The Chicken House
    Interest age: 8+
    Reading age: 9+

    12-year-old Meggie and her father, Mo, a bookbinder, both love reading, but since the disappearance of Meggie's mother, they no longer read together. One night a stranger knocks at their door, prompting Mo to reveal his awful secret.

  • Artemis Fowl

    Artemis Fowl

    Author: Eoin Colfer
    Publisher: Penguin
    Interest age: 8-12
    Reading age: 10+

    Twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl hatches an ingenious plot to steal all the gold in fairy land.

  • Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

    Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

    Author: Rick Riordan
    Publisher: Puffin
    Interest age: 9+
    Reading age: 9+

    In this leftfield comic fantasy novel, 12-year-old Percy Jackson discovers that the Greek gods of Olympus are alive and living in modern-day New York.

  • Northern Lights

    Northern Lights

    Author: Philip Pullman
    Publisher: Scholastic
    Interest age: 9-14
    Reading age: 10+

    This extraordinary fantasy is the first book in Philip Pullman's multi-award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy

  • The Last Dragonslayer

    The Last Dragonslayer

    Author: Jasper Fforde
    Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
    Interest age: 10+
    Reading age: 10+

    Times are tough for Jennifer Strange, manager of Kazam Mystical Arts - then predictions of a new Dragonslayer coming to slay the Last Dragon begin...

  • Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow

    Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow

    Author: Jessica Townsend
    Publisher: Orion Children's Books
    Interest age: 10+
    Reading age: 10+

    Born on Eventide, Morrigan Crow is a 'cursed child', blamed for every misfortune and destined to die on her eleventh birthday. But just before midnight strikes, the mysterious Jupiter North appears, offering Morrigan another choice: journey with him to Nevermore. In this magical world, she moves into Jupiter's awesome, ever-changing hotel and enters the tria…

  • Mortal Engines

    Mortal Engines

    Author: Philip Reeve
    Publisher: Scholastic
    Interest age: 11+
    Reading age: 11+

    London is on the move again: the traction city trawls the world on wheels, capturing and eating smaller towns.

  • Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon

    Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon

    Author: Jonathan Stroud
    Publisher: Doubleday Children's Books
    Interest age: 11+
    Reading age: 11+

    A fantastic, fast-paced adventure story set in a vividly-realised world of Arabian and Biblical myth.

  • Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope

    Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope

    Author: Anne Plichota and Cendrine Wolf Translator: Sue Rose
    Publisher: Pushkin Children's Books
    Interest age: 10+
    Reading age: 11+

    The Oksa Pollock series has legions of fans all over the world, and this first installment leaves us in no doubt why.

  • Skulduggery Pleasant

    Skulduggery Pleasant

    Author: Derek Landy
    Publisher: HarperCollins
    Interest age: 11+
    Reading age: 11+

    Meet Skulduggery Pleasant, skeleton detective, fighting to save the world from wizard-gone-to-the-dark-side, Nefarian Serpine.