1. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Often hailed as “Harry Potter meets college,” The Magicians follows disillusioned 17-year-old Quentin Coldwater as he comes to discover much, much more than the magic of freshman parties. On the day of his supposed Princeton interview, Quentin instead gets interviewed and accepted to Brakebills — a highly selective university of bona fide sorcery.

While he initially finds the Brakebills curriculum frustrating and tedious (they have to study hand positions and phases of the moon), Quentin ultimately rises to its challenges, forming strong bonds with his fellow classmates. Good thing, too, because he’ll need them when trouble comes knocking… trouble which, as we know from HP, is never far away from any given magic school.

2. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
Though he’s best known for his Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, Rick Riordan’s Kane Chroniclesare just as thrilling as their Greek predecessors. The protagonists of this series are Carter and Sadie Kane, siblings whose Egyptologist father reconnects them with their own ancient roots — that is, that they’re descended from Egyptian pharaohs and magicians.

After their father is captured by Set, the Egyptian god of evil, Carter and Sadie must tap into parts of themselves they never knew existed and battle unimaginably powerful forces. For those of us who had a childhood obsession with Egyptology (Cluefinders, anyone?), this book is a marvelous source of wish fulfillment and entertainment all the way through

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Pullman’s works are perfect for the reader who craves an intellectual challenge. Taking place across multiple universes and containing some pretty complex religious references (not to mention criticisms), His Dark Materials grounds itself in the journey of Lyra Belacqua, a 12-year-old girl with a knack for lying. Lyra and her dæmon (the external, animal manifestation of her “inner self”) travel the worlds of the series in search of kidnapped children, and a mysterious elemental matter called “Dust.” These quests reveal mind-bending twists and turns that Pullman masterfully narrates over the course of this epic trilogy.