10 Fantasy Series with Hidden Worlds and Dangerous Magic

In The Chimera Snare: Fragments, Rayshell and Trish discover that the troubling visions disrupting their lives belong to something much larger than dreams. Their connection to two Celestine guardians pulls ordinary teenage concerns into a struggle involving other realms, powerful artifacts, and people whose loyalties cannot be taken for granted.

Reflections expands the series’ history and magical world, exploring Von’s troubled memories and Navaryn’s dangerous abilities. The second volume develops the identities and conflicts introduced in the first. Choose it if you want personal mysteries to open into a larger fantasy conflict.

Start here: Fragments, then Reflections. Content note: the books contain mature themes, with an 18+ recommendation in our review of Reflections.

Read our reviews of Fragments and Reflections, or meet the writers in our S & E Black interview.

Laini Taylor’s trilogy connects an art student’s life to a much older conflict, making it a natural choice for readers who like the familiar world to conceal an extraordinary history. The attraction is the way questions of identity and belonging grow into a struggle with consequences beyond a single relationship.

This is the pick for readers who want romance woven closely into the fantasy conflict. Its combination of forbidden love, divided loyalties, and a world in need of change offers a different emphasis from the political maneuvering of Daevabad or the academic disillusionment of The Magicians.

Main trilogy order: Daughter of Smoke & Bone → Days of Blood & Starlight → Dreams of Gods & Monsters.

Kell can travel between parallel versions of London, cities whose relationships with magic are very different. His unofficial work as a smuggler brings those boundaries into danger, while Delilah Bard sees his unusual abilities as a chance to escape into a larger life.

The distinct Londons give this series an especially clear appeal for readers who enjoy comparing connected worlds. Magic changes the balance of power in each place, and carrying something across a border can have consequences far beyond its apparent value. Pick this for a world-crossing adventure with a strong sense of place.

Original trilogy order: A Darker Shade of Magic → A Gathering of Shadows → A Conjuring of Light. The setting also continues in The Fragile Threads of Power.

Blue Sargent grows up around clairvoyance, but her connection with Gansey and his friends draws her into a mystery she cannot observe from a safe distance. Their search for a long-lost Welsh king turns an apparently ordinary Virginia landscape into somewhere charged with supernatural possibility.

Choose this quartet when you want the relationships within the group to matter as much as the next magical discovery. Compared with the more openly epic conflicts elsewhere on this list, its appeal lies in the sense that strange things are already close by, waiting for the right people to notice them.

Main quartet order: The Raven Boys → The Dream Thieves → Blue Lily, Lily Blue → The Raven King.

Quentin Coldwater finds an entrance into the life he has imagined when he is admitted to a secret college of magic. The discovery opens possibilities, but it also raises an uncomfortable question: what happens when gaining access to the extraordinary does not resolve the dissatisfaction you brought with you?

Grossman’s trilogy is a good choice for adult readers interested in the friction between escapist fantasy and complicated human behavior. The magical education and connection to Fillory give it familiar adventure ingredients, while the characters’ failings keep the promise of escape under pressure.

Trilogy order: The Magicians → The Magician King → The Magician’s Land.

What happens after someone comes home from a magical world and discovers that home no longer feels right? Every Heart a Doorway introduces Eleanor West’s school for young people who have returned from other realms, including Nancy, whose arrival coincides with a disturbing turn of events.

This series approaches hidden worlds through the people they change. It is especially well suited to readers who care about belonging and the emotional consequences of crossing a boundary. The shorter volumes also offer a different reading rhythm from a long epic trilogy, while allowing room for varied worlds and characters.

Start here: Every Heart a Doorway. Continue in publication order for a straightforward introduction to the connected stories.

Nahri’s journey from Cairo to the hidden city of Daevabad draws her into a magical society with a history she does not yet understand. The city offers wonder, but access to its secrets also means becoming entangled in its divisions and competing claims to power.

Of the series here, this is a particularly strong match for readers who want political conflict alongside discovery. Different characters inherit different versions of the past, and choosing a side becomes more difficult as those accounts collide. The attraction is a magical world whose social tensions matter as much as its powers.

Main trilogy order: The City of Brass → The Kingdom of Copper → The Empire of Gold. The River of Silver is a companion story collection.

At the Scholomance, a magical education comes with a much more immediate concern than passing exams: staying alive. El has an extraordinary gift for destructive magic, but she refuses to become the dark sorceress everyone seems to expect. Monsters, dangerous artifacts, and the unequal advantages of her fellow students make that refusal difficult to maintain.

Novik turns the secret-school premise into a tense story about survival and the cost of power. El’s sharp voice and complicated connection with the much-admired Orion Lake give the danger a personal edge. This is a strong choice for readers who enjoy hostile magical institutions, uneasy alliances, and a heroine determined to choose what she does with her abilities.

Trilogy order: A Deadly Education → The Last Graduate → The Golden Enclaves.

Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry’s journeys carry them through parallel universes in a trilogy where growing up means questioning what powerful people claim to know. Witches, armored polar bears, and worlds beyond the familiar create the adventure’s scale, while the children’s choices give it emotional weight.

Readers drawn to the connections between realms in The Chimera Snare may enjoy the way Pullman makes crossing boundaries central to both the adventure and its ideas. The series combines physical danger with questions about knowledge, authority, and responsibility. Begin with Lyra’s story and let the wider structure of the worlds emerge as she discovers it.

Original trilogy order: Northern Lights (published as The Golden Compass in North America) → The Subtle Knife → The Amber Spyglass.

Young magician Nathaniel summons the djinni Bartimaeus and orders him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful Simon Lovelace. It is a reckless assignment, and Bartimaeus is far too experienced—and too outspoken—to mistake his summoner’s ambition for good judgment. Their uneasy partnership opens a view into an alternative London ruled by magicians.

This is the choice for readers who want wit alongside dangerous magic. The tension between a human magician and the spirit he commands gives the adventure a different shape from a straightforward quest. Beneath the thefts and magical confrontations lies a world where the people who hold power are not necessarily the people who deserve it.

Main trilogy order: The Amulet of Samarkand → The Golem’s Eye → Ptolemy’s Gate. The Ring of Solomon is a prequel.