Lev Grossman is known for fantasy that feels both wondrous and sharply contemporary. Beginning with The Magicians, his work blends magic, flawed characters, and the emotional complications of modern life in a way that resonates with adult readers.
If you enjoy Lev Grossman, these authors are well worth exploring next:
Neil Gaiman excels at uncovering the fantastical just beneath ordinary life. In Neverwhere, he imagines a hidden London lurking below the familiar city, full of danger, wonder, and dark charm.
If Grossman’s mix of realism and enchantment appeals to you, Gaiman’s sly, atmospheric storytelling should be a natural fit.
Susanna Clarke combines meticulous historical detail with dazzling magical invention. In Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, she reimagines 19th-century England as a place where long-dormant magic stirs back to life.
Like Grossman, Clarke is interested not just in magic itself, but in how complicated people behave when they encounter it.
Naomi Novik brings folklore, emotional depth, and sharp modern sensibilities to fantasy. In Uprooted, she tells a story of friendship, power, and self-discovery set amid haunted woods and dangerous enchantments.
Readers who appreciate Grossman’s character-driven take on magic will likely enjoy Novik’s balance of intimacy, tension, and mythic atmosphere.
Erin Morgenstern writes lush, immersive fantasy filled with atmosphere and wonder. Her novel The Night Circus centers on a mysterious magical competition between two young illusionists whose rivalry becomes entangled with love.
If you enjoy the emotional pull and sense of wonder in Grossman’s work, Morgenstern offers a similarly transporting experience.
Seanan McGuire writes character-centered fantasy that treats extraordinary experiences with emotional realism. In Every Heart a Doorway, she follows teenagers who have returned from portal worlds and struggle to readjust to ordinary life.
That tension between magic and everyday pain will feel familiar to Grossman fans, as will McGuire’s empathy for complicated characters.
Patrick Rothfuss writes thoughtful fantasy concerned with storytelling, talent, ambition, and the cost of becoming a legend. In The Name of the Wind, and its sequels, he traces the life of Kvothe, a gifted young man shaped by loss and relentless drive.
Fans of Grossman may be drawn to Rothfuss’s emotional intensity, vivid worldbuilding, and interest in the messy reality behind heroic myths.
Tamsyn Muir blends fantasy, science fiction, dark humor, and mystery into stories that feel boldly original. Her novel Gideon the Ninth delivers necromancers, swordplay, gothic unease, and an irreverent voice all at once.
Like Grossman, Muir enjoys bending genre expectations and populating her worlds with flawed, memorable characters.
Alix E. Harrow writes immersive fantasy in which history, folklore, and magic blend seamlessly. In her novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January, a young woman discovers hidden doorways to other worlds and begins to understand her own story.
Harrow shares Grossman’s gift for pairing imaginative magic with emotional sincerity and strong narrative momentum.
Katherine Arden draws on folklore, myth, and historical texture to create deeply atmospheric fantasy. In The Bear and the Nightingale, she evokes medieval Russia with striking vividness while weaving in old magic and supernatural danger.
If you like Grossman’s layered storytelling and his interest in characters tested by hardship, Arden is an excellent choice.
V.E. Schwab creates fantasy that feels both imaginative and accessible, anchored by morally complicated characters. A Darker Shade of Magic explores a set of parallel Londons through the story of Kell, a magician able to travel between them.
Grossman readers will likely appreciate Schwab’s layered worldbuilding, sharp pacing, and talent for making magic feel vivid and consequential.
China Miéville writes boundary-pushing fiction that fuses fantasy, horror, and science fiction. His worlds are strange, densely imagined, and alive with unsettling social detail.
If you admired the way Grossman grounds the uncanny in recognizable human experience, try Perdido Street Station, a gritty, surreal novel set in a city teeming with bizarre creatures and political tension.
Catherynne M. Valente writes with wit, imagination, and a richly poetic style. Her fiction often explores identity, myth, and transformation, while giving familiar fairy-tale ideas unexpected new shapes.
Her novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making offers a whimsical but emotionally resonant journey that should appeal to readers who enjoy Grossman’s inventive approach to fantasy traditions.
Jeff VanderMeer is known for eerie, immersive fiction that blends speculative genres into something uncanny and unforgettable. His writing creates tension through atmosphere, ambiguity, and a growing sense that reality itself may be shifting.
Readers who appreciate the stranger, darker edge of Grossman’s imagination should try Annihilation, a haunting journey into a landscape where almost nothing can be trusted.
Marlon James writes ambitious fantasy that is visceral, layered, and deeply rooted in myth. His work is bold in both style and scope, drawing readers into worlds shaped by history, folklore, and violence.
For those interested in how Grossman reworks classic fantasy ideas for adult readers, Black Leopard, Red Wolf offers a strikingly different but equally powerful take on epic fantasy.
Diana Wynne Jones writes smart, playful fantasy full of wit, warmth, and inventive magic. Her stories are often humorous on the surface, but they also reveal real insight into character and human nature.
If you enjoyed Grossman’s affectionate reworking of magical traditions, start with Howl's Moving Castle, a charming and memorable tale that combines heart, humor, and enchantment.
