Naomi Novik has a rare talent for making fantasy feel both mythic and intimate. Whether she is sending dragons into the Napoleonic Wars in His Majesty's Dragon, building a dangerous fairy-tale wilderness in Uprooted, or exploring the dark academic tensions of A Deadly Education, her fiction combines sharp characterization, historical texture, sly humor, and magic with real consequences.
Readers who love Novik often look for authors who offer a similar blend of immersive world-building, folklore, morally complicated choices, memorable heroines, and stories where enchantment is as perilous as it is wondrous. If that sounds like your kind of fantasy, the following authors are excellent places to go next:
Robin Hobb is one of the strongest recommendations for Naomi Novik readers because she excels at emotionally intense fantasy driven by character rather than spectacle alone. Her books are patient, psychologically rich, and deeply invested in how power, duty, and love shape a life.
Her novel Assassin’s Apprentice introduces FitzChivalry Farseer, the illegitimate son of a prince, who is quietly absorbed into court life and trained to serve the crown as an assassin. What begins as a story of intrigue opens into something much more personal and devastating.
Like Novik, Hobb writes protagonists who must navigate systems larger than themselves while carrying emotional wounds that feel startlingly real. If what you love most about Novik is her ability to make fantasy intensely human, Hobb should be high on your list.
Susanna Clarke is an ideal match for readers who appreciate Naomi Novik’s love of history-infused fantasy and her ability to make magic feel old, dangerous, and culturally embedded. Clarke writes with elegance, intelligence, and a dry wit that gives her fantastical settings unusual depth.
In Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell she imagines an alternate 19th-century England in which practical magic has nearly vanished, only to return through two very different magicians: the cautious, possessive Mr Norrell and the brilliant, impulsive Jonathan Strange.
The novel offers dense world-building, invented scholarship, social satire, and an unforgettable sense that fairy powers do not operate by human rules. If Novik’s mix of historical atmosphere and enchantment is what draws you in, Clarke delivers that feeling on a grand scale.
Katherine Arden will especially appeal to readers who loved the folkloric power and woodland menace of Uprooted. Her fiction is steeped in seasonal atmosphere, old beliefs, and the tension between Christianization and older, stranger forces.
The Bear and the Nightingale follows Vasya, a girl in medieval Russia who can see and speak to the household spirits and wild beings that protect her community. As those old protections are dismissed and neglected, darker presences begin to stir.
Arden’s prose is vivid without being overblown, and her landscapes feel cold, beautiful, and haunted. Fans of Novik’s fairy-tale sensibility, formidable young women, and folklore-rooted magic will find plenty to love here.
Leigh Bardugo is a strong pick for readers who enjoy Naomi Novik’s accessible but atmospheric fantasy, especially when it centers on a young protagonist discovering dangerous power. Bardugo writes fast-moving plots, clear stakes, and settings shaped by history and myth.
In Shadow and Bone. Alina Starkov, an orphan and army mapmaker, discovers a power that may be capable of changing the fate of Ravka, a nation divided by the monster-filled Shadow Fold. Her awakening draws her into court politics, military conflict, and the orbit of charismatic figures with their own agendas.
Bardugo’s Grishaverse has a different tone from Novik’s work, but it shares a gift for memorable magic, rising tension, and heroines forced to grow quickly in unforgiving worlds. It is a particularly good choice if you want something immersive and hard to put down.
Shannon Chakraborty is an excellent recommendation for readers who admire Naomi Novik’s ability to combine fantasy adventure with political complexity and strong cultural texture. Her novels feel expansive, but they never lose sight of the people caught inside larger conflicts.
The City of Brass begins in 18th-century Cairo with Nahri, a resourceful con artist who does not believe in magic until an accidental summoning changes everything. She is soon drawn into Daevabad, a hidden city of djinn, old grudges, dynastic rivalries, and volatile alliances.
What makes Chakraborty especially appealing to Novik fans is the way she balances wonder with political realism. Her world is lush and magical, but it is also shaped by prejudice, history, and competing visions of power.
C.J. Cherryh is a rewarding choice for readers who want fantasy with gravitas, discipline, and mature character dynamics. Her work often emphasizes training, loyalty, cultural codes, and the cost of violence in ways that feel grounded and convincing.
In The Paladin a once-great warrior named Shoka, long removed from the world, reluctantly agrees to train Taizu, a determined young woman seeking vengeance. Their teacher-student relationship anchors a story shaped by court tensions, danger, and questions of identity and purpose.
Cherryh is less fairy-tale than Novik, but readers who appreciate disciplined storytelling, nuanced mentorship, and fantasy that takes its characters seriously may find this a particularly satisfying read.
Tamsyn Muir is a more offbeat recommendation, but she works well for readers who enjoy Naomi Novik’s sharp voice, dark humor, and willingness to twist familiar fantasy elements into something fresh. Muir’s fiction is stranger, more chaotic, and more formally playful, but it is never dull.
Her debut, Gideon the Ninth, throws readers into a gothic science-fantasy setting full of necromantic houses, deadly trials, barbed banter, and locked-room mystery elements. At the center is Gideon Nav, a foul-mouthed swordswoman forced into cooperation with Harrowhark Nonagesimus, heir to the Ninth House.
If you liked the bite and intensity of Novik’s Scholomance books, Muir may be an especially good fit. Expect less traditional fantasy comfort and much more gleeful weirdness.
Megan Whalen Turner is a superb choice for readers who value intelligence, restraint, and intricate plotting in fantasy. Her books are less lush than Novik’s, but they share a fascination with power, wit, and the gap between appearance and reality.
The Thief introduces Gen, a prisoner whose skill and arrogance make him useful to a magus with a dangerous agenda. What begins as a quest narrative unfolds into a far cleverer and more politically layered story than it first appears.
Turner rewards close attention, and her myth-inflected world grows richer with each revelation. If you admire Novik’s control over pacing and payoff, Turner’s work is likely to impress you.
Patricia McKillip is a wonderful recommendation for readers who most love the fairy-tale, lyrical, and dreamlike side of Naomi Novik. Her novels often feel timeless, with prose that casts a spell without sacrificing emotional clarity.
In The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. Sybel, a reclusive sorceress living among legendary beasts, is drawn out of her isolation when a child is placed in her care. The story gradually deepens into a meditation on love, vengeance, power, and the risks of stepping into the lives of others.
McKillip’s magic feels archetypal and mysterious rather than systematized. If what captivated you in Novik was mood, myth, and the sense of old enchantments pressing in on human lives, this is a beautiful place to continue.
Erin Morgenstern will appeal most to Naomi Novik fans who prize atmosphere and wonder. Her fiction leans more toward the lush and romantic, but she shares Novik’s knack for creating magical settings that feel coherent, seductive, and full of hidden costs.
Her novel The Night Circus centers on Le Cirque des Rêves, a black-and-white circus that appears without warning and opens only at night. Beneath its dazzling tents, two magicians bound by their mentors are engaged in a long and dangerous contest whose consequences spread far beyond themselves.
Morgenstern excels at sensory detail and immersive design. Readers looking for a book that delivers enchantment, romance, and a strong sense of magical place should find this especially satisfying.
Max Gladstone is a smart recommendation for readers who enjoy seeing fantasy interrogate institutions, power structures, and moral compromise. His work is more urban and conceptual than Novik’s, but it shares her interest in what magic does to societies rather than just individuals.
His novel Three Parts Dead follows Tara Abernathy, a newly trained Craftswoman who arrives in a city to investigate the death of the god who powers it. What follows is part murder mystery, part legal thriller, and part examination of economics, faith, and magical labor.
Gladstone’s ideas are ambitious, and his settings feel built from first principles. If you appreciate Novik’s inventiveness and want something more structurally unusual, he is well worth trying.
Zen Cho is an excellent fit for readers who enjoy Naomi Novik’s blend of historical fantasy, wit, and character chemistry. Her work has charm and sparkle, but it also pays close attention to social hierarchy, exclusion, and who gets access to power.
In Sorcerer to the Crown Zacharias Wythe, the first African Sorcerer Royal in England, must navigate suspicion from the magical establishment while dealing with the country’s dwindling magic. His path intersects with Prunella Gentleman, a fiercely ambitious young woman whose magical gifts make her impossible to ignore.
Cho brings humor, sharp dialogue, and a fresh perspective to Regency fantasy. Readers who enjoy Novik’s spirited protagonists and intelligently reworked genre traditions are likely to have a great time here.
Garth Nix is a strong choice for readers who like Naomi Novik’s capable heroines, perilous magic, and worlds governed by clear but evocative supernatural rules. His books are often slightly darker than they first appear, with a strong sense of mythic danger.
In Sabriel the title character leaves school in Ancelstierre and crosses into the Old Kingdom after her father disappears. Armed with bells, charter magic, and the duties of the Abhorsen, she must confront the dead and the forces that refuse to stay buried.
Nix’s magic system is one of the most memorable in modern fantasy, and Sabriel herself is practical, brave, and easy to root for. If you want a gripping fantasy with excellent lore and a heroine who earns every victory, this is a standout option.
Genevieve Cogman is a great recommendation for readers who enjoy Naomi Novik’s mixture of cleverness, adventure, and fantastical systems layered over recognizable historical settings. Her books are lighter in tone than some of Novik’s, but they are imaginative and consistently entertaining.
Her inventive series, The Invisible Library, follows Irene, a professional librarian-spy who travels across alternate worlds recovering rare and dangerous books for a mysterious interdimensional Library. The first novel sends her to a version of Victorian London tangled up with dragons, Fae politics, and a missing Grimm manuscript.
Cogman’s appeal lies in her pace, her premise, and her lively heroine. If you want fantasy that is smart, bookish, and full of momentum, she is an easy author to recommend.
V.E. Schwab is well suited to readers who appreciate Naomi Novik’s flair for strong atmosphere, high-concept fantasy, and characters caught between competing loyalties. Schwab tends to write with a sleek, propulsive style that makes her books especially readable.
Her novel A Darker Shade of Magic introduces Kell, one of the few magicians able to travel between four parallel Londons, each defined by a different relationship to magic. When he becomes entangled in smuggling and forbidden artifacts, the balance between worlds begins to fray.
Schwab delivers striking settings, strong momentum, and a vivid sense of magical possibility. For Novik fans looking for adventure-driven fantasy with a strong hook and confident execution, she is a very solid next read.
