When J.K. Rowling published the Harry Potter series, it introduced a whole generation of readers to the concept of magic schools. It’s not the originator, but it has led to plenty of other books that feature this particular trope and explore it from different angles.
Books About Magic Schools
Here are a few books about magic schools where the main characters attend establishments for learning magic and its equivalent in their respective stories.
1. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is for children who have tumbled off the map, gone on fantastical quests, and must acclimate to reality. Each wants to go back, but the worlds they explored are no longer in reach.
Naomi, after journeying through the afterlife, is sent here. But with her arrives a darkness that she and her new schoolmates must survive.
2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The University is a legendary place of learning. It specializes in many fields of study, with some more esoteric and secretive than others.
Getting in is notoriously difficult and expensive, and yet Kvothe, a near-feral orphan with no formal education, is the youngest to get admitted. So begins his path to magic and beyond.
3. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Quentin Coldwater longs for something more than his ordinary world—like Fillory, the fantasy world featured in the children’s books he’s obsessed with. So when he’s admitted to a secret school of wizards, he’s more than elated.
Especially when he learns that Fillory is real. However, his new world proves far more sinister than he counted on.
4. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
When he’s discovered to have innate magical powers, Sparrowhawk is sent to a school of wizardry. While there, he duels with another mage, inadvertently releasing a powerful shadow. He undertakes a journey to rid himself of the creature, lest it prove harmful to those around him.
5. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The Scholomance isn’t just a learning institute for wizard children, but also a haven from the eternally mana-hungry monsters after them. But safety is relative, and more than half the children die before graduation.
El is one such student, made an outcast by a prophecy. With virtually no support, she resolves to make a place for herself and prove those who rejected her and her mother wrong.
6. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Linus Baker is a no-nonsense worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. His routine is disrupted when he arrives at the Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six children are deemed especially dangerous to the world.
Further complicating matters is Arthur Parnassus, who will do everything to keep his wards safe—even if it means destroying the world.
7. Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko and Sergey Dyachenko
Sasha Samokhina was chosen to attend the Institute of Special Technologies. The students are bizarre, the staff draconian, the curriculum strange and impossible.
Worse, any transgression or failure brings punishment to her loved ones. Sasha can only move forward into the unknown even if it makes irreversible changes to her.
8. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Saved from execution, Nona is taken to the Convent of Sweet Mercy. There, her mystical abilities are honed towards the art of murder.
But the convent isn’t safe from danger, both from inside and outside. Her arrival becomes the catalyst to vicious struggles that spill from the convent’s isolation and deep into a dying empire.
9. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Keju is an empire-wide test to determine who gets into the empire’s elite academies. Rin—and everyone else—is surprised when she manages to pass and secure a spot in Sinegard, the empire’s most elite institution.
It’s a welcome change to her dreary existence but she soon finds out how hard it can be for someone of her gender, class, and color. More dangerous still is the power awakening in her, which could mean salvation or destruction for all she holds dear.
10. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
Ivy Gamble, born without magic, is approached by The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages to solve a murder. It just so happens that her estranged, very magical sister works there as well.
The authorities have already written the death off as an accident but the school thinks otherwise. The headmaster thinks otherwise and wants a second opinion.
11. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Alex Stern seems to have damaged her life beyond repair. She dropped out of school, worked dead-end jobs, and played around with shady drug dealer boyfriends. And at just twenty years old, she’s the only survivor of a mysterious multiple homicide.
But now she’s a freshman at Yale, tasked to monitor its secret societies. Tragedy follows soon after, leaving her without a mentor, a murder to solve, and the societies at war.
12. Into The Labyrinth by John Bierce
Hugh of Emblin can barely cast spells, is socially awkward, and has earned the ire of the most promising student of his year. He wonders what he’s even doing at Skyhold.
When an unusual paper mage unexpectedly chooses him as an apprentice, things start to look better for Hugh. He’s even found some friends. The only thing left to worry about is the labyrinth they’re supposed to enter at the end of the year.
13. The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan
Each winter in Imardin, the magicians gather to purge the city of undesirables. They hide behind their sorcery, confident in its protection.
At least, until a young girl penetrates their shield with a hurled rock. A search is soon underway for the untrained mage, who might destroy the city and herself unless given proper training.
14. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Joel dreams of being a Rithmatist—a person who can bring life to two-dimensional creatures called Chalklings. Born without the ability, he can only watch as others claim his dreams for him.
Then students begin to disappear. Tasked to help with the investigation, Joel finds himself on a path that would not only allow him to be a Rithmatist but also change the art forever.
Magic School Books
The magical school trope is familiar to everyone of any age. School is a big part of a person’s formative years, making it a nostalgic topic for most.
Magical School books take that nostalgia and combine it with the wonder of fantasy. There’s a sense of progression as characters advance to the next year. On the way to graduating, new things are learned, obstacles are conquered, and future life paths are considered.
What other books about magic schools do you recommend? Share them in the comments below!
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
