Books Like Naomi Novik — 8 Reads for Uprooted and Scholomance Fans
Naomi Novik writes fantasy where the magic feels grown from the ground rather than invented at a desk — folkloric, intuitive, and inseparable from the characters who practice it. Her heroines are women who were underestimated and then refused to stay that way. If you loved Uprooted, Spinning Silver, or the Scholomance trilogy and want more of that combination — literary prose, character-first storytelling, magic with genuine texture — the eight books below are your next reads.
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Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
A man lives in a house with infinite halls, a tidal ocean in its corridors, and statues in every alcove — and knows almost nothing about how he came to be there. Clarke's puzzle-box novel shares Novik's literary quality, her sense of magic as something with old and deep rules, and her ability to write wonder without sentimentality.
Puzzle MysteryMagical WorldMemoryLiterary FantasyClean - 2
The Bear and the Nightingale
by Katherine Arden
A wild girl in medieval Russia refuses to fear the frost demon at the edge of her village while her family tries to tame her. Arden is Novik's closest contemporary in literary folkloric fantasy — same Russian atmosphere, same fierce heroine, same sense that magic is part of the landscape rather than a system overlaid on it.
Russian FolkloreFierce HeroineHistoricalMythology🌶 Cozy - 3
Circe
by Madeline Miller
The witch of Aeaea finds her power among gods who underestimate her. Miller's mythological retelling and Novik's folkloric fantasy share the same core: a woman the world has underestimated discovering what she can actually do. The literary prose is comparable in quality and the emotional payoff is equally earned.
Greek MythologyFeminist RetellingComing of AgeMagic🌶 Cozy - 4
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
Two magicians attempt to restore practical magic to Regency England — one a cautious scholar, one a reckless genius — and both are drawn into the Faerie king's court. Clarke's debut is the most ambitious literary fantasy of the last twenty years and shares Novik's interest in the intersection of magic and history.
Historical FantasyMagic SystemFaerieLiterary FictionClean - 5
A Deadly Education
by Naomi Novik
Novik's own Scholomance series: a student at a magical school with an extraordinary talent for destructive magic refuses to use it — and must survive by wit alone. If you loved Uprooted or Spinning Silver but want Novik in a more YA register, this is her, funnier and faster-paced, with a heroine whose relationship to her power is equally fascinating.
Magic AcademyDark HumorSurvivalReluctant Power🌶 Cozy - 6
Strange the Dreamer
by Laini Taylor
A librarian obsessed with a lost city finally finds his way inside — and into a world of gods, monsters, and a girl born of nightmare. Taylor's lyrical prose and layered mythology feel immediately familiar to Novik readers: the same attention to beauty at the sentence level, the same sense that the world has a history worth knowing.
Lost CityMythologySlow BurnLyrical Prose🌶 Cozy - 7
The Goblin Emperor
by Katherine Addison
The youngest and least regarded son of an emperor is thrown onto the throne. Addison writes a fantasy of decency — a protagonist who refuses to become the system he now leads — with the same character-first warmth Novik brings to Uprooted and Spinning Silver. Gentle, intelligent, and deeply satisfying.
Reluctant RulerKindness as StrengthCourt PoliticsFound FamilyClean - 8
The House in the Cerulean Sea
by TJ Klune
A by-the-book caseworker for magical children is sent to evaluate the most dangerous orphanage on record — and falls for the world he was sent to judge. Klune writes warmth with rare generosity, and the cozy found-family energy of Cerulean Sea pairs beautifully with the warmth and humor in Novik's best work.
Found FamilyCozy FantasyQueer RomanceWorkplaceClean