For every C.S. Lewis fan, there comes a moment when you turn the final page of The Last Battle and find yourself quite bereft. The wardrobe door has closed, Aslan’s country fades to memory, and you are left wondering: whatever shall I read now?
Take heart, dear reader. For the world of fantasy literature stretches far wider than the lamppost in the wood, and there exist countless doorways to wonder yet unexplored. Allow us to guide you to fourteen such doorways, each leading to realms as magnificent as Narnia itself.
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Before there was Narnia, there was this. C.S. Lewis himself credited George MacDonald as the master who baptised his imagination, and one need only meet young Princess Irene to understand why.
Here dwells an eight-year-old princess who discovers, in the topmost tower of her mountain castle, a great-great-grandmother of impossible beauty spinning silver thread. Below the mountain lurk goblins—dreadful creatures with tender feet—plotting mischief against the kingdom. When the brave miner boy Curdie enters the tale, adventures of the most delightful sort unfold.
MacDonald wrote this wonder in 1872, and it remains as fresh as morning dew. The magic here is gentle and mysterious, woven with threads of faith and courage that shimmer just beneath the surface.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien and Lewis were the dearest of friends, meeting weekly to read their fantastical works aloud to one another. Small wonder, then, that Bilbo Baggins feels rather like a literary cousin to the Pevensie children.
Here is a most unlikely hero—a comfort-loving hobbit who desires nothing more than second breakfasts and a good pipe—thrust into an adventure involving dwarves, dragons, and a magic ring of curious properties. Like Lucy stepping through the wardrobe, Bilbo finds himself transformed by wonder.
The tale moves at a gentler pace than its grander sequel, with the cozy warmth of a fireside story. Readers who cherished Narnia’s sense of homely adventure will find themselves quite at home in the Shire.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Upon an archipelago of islands where magic flows like the sea itself, a boy named Ged discovers he possesses a gift for wizardry. His arrogance unleashes a shadow upon the world—a darkness he must learn to face.
Le Guin crafted something extraordinary here: a fantasy of profound wisdom wrapped in adventure’s cloak. The magic system, built upon knowing the true names of things, possesses an elegance that would have pleased Lewis himself. And the themes! Self-knowledge, humility, the balance between light and darkness—all explored with the lightest of touches.
This book has been called one of the wellsprings of fantasy literature, and so it remains. The prose moves like poetry, and Ged’s journey from reckless youth to wisdom still resonates decades later.
The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
When Will Stanton wakes on his eleventh birthday during the darkest days of winter, he discovers he is the last of the Old Ones—ancient guardians who stand between humanity and the rising Dark.
Susan Cooper drew deeply from Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology to craft this five-book sequence. Like Narnia, ordinary children find themselves caught in cosmic battles between Light and Dark. The magic here is old and wild, rooted in standing stones and Christmas snow, ancient prophecies and signs of power forged from wood, bronze, iron, fire, water, and stone.
The sequence won both a Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor, and teachers have placed it among the hundred best children’s books. It earns such praise honestly.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility actually exist, young Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste to become an old woman. Her only hope lies in seeking out the fearsome Wizard Howl, whose castle walks the hills on mechanical legs.
What follows is pure enchantment. Sophie, trapped in an elderly body, discovers reserves of courage she never knew she possessed. The castle—a ramshackle, magical dwelling connected to multiple doorways across the land—becomes a place of found family, where a vain wizard, a fire demon, and an apprentice form the most unlikely of households.
Diana Wynne Jones delighted in turning fairy-tale conventions upon their heads, and this remains her masterwork. Cozy yet adventurous, witty yet touching.
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Within the red sandstone walls of an ancient abbey, peace-loving mice live lives of contentment—feasting, helping those in need, and tending their beloved Mossflower Wood. But when evil threatens, these gentle creatures discover the courage of warriors.
Jacques created something remarkable: an epic fantasy populated entirely by animals. Mice become heroes, badgers become fearsome champions, and villainous rats and foxes test the abbey’s defenders. The series spans twenty-two books, each a complete adventure, and the world grows richer with every volume.
Children who loved talking beavers and noble mice in Narnia will find kindred spirits aplenty in Redwall. The feasts alone—described with such loving detail—could make a reader hungry for scones and meadowcream.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Meg Murry is awkward and angry, missing her scientist father who vanished mysteriously a year ago. When three peculiar beings named Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which appear, Meg embarks on a journey through space and time that will test everything she believes about herself.
L’Engle wove science and spirituality together in ways that echo Lewis’s own approach to wonder. The battle between light and darkness, the power of love to overcome evil, the celebration of individuality against forced conformity—these themes ring with familiar resonance.
The book was rejected by twenty-six publishers before finding its home. It went on to win the Newbery Medal and inspire generations of young readers, particularly women who saw themselves in Meg’s brilliant, stubborn heart.
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
Princess Cimorene is thoroughly fed up with being proper. When she runs away to volunteer as a dragon’s princess—yes, volunteer—adventures of the most delightful sort ensue.
Wrede took every fairy-tale convention and twisted it into something fresh and funny. The princess rescues herself, thank you very much. The dragons are more sensible than the knights who pursue them. Wizards are the villains, and the heroines solve problems through cleverness rather than waiting for rescue.
Light and witty, these four books share Narnia’s sense of fun while blazing their own trail. Cimorene stands among fantasy’s most memorable heroines—practical, brave, and gloriously improper.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
When siblings Kendra and Seth are sent to stay with their grandparents, they discover that Grandfather’s nature preserve harbors rather unusual wildlife. Fairies flit through the garden. Satyrs tend the grounds. And darker creatures—trolls, witches, demons—lurk in the forbidden woods.
The premise recalls Narnia’s essential magic: ordinary children stepping into extraordinary realms. Mull built a world of staggering detail, where ancient treaties keep the peace between magical creatures and their human caretakers—until, inevitably, that peace is threatened.
Orson Scott Card praised the series as one that adults and children could enjoy together, and this rings true. The adventures grow darker and more complex across five books, rewarding readers who journey through them all.
The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
When the Grace children move into their great-aunt’s crumbling estate, they discover a handmade field guide hidden in the walls—a guide revealing that faeries, goblins, and stranger things exist all around us, invisible to those who cannot see.
The magic here differs from Narnia’s other-world approach; instead, the fantastical hides within our own reality, glimpsed only by those with the sight. But the wonder remains the same. Three siblings must protect their discovery from forces who would use it for terrible ends.
The series sold twenty million copies and inspired a film for good reason. DiTerlizzi’s illustrations bring Arthur Spiderwick’s guide to vivid life, and the stories move at a pace that keeps pages turning well past bedtime.
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
Marinka lives with her grandmother in a house that walks on chicken legs. They travel the world, never staying long enough for Marinka to make friends, because Grandmother has important work: guiding the dead to the afterlife.
Sophie Anderson drew from the Baba Yaga legends of her Prussian grandmother to craft this tender tale. Like Narnia, it addresses the deepest mysteries—life, death, what lies beyond—with grace and beauty. The portrayal of the afterlife, where souls return to the starlight from which they came, possesses a loveliness that catches in the throat.
Kirkus called it “heartbreaking, uplifting, and absolutely beautiful,” and this reviewer cannot improve upon that verdict.
The Lost Magician by Piers Torday
Four children who survived the Blitz discover a mysterious library door that opens into Folio—a world where stories are alive, and an enchanted kingdom of fairy knights, bears, and tree gods faces destruction from a sinister robot army.
Torday wrote this as homage to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the debt shows clearly: four siblings, wartime setting, portal to another world. Yet the book stands on its own merits too, celebrating the power of reading and imagination with genuine feeling.
The Sunday Times called it “masterly storytelling, both entertaining and profound.” For readers who have finished Narnia and hunger for that same magic, this doorway awaits.
The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers
A twelve-year-old shepherd boy named Aidan tends his father’s flocks in a swampy land filled with alligators and panthers. When a prophet arrives with an astonishing pronouncement—that Aidan will become the Wilderking—his life changes forever.
Rogers based his trilogy loosely on the biblical story of King David, much as Lewis wove Christian allegory through Narnia. But where Lewis drew from medieval English fantasy, Rogers created something uniquely American, with bayous and swamp-dwelling Feechies and a voice that owes more to Mark Twain than Tolkien.
The books celebrate loyalty, friendship, repentance, and forgiveness with high adventure and genuine humor. Readers who appreciated the spiritual depths beneath Narnia’s surface will find kindred treasures here.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
In a world where human souls walk beside them as animal companions called daemons, a fierce young girl named Lyra uncovers a conspiracy that spans multiple universes.
Pullman wrote these books as a deliberate counterpoint to Lewis, offering different philosophical views. Yet both series share essential qualities: lovable young protagonists, richly imagined worlds, epic adventure, and the courage to grapple with the largest questions of existence.
The first book won the Carnegie Medal and was later voted the “Carnegie of Carnegies”—the best winner in the award’s seventy-year history. Whatever one’s philosophical leanings, the craft and imagination on display cannot be denied.
Finding Your Way Through the Wardrobe
The magic of Narnia never truly fades, of course. One can always return to Cair Paravel, always step again through that first wardrobe door. But part of what Lewis gave us was a hunger for wonder—and these fourteen doorways offer wonder in abundance.
Perhaps you’ll befriend dragons with Princess Cimorene, or walk the archipelago with Ged. Perhaps you’ll discover that your grandmother’s nature preserve harbors rather more than deer and songbirds. The adventures await, patient as wardrobes, ready for those bold enough to step through.
And that, I think, is precisely what C.S. Lewis would have wanted.
