13 Books Like Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

Harry Potter is the series that Percy Jackson fans almost universally read first or second, and the two share a DNA that goes beyond surface similarities. Both feature a boy who discovers on his birthday that he is part of a hidden world. Both send him to a special school where he makes loyal friends and faces escalating threats. Both have a wise mentor figure who is not always what he seems. Rowling and Riordan even write humour the same way: through the protagonist's internal commentary, which is sharp, self-aware, and deeply endearing. If you came to Percy Jackson first and have not read Harry Potter, you are missing out on the series that most directly influenced Riordan's approach. If you read Harry Potter first, you already know why Percy Jackson works.

An alternative cover for this ASIN can be found here "Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'." Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games takes the young hero narrative in a much darker direction than Percy Jackson, but the core appeal is the same: a teenager who is thrown into a situation they did not choose and must find the courage to survive. Katniss Everdeen's arena is not Camp Half-Blood, but the resourcefulness and determination she shows under pressure is the same quality that makes Percy compelling. Collins writes action with the same relentless pacing as Riordan, and the series builds across three books toward a political confrontation that is more complex than most adult fiction. If you love Percy Jackson and want something with higher stakes and a grittier tone, The Hunger Games is the natural next step.

Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

James Dashner's The Maze Runner takes the survival scenario to its most extreme. Thomas wakes up in a lift with no memory, surrounded by boys trapped in a massive, shifting maze filled with deadly creatures. Dashner builds the mystery with the same drip-feed revelation style Riordan uses: each chapter answers one question and raises two more. The maze functions like Percy's quests, a structured challenge that tests both physical courage and problem-solving intelligence. If you read Percy Jackson for the puzzle-solving and the sense that the hero is figuring things out alongside the reader, The Maze Runner delivers that in a dystopian survival setting.

There are alternate cover editions for this ASIN here and here. If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human. When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone. Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade. Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive. Everything is going to change. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying. Remember. Survive. Run.

Veronica Roth's Divergent features a heroine discovering she does not fit the system she was born into, which is Percy's exact situation. Tris Prior learns she is Divergent, meaning she does not belong to any single faction, just as Percy learns he is a demigod who does not fully belong in either the human or divine world. Roth writes Tris's training at Dauntless with the same mix of danger and discovery that Riordan brings to Camp Half-Blood, and the gradual revelation that the faction system is built on a lie mirrors Percy's growing understanding that the Olympians are flawed and sometimes destructive. If you love Percy Jackson for the outsider-discovers-their-power arc, Divergent delivers that in a dystopian setting.

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is, she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris, and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are, and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret: one she’s kept hidden from everyone, because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves...or it might be what destroys her. .

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the instalment that most closely matches Percy Jackson's tone: darker than the early books, with a more complex mystery and a twist that reframes characters you thought you knew. The time-travel element adds a puzzle-box quality that Riordan fans will appreciate, and the reveal about Sirius Black's true loyalties mirrors the kind of mythological reversals Riordan loves. If you have read the first two Harry Potters and found them too young, Prisoner of Azkaban is where the series matures into something that stands alongside Percy Jackson's later, darker entries.

Harry Potter, along with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry can't wait to get back to school after the summer holidays. (Who wouldn't if they lived with the horrible Dursleys?) But when Harry gets to Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school...

C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the portal fantasy that defined the genre before Harry Potter and Percy Jackson existed. Four children step through a wardrobe into Narnia, a frozen land under the rule of a tyrant, and discover they have been prophesied to save it. Lewis writes with a warmth and moral clarity that Riordan channels in Percy's world, and the idea that ordinary children from our world can step into a magical one and become heroes is the foundation that both Rowling and Riordan built on. If you love Percy Jackson for the sense of wonder and discovery, Narnia is where that tradition began.

They open a door and enter a world NARNIA...the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy...the place where the adventure begins. Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In the blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever.

Twilight is a genre departure from Percy Jackson, but the crossover audience is huge because both series deliver total immersion in a secret world hidden inside our own. Meyer builds the Cullen family's vampire existence with the same internal logic Riordan uses for Camp Half-Blood: there are rules, hierarchies, and ancient threats that the human world knows nothing about. Percy discovers that Greek myths are real; Bella discovers that vampires are real. Both protagonists must navigate a world with its own codes and dangers while maintaining connections to the normal life they came from. If you love Percy Jackson for the hidden-world concept, Twilight offers that in a romantic context.

About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a love story with bite.

Christopher Paolini's Eragon is the fantasy epic that reads most like Percy Jackson transported to a medieval setting. A farm boy discovers a dragon egg, bonds with the creature that hatches, and is pulled into a rebellion against a tyrannical king. Paolini wrote the first draft when he was fifteen, and that youthful energy shows in the same way it shows in Riordan's work: the protagonist's sense of wonder is genuine and infectious. Eragon's training with the dragon Saphira mirrors Percy's training at Camp Half-Blood, and the discovery that he has powers he never suspected follows the same arc. If you want a book series similar to Percy Jackson set in a fully realised fantasy world rather than modern America, Eragon is the closest match.

An alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780375826696 can be found here. One boy... One dragon... A world of adventure. When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands.

Lois Lowry's The Giver is the dystopian novel that shows you what happens when a society decides to eliminate everything that makes life worth living. Jonas, assigned the role of Receiver of Memory at twelve, discovers that the peaceful, orderly community he lives in has achieved its calm by suppressing emotion, colour, music, and choice. Lowry writes Jonas's awakening with the same sense of discovery that Riordan brings to Percy learning about the gods: both protagonists are having their understanding of reality completely rewritten, and both must decide what to do with knowledge that their society does not want them to have. If you read Percy Jackson for the intellectual discovery, The Giver delivers that in a quieter, more philosophical register.

At the age of twelve, Jonas, a young boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is singled out to receive special training from The Giver, who alone holds the memories of the true joys and pain of life.

Percy is confused. When he awoke after his long sleep, he didn’t know much more than his name. His brain-fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight. Somehow Percy manages to make it to the camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he had to continually kill monsters that, annoyingly, would not stay dead. But the camp doesn’t ring any bells with him. Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn’t do a very good job of it. When the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her “gift” for an evil purpose, Hazel couldn’t say no. Now, because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Frank is a klutz. His grandmother claims he is descended from ancient heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn’t see it. He doesn’t even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery―although not good enough to help the Fifth Cohort win at war games. His big and bulky physique makes him feel like a clumsy ox, especially in front of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely―enough, even, to share the secret he holds close to his heart. Featuring a faithful adaptation by Robert Venditti, and incredible artwork by Antoine Dodé and Orpheus Collar, Rick Riordan's blockbuster book comes to life in The Son of Neptune, The Graphic Novel .

Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games and the instalment that raises the stakes most dramatically. Katniss is forced back into the arena, this time facing previous victors, while a rebellion builds across the districts. Collins writes the arena sequences with the same quest-narrative structure Riordan uses for Percy's missions: a defined objective, escalating obstacles, and allies whose loyalties are uncertain. If you read Percy Jackson for the quest structure and want that in a more intense, politically charged setting, Catching Fire is the peak of the Hunger Games trilogy.

No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends - true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. And when it comes to the beating up on "greasers" like him and his friends - he knows that he can count on them for trouble. But one night someone takes things too far, and Ponyboy's world is turned upside down...

S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders is one of the great American coming-of-age novels, and it connects to Percy Jackson through the theme of belonging. Ponyboy Curtis is a Greaser, part of a tight-knit group of working-class boys in conflict with the wealthy Socs. Hinton wrote this when she was sixteen, and the authenticity shows: the friendships, the loyalty, and the violence feel real in a way that transcends the 1960s setting. Percy Jackson is also fundamentally about finding your people, discovering the group you belong to after feeling like an outsider your entire life. If you love Camp Half-Blood because it is the place where Percy finally fits in, The Outsiders explores that same longing for belonging in a realistic setting.

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing—not even a smear of blood—to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

Cassandra Clare's City of Bones introduces the Shadowhunters, a secret race of warriors who protect the human world from demons. Clary Fray discovers she is one of them, and her initiation into the Shadowhunter world mirrors Percy's discovery of Camp Half-Blood. Clare builds her mythology with the same layered detail Riordan uses, drawing on angelic and demonic lore the way Riordan draws on Greek myths. The romance between Clary and Jace adds a dimension that Percy's earlier books do not have, and Clare's New York setting, with its hidden magical geography, will feel familiar to anyone who loves the way Riordan hides Olympus on top of the Empire State Building. If you want more hidden-world fantasy with a slightly older protagonist, City of Bones is the series.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001). 9780618260300