The Aftermath of Harry Potter: Books You Can Read to Fill the Gap

Ever since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in the United States in September of 1998, there's always been something literary for the younger generation to anticipate reading. But with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow's publication on July 21, 2007, the saga of Harry Potter has unofficially come to an end.

J.K. Rowling hasn't committed to anything more than an upcoming lexicon of the Harry Potter world. And in a recent interview, J.K. has revealed more about what occurs with Harry after the events in Book 7. There's not much mystery left to be explored within the Harry Potter universe if one chooses to read her comments.

So what's the Harry Potter reader going to read now? Perhaps they don't actually enjoy reading for reading's sake (which many surveys and studies have proven to be true with some Harry Potter readers). Adult books might not grip them in the same way just yet. A Harry Potter reader would probably want something similar to read.

Fortunately, there are several excellent books and series that have been published both before and concurrently with Harry Potter. Some of them even share the same themes albeit their structure and settings are different. Perhaps somebody enjoyed that Harry and his friends were boarding at school.

We have an outstanding English writer, P.G. Wodehouse who wrote several short stories about English boarding school. Several of those short stories have been collected in one volume, called 'Tales of St. Austin's'. And if the reader enjoys Wodehouse's style of writing, they can move on to one of several other works of his. Wodehouse was a profilic writer and is best known for his Jeeves series.

If Wodehouse doesn't strike the reader's fancy, another suggestion would be the Great Brain series by John Dennis Fitzgerald. The Great Brain is set in the last decade prior to the 20th century and focuses on topics different from Harry Potter. But they both share that essential "readability" that brings the reader back to finish out the series. I could even go as far as describing the Great Brain as the "Western Harry Potter" that's been targeted at younger kids.

If the fantasy world of Harry Potter is what drew the reader in, there's an entire world of fantasy out there. There are even subgenres within the world of fantasy. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings trilogy would be considered 'high fantasy' whereas Piers Anthony's Xanth series is entirely different from the serious notes in Tolkien's masterpieces.

The world of Xanth is very similar to the world of Harry Potter, but much different in a few ways. Both are magical fantasy worlds, although Harry Potter is set within the real world. Xanth is set inside its own magical fantasy land that travels through the ages and attaches itself to the 'real world' at various points in time. In Harry Potter terms, with Xanth being the wizarding world, you could walk out of Diagon Alley into the 18th century, the 20th century, or even the 9th century.

Even better is that Xanth has installments in the double digits. There were well above 30 books in the series at last count. That should provide enough fodder for anybody for quite some time if you enjoy the series. Of course, there are always new characters and you don't always get the coming of age tale that you do with Harry, but that's a different topic.

Xanth is also somewhat similar to Harry Potter in that it's humorous at times (if not most of the time). It's a very pun-centric fantasy world and its fantasy world actually depends on puns. Odd traditions also persist within the universe of Xanth as it does within the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the outstanding "Wizardy Series" by Diane Duane. I read these when I was a kid, before Harry Potter was even anywhere near publication and they've stood the test of time. In fact, several people claim that the Wizardy Series is actually better than the Harry Potter series. They both share similar themes and this is an excellent series to pick up on after you finish the Deathly Hallows.

Now, there are several other books and series from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy to Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle, but we won't go into any more depth about other reading options that are available to you today.

Rather, I'd like to leave you with a book that has the potential to start a new Pottermania phenomenon. However, the odds for replicating part of Pottermania are extremely low. But "Tunnels Book 1" by Roderick Gordon is slated to be published on January 1, 2008. Will Pottermania strike again in the New Year? Who knows... although Amazon has already deeply discounted its preorders for Tunnels.

Tunnels has a 14-year old protagonist with a dysfunctional family. Sound familiar yet? The only thing the protagonist and his family have in common is archaeology. When his father disappears, he goes searching for him and discovers an underground society that's been forgotten by the world.

I don't know about you but that sounds like a winner to me!