Mythology, monsters, and one more demigod.
My daughter finished The Last Olympian on a Tuesday and by Wednesday morning she’d fashioned a working trident out of tinfoil and a broom handle. She wants more prophecies, more monsters, more kids who find out they’re secretly powerful. The problem is that Percy Jackson isn’t a series you follow—it’s a gateway drug to an entire genre. These eight books carry the same chosen-one stakes and myth-soaked worlds, but they’re not Riordan retreads. Some pull from Hindu gods, some from African American folklore, some from Norse mythology that actually predates Marvel. They all understand that the best part of being a demigod isn’t the powers—it’s finding out you belong somewhere bigger than yourself.
Aru Shah lights a cursed lamp in a museum and accidentally awakens an ancient demon. Now she has nine days to save the world with a crew of other Pandava descendants. It's Percy Jackson's structure transplanted onto Hindu mythology—quest-based, monster-filled, and Roshani Chokshi writes with the same propulsive energy Riordan does.
Pick this one if they want Percy Jackson but with Hindu gods.
Seventh-grader Tristan literally punches a hole in the sky and falls into a world where John Henry, Brer Rabbit, and Anansi the spider are real. Kwame Mbalia built an entire mythology out of African American folklore and it hits with the same weight as Camp Half-Blood—chosen kid, impossible odds, gods who don't play fair.
Pick this one if they want mythology they haven't seen before.
Zane Obispo has a limp, lives near a volcano, and just found out he's descended from a Mayan god. Now an ancient evil is escaping and Zane has to stop it. J.C. Cervantes writes like she studied the Percy Jackson blueprint—snappy dialogue, high stakes, a kid who thought he was ordinary until five minutes ago.
Pick this one if they loved Percy's sarcasm and underdog energy.
It's Rick Riordan, so you know what you're getting: a homeless kid finds out he's the son of a Norse god and has to prevent Ragnarok. Magnus Chase is Percy Jackson with a Thor coat of paint, and if your kid isn't ready to leave Riordan's voice yet, this is the smoothest transition.
Pick this one if they're not ready to leave Riordan yet.
Petra is traveling on a spaceship to a new planet when a collective erases everyone's memories—except hers. She has to preserve humanity's stories using the Mexican folklore her grandmother taught her. It's not mythology in the Percy sense, but it's a chosen-one story about a girl who holds an entire culture in her head.
Pick this one if they want high stakes beyond ancient gods.
Five dragonets have been raised in secret to fulfill an ancient prophecy and end a war among dragon tribes. Tui Sutherland swaps demigods for dragons but keeps the prophecy-driven structure intact—destiny versus choice, kids who don't want the job but take it anyway, a war that hinges on whether they succeed.
Pick this one if they want prophecies but with dragons.
Morrigan is cursed to die on her eleventh birthday but gets rescued by a mysterious man who takes her to Nevermoor, a magical city where she has to compete in trials to earn her place. Jessica Townsend built a world as rich as Riordan's—whimsical, dangerous, and structured around a kid who has to prove she belongs.
Pick this one if they want magic school meets impossible trials.
Sophie discovers she's not human but an elf with telepathic abilities and has to leave her family to attend school in a hidden world. Shannon Messenger writes with the same breathless pacing as Riordan—chosen one, hidden powers, a world that's been waiting for her to show up and fix everything.
Pick this one if they want chosen-one stakes in a new world.
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Millennial dad in the PNW. Reading aloud with my daughter (8) and son (4). Honest takes on the books we actually read at bedtime.
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On the hundredth reading of the week.
Yes, even the new episodes haven’t been enough.
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