Perfect Portal Fantasies

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying “Any portal fantasy in a storm” . . . well, that’s our version of it, anyway. 😉 (Since we do have so many reading options, we like to consider them carefully!)

Weather or not your life is particularly stormy right now, you still might be craving that perfect literary escape. It’s important to many people to get good reading recommendations—which is what we’re here for!

​No book is perfect, but we think these are ship-shape! So sail on into this list, and we wish you a bookish bon voyage!

1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente: starts a series. A tween girl from Omaha is summoned to help the new, young Marquess of Fairyland. If she doesn’t retrieve a talisman from the enchanted woods, the fickle Marquess will make life difficult for those under her rule.

2. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: A young businessman discovers a secret world below the streets of London, a labyrinth full of angels and monsters. There, he must help a noblewoman save her kingdom from destruction.

3. Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman: a fusion of urban fantasy and Fae court intrigue; starts a series. Born in the Fae-touched mirror-world, the Nether, Cathy doesn’t want to be a debutante, so she runs away to the human world. She’s dragged back toward an arranged marriage but ends up helping a border-patroller named Max unravel a high-profile disappearance.

4. Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks: A widower purchases a magic kingdom . . . what could possibly go wrong? A light-hearted romp with a talking dog and a woman who turns into a tree by moonlight.

5. Mister Monday by Garth Nix: starts a series. Arthur, a 7th-grader with severe asthma, is given magical keys (one per book) to a mysterious world and finds himself caught up in an ancient conspiracy between supernatural forces.

6. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer: starts a trilogy. Harper, a young American woman, is magically abducted to Emberfall, a kingdom in peril whose prince is under a curse. The vindictive sorceress who cast it is determined to stop Harper from breaking it.

7. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: one of the most prominent examples of “literary nonsense” full of eccentric characters and extraordinary imagination! (If you’re a fan of this book, you might love The Land of the Purple Ring too!)

8. The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis: Four siblings travel through a wardrobe to a fantasy world called Narnia. Winter witches, talking animals, heroic deeds, voyages to enchanted islands, and more!

9. The Secret Country trilogy by Pamela Dean: Five cousins invent a fantasy-filled world as a game . . . but the Secret turns out to be a real place and, transported there, they must win the game—which has escalated into war.

10. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce: A boy finds a magical garden where he has adventures with a lonely girl, and discovers that time can be both an enemy and a friend. A beloved children’s classic.

11. The Midnight Files by Deborah J. Natelson: an action-packed, serialized fantasy adventure story on Kindle Vella. Agents Daisy and Lawrence work for the mysterious Agency, which sends its personnel through gates called Paths to combat genres invading the real world. Can ex-Romance agent Daisy cut it in Horror with the infamous Lawrence . . . all of whose other partners have died?


What’s your favorite portal fantasy? Tell us in the comments!


P.S. – ​If you loved these book recommendations, why not sign up for our newsletter? Twice a month, we’ll send you a themed list of fantasy and/or sci-fi book recommendations, and sometimes music or movies too. (Not to mention jokes, games, puzzles, and memes!)

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