12 books like Percy Jackson
If what you loved about Percy Jackson was gods causing chaos on a motorway and a hero who answers back, these are the books that scratch the same itch. Some are written for the same age group, some are what Percy readers graduate to when they want the myths straight.
Updated September 2026
We earn a commission if you buy through these links.
Ancient gods causing trouble in the present day
Who Let the Gods Out by Maz Evans 2016
Olympians blundering about the modern world with all the dignity of a stag do, exactly as in Percy Jackson; the setting is rural England and the comedy is broader and sillier.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia 2019
A twelve-year-old gets pulled into a war between gods and finds he's central to it, but the pantheon here is West African and African American folk heroes, and the book carries real grief alongside the adventure.
The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes 2018
Same shape as Percy's story — a boy told all his life he's the problem discovers he's prophesied — with Maya gods and a hero whose disability is part of who he is, not a puzzle to be solved.
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi 2018
A wisecracking narrator, a quest with a ticking clock and a divine parent problem, drawn from the Mahabharata; the humour is drier and the pace more headlong than Riordan's.
The myths themselves, retold for readers who want the source
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman 2017
Gives you Thor, Loki and Odin with the same relish Percy Jackson brings to the Olympians, but told as a sequence of old tales rather than a single quest.
Mythos by Stephen Fry 2017
The Greek stories behind everything Percy meets, delivered with jokes and asides; there's no modern-day hero to follow, just Fry talking you through it.
Circe by Madeline Miller 2018
A gods-and-monsters world where Hermes, Athena and the Minotaur all turn up, written for adults with a slow, interior voice quite unlike Percy's running commentary.
Ordinary kids recruited into a hidden magical institution
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston 2021
A secret organisation, a summer intake of trainees and a newcomer who doesn't fit in, much like Camp Half-Blood; the magic is bureaucratic and agency-based rather than mythological.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull 2006
Rules-bound magical creatures that will absolutely eat you if you break protocol, familiar from Percy's monsters; the danger builds through a single contained estate instead of a road trip.
Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A.F. Steadman 2022
Elemental powers, a competitive training school and a hero with a dangerous secret parentage; the unicorns here are carnivorous and the tone tips darker than Riordan's.
Old gods walking among us, written for grown-ups
American Gods by Neil Gaiman 2001
Deities from a dozen pantheons scraping a living in the modern world, the same joke Percy Jackson runs on, played here as a grim American road novel with adult content.
Hounded by Kevin Hearne 2011
A smart-mouthed narrator fending off Celtic, Norse and Greek gods in an ordinary town; it's a breezy urban fantasy for older readers, with an Irish wolfhound doing much of the banter.
If you also liked…
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby
Questions
- Which of these is closest to Percy Jackson if I want the same reading age?
- Who Let the Gods Out?, The Storm Runner and Aru Shah and the End of Time are pitched at the same readers and have the same mix of jokes and real peril. Amari and the Night Brothers is a close second if you don't mind swapping gods for a secret agency.
- Are the adult books on this list too much for a younger Percy Jackson reader?
- American Gods has sex, violence and swearing and is genuinely for adults; Circe is gentler but includes assault and is written for grown-ups. Mythos and Norse Mythology sit comfortably with confident teenage readers.
- I want Norse rather than Greek. Where should I start?
- Norse Mythology gives you the stories themselves in a couple of evenings, and Hounded puts Norse gods into a modern setting with a joking narrator.