Weekly Book Recs 31-2025: Portal Fantasy

WEEKLY BOOK RECS: 6 book suggestions every week

Another week, another weekly book recs edition. This week, we've compiled a list of six portal fantasy book recommendations. I think most people, as kids, have read books to escape their own small world. And why stop in childhood? If there's anything I'd like to do right now in this current state of the world, it would be to escape to another world. One where things may be bleak, but there is one hero to save it all. A story about hope, instead of another news article about why capitalism and killing babies for land expansion are a good thing. In books, the people agreeing with that sentiment are usually called "villains", or "bad guys". The books in this list fight against exactly that. And hopefully, you'll get some strength from them to fight back against the bad people in your own life.

1. “Erisseth” by Jake Zuurbier

Tropes/Genre: Fantasy, bisexual main character, adventure, grief

Five years ago, Mikiya watched her best friend Fenya disappear after a car-collision on a rain-soaked road lined with blossom trees. No body, no trace. The grief never let go. When she wakes up in another world after standing too close to a strange clock and finds a deadly purple mist in this new world, she is told she is part of the prophecy to find the cure. Since she can’t leave and gets more curious by the second, she accepts.

As she takes on the journey with Anzeru and Neretha, they realize it's easier said than done. Fighting Monsters, Curses and most importantly, themselves (and each other), they discover the purple mist isn't the only thing posing a threat to the world of Erisseth. Between dodging politics, unraveling her own strange connection to the world of Erisseth, and navigating messy feelings for both Anzeru and the sharp-tongued Vane, Mikiya is forced to confront the grief she’s been running from — and the kind of power she might actually possess.

2. “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” by Alix E. Harrow

Tropes/Genre: Portal fantasy, historical fiction, secret societies, magical books

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut. In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow's spellbinding debut--step inside and discover its magic.

3. “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman

Tropes/Genre: Dark fantasy, portal, creepy family, coming-of-age

Coraline Jones is bored — and adventurous. When she finds a locked door in her family’s new flat, she does what any curious child might: opens it. What she discovers is a mirror world, familiar but better. The food is tastier, the toys are more exciting, and her Other Parents seem to care a whole lot more about her. But the better version comes at a chilling cost.

The longer Coraline stays in the Other World, the more disturbing it becomes. Her Other Mother wants her to stay… forever. And to do that, Coraline will need to sew buttons over her eyes and give up who she is. What begins as a fantastical escape quickly becomes a nightmare, and Coraline must summon every ounce of her bravery to rescue not only herself, but the souls of those trapped before her. A dark, surreal fairytale about identity, courage, and the terrible seduction of being seen by people who don’t love you — just want to own you.

4. “A Darker Shade of Magic” by V.E. Schwab

Tropes/Genre: Multiverse, magic, morally grey characters, royal intrigue

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

5. “A Locket of No Particular Significance” by Florie Parker Scott

Tropes/Genre: YA portal fantasy, siblings, trauma recovery, magical realism vibes

Can a GOOD Faerie turned BAD ever turn GOOD again? Higher Faerie has banished unworthy Lesser Faerie from The Other-Lands. Like it or not, the human realm of The Middle Counties and The Wild South is besieged.When bookish Alisanne Frochard, a Vigilant apprentice studying Faerie Lore at Weskerlee Folly is tasked to track down a mischievous Dark Faerie alongside her handsome Captain whom she may or may not admire more than she ought, she hopes to prove herself worthy, or at the very least, tolerably capable.Jasper Wintergreen and Faerydae Ib, two elite Nobles from Faerie, both hard-pressed to contain their natural proclivity for expressing excessive and elaborately ebullient expostulations, are unbeknown to the Vigilants, watching over them.There's a Half-Faerie orphan if we are to believe what she says and she is never ever where she is thought to be. There is a riddle, heartrending lost love, a prologue, an enchanted locket and a blue feather in a hat worn for luck.

6. “Summer in Orcus” by T. Kingfisher

Tropes/Genre: Portal fantasy, surreal folklore, quirky grief story

When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains…

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