TL;DR: if you care about trans people, you should boycott harry potter and other rowling stuff. Also, you should read discworld because I need to see more fanart of it. K? Thanks. Luv u.
If you know trans and gnc people are real, have always existed and will always exist and deserve basic respect and rights as human beings and you are also looking for something to fill the harry-potter-shaped void in your heart (please for the love of god just boycott harry potter stuff its not hard) then might I happily reccommend you get into Discworld!? What the hell is discworld I hear you ask. Well, the world of Disc is a flat planet being carried through the stars on the backs of four elephants which in turn are all standing on the back of a massive turtle. But none of that is really important to most of the plots and honestly it doesn't even come up much. The discworld series is a sprawling tale that follows, not one 'chosen' boy, but dozens of characters from different backgrounds within the world, characters of all sorts of gender expressions and sexualities (though romance takes a backseat, adventure is driving and friendship's called permanent shotgun). You can follow specific groups of characters if you like, you can find lists online for the different thru-lines within discworld. But, you can truly just pick up any random book and start reading if you want. You won't be any more lost than if you started with the first book he published and went chronologically or the beginning of any one characters journey. One of the best things about discworld is getting to know it slowly and through the lens of vastly different but relatable people living all over it.
One of my favorite 'series' is The Watch, which centers on a middle-aged night watchman named Sam Vimes and his struggles with alcoholism, corruption in the force, corruption in politics, racism, multi-culturalism, colonization, class desparities, addiction, war and bigotry. It does NOT glorify cops, and we see Vimes grow as a man and a person of authority in his community and eventually the city and country at large. Also, he falls in love with a big middle-aged woman from a higher class who's been kind of shunned by her family for being 'unmarriable' and who keeps dragons as a hobby and they eventually have a child together and it's all very endearing to see Sam become this endlessly devoted husband and father. He's gruff, he's not perfect, but goddamn if he doesn't friggin love his wife and kid.
Another series centers on Tiffany Aching, a very clever young witch from a family of sheperds and her adventures with The Wee Free Men in the sheep-filled countryside. Tiffany's books cover topics like sexism, inclusive feminism, nature, pastoral life and disrupting the patriarchy.
The series centered on 'ex' con-man, Moist vonLipwig (real name), starts with Going Postal wherin the main character is hung as a thief in the first chapter but goes on to be conscripted by the patrician of the city to resurrect the dead and rotting postal service (or else be hung more successfully next time he's caught in a grift). In following books Moist turns his con-man skills of smooth-talking, keen observation and ability to make connections to kick off the production of paper money and the steam-powered locamotive.
These books offer insightful and witty commentary on topics like labor rights, equality, entrepeneurship, corrupt governments, corrupt businesses, corrupt systems in general, industrialization, and morality in business (or lack thereof).
There's also several standalone books that exist outside of these multi-book storylines, but often include familiar characters and settings in the background. I just finished listening to Monstrous Regiment (the version I listened to was narrated by Katherine Parkinson (with footnotes read by Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz) good, but not perfect. She does all the voices which is wonderful but sometimes carries the wrong voice thru a line during dialougues which can be a bit confusing, but in her defense it can sometimes take a couple read-thrus for me to understand who's saying what in a back-and-forth in some of Pratchetts books. Not often, but often enough that I'm not surprised Katherine had the same problem here and there) which is a great standalone book (Vimes and a couple other recurring characters play minor rolls, but mostly it's new people and settings). This book centers on Polly Perks who cuts off her hair, dresses as a boy, and joins the army hoping to track down her brother Paul (an autistic-coded young man with a special interest in birds) and bring him home (Polly's love, compassion and worry for her older brother are evident in the way she thinks and talks about him throughout). Polly as Oliver, joins a rag-tag group of new recruits and as they get to know each other better, Polly finds she's not the only one there with a secret that could get her killed (the country they fight for has a lot of strict and esoteric rules regarding gender roles). This book has themes like censorship, religious zealotry, blind nationalism, the horrors of war, the horrors of being born a woman, questioning gender identity, sexism, patriarchy, bigotry, abuse, trauma, cross-dressing. This book has real lesbians, at least one for sure transman, and the main character offers many critical observations on gender throughout the book. To be fair, it was written by a cis man over a decade ago so words like lesbian, trans, non-binary are not used, but for those of us who know, Polly's experiences and thought processes are relatable. And it's all written with so much heart and human empathy that it's honestly incredible. I have to assume that Terry was someone who listened to others well and endeavored to represent real people with real experiences within his fantastical world. It is a world of fantasy with a solid anchor in humanity (though that 'humanity' is often displayed by people like dwarves, trolls, werewolves, vampires, golems, etc.).
And if you really just can't get enough of young male wizards then Rincewind is your guy. He's not very good at magic, but that's okay because in discworld most of being a wizard is knowing that you absolutely shouldn't use magic if you can help it. The first book he's in is The Color of Magic, which is also the first published discworld book and the first one that I ever read. I had no idea what was going on for most of it, but it was a good time. Later I reread it and, having gotten more familiar with discworld, it was easier to follow. That may be a slight barrier to entry for the discworld series, kind of no matter where you start you're going to be at least a bit confused and it will probably take time to get your bearings, but once you get going you'll just want to keep exploring this weird, impossible world. Its silly and serious at the same time and very reflective of our own world in all the ways that really matter while being far enough removed from reality to offer a reprieve from it.
Having said all this I recognize that Discworld is really nothing like HP, its much more deep and multifaceted. Also, I think they are slightly more challenging to read, theyre just at a higher reading level, which I know is tough for some but a lot of them are available as audiobooks and it's good to challenge yourself to a book with some new vocab words sometimes! But anyway, I need more people to read some Discworld books because I personally need to see a lot more fanart of it. I need that. Ok. Thanks. Love you all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
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