@moultano my son’s a big fan of the Wings of Fire books. the stories are honestly not as complex and mature as Harry Potter, but they’re well-crafted and pretty satisfying for my wife and me too
@moultano anything by Diana Wynne Jones. Very appropriate for 8 and better than HP but also with magic. And Terry Pratchett's kid friendly books. The Tiffany Aching series is marvelous.