According to the Irish Independent, Dublin-based author Sarah Rees Brennan is on her way to filling the much-lamented vacuum left by the ending of the Harry Potter series:

Similar to the Harry Potter books, [Brennan's novel] The Demon's Lexicon tells the story of a teenage boy living with a magical secret.

Nick (16) is from London and he has been on the run from magicians for his whole life because his mother stole a powerful charm from them. The teen's father is dead and when his older brother's life comes under threat, things get more serious and a cat and mouse chase ensues.

Sarah's books are not for kids but are aimed at the young adults market. She hopes to tap into the growing appetite for fantasy books like the Lord of the Ring series, and Artemis Fowl.

The most identifiable aspect of the Harry Potter books was the fact that each book was a  bildungsroman in the most literal sense of the word: each book followed the moral and academic development of a young character, specifically through a fantastical version of a very English school.  Absent his distinctive schoolboy identity, Harry Potter would be a fairly lackluster fantasy character.  To truly be a successor to Potter, a novel has to have that scholastic, after-school aspect to it.  Not to mention v-neck sweaters, huge scarves, and repp ties ever-so-fashionably askew.  

Either way, we look forward to Ms. Brennan's debut.