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16th Nov 2019

10 amazing books fans of His Dark Materials will absolutely love

Keeley Ryan

Fans were absolutely buzzing when His Dark Materials, the TV adaptation of the Philip Pullman trilogy of the same name, premiered earlier this month.

The fantasy epic has won the hearts of fans across the globe ever since The Amber Spyglass, the first instalment in the trilogy, was published in 2000 – and it is definitely easy to see why.

Especially after the author continued Lyra’s adventures with The Book of Dust trilogy, which began in 2017.

So, to mark the premiere of the TV series – as well as it being almost 20 years since the first of the His Dark Materials books was published – we have rounded up 10 brilliant books fans of the series will adore.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

Run away, one drowsy summer’s afternoon, with Holly Sykes: wayward teenager, broken-hearted rebel and unwitting pawn in a titanic, hidden conflict.

Over six decades, the consequences of a moment’s impulse unfold, drawing an ordinary woman into a world far beyond her imagining. And as life in the near future turns perilous, the pledge she made to a stranger may become the key to her family’s survival . . .

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

Malcolm Polstead’s Oxford life has been one of routine, ordinary even.

He is happiest playing with his daemon, Asta, in their canoe, La Belle Sauvage. But now as the rain builds, the world around Malcolm and Asta it seems is set to become increasingly far from ordinary.

Finding himself linked to a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua, Malcolm is forced to undertake the challenge of his life and to make a dangerous journey that will change him and Lyra for ever…

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman 

Lyra, now twenty years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, are forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined, and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed.

Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right.

Theirs is a world at once familiar and extraordinary, and they must travel far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search for what is lost – a city haunted by daemons, a secret at the heart of a desert, and the mystery of the elusive Dust.

Arcadia by Iain Pears

April, 1960: In the cellar of a professor’s house in Oxford, fifteen-year-old Rosie goes in search of a missing cat — and instead finds herself in a different world.

Anterwold is a sun-drenched land of storytellers and prophecies. But is this world real — and what happens if Rosie decides to stay?

Meanwhile, a rebellious scientist is trying to prove that time does not even exist — with potentially devastating consequences. As the three worlds come together, one question arises: who controls the future — or the past…?

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Ned Henry is a time-travelling historian who specialises in the mid-20th century – currently engaged in researching the bombed-out Coventry Cathedral. He’s also made so many drops into the past that he’s suffering from a dangerously advanced case of ‘time-lag’.

Unfortunately for Ned, an emergency dash to Victorian England is required and he’s the only available historian. But Ned’s time-lag is so bad that he’s not sure what the errand is – which is bad news since, if he fails, history could unravel around him …

The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith

The Unwritten Library in Hell- a neutral space in Hell where all stories unfinished by their authors are kept. Claire, Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing, is charged not only with repairing and organising books, but also with preventing the escape of restless stories which materialise as characters.

When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity, and nervous demon courier Leto.

But the simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil’s Bible, a mighty weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell. And so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell…and Earth.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

When Charles Wallace Murry goes searching through a ‘wrinkle in time’ for his lost father, he finds himself on an evil planet where all life is enslaved by a huge pulsating brain known as ‘It’.

How Charles, his sister Meg and friend Calvin find and free his father makes this a very special and exciting mixture of fantasy and science fiction, which all the way through is dominated by the funny and mysterious trio of guardian angels known as Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which.

 

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library it leads him on a quest unlike any other. Its pages entrance him with their tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a recollection from his own childhood.

Determined to solve the puzzle of the book, Zachary follows the clues he finds on the cover – a bee, a key and a sword. They guide him to a masquerade ball, to a dangerous secret club, and finally through a magical doorway created by the fierce and mysterious Mirabel. This door leads to a subterranean labyrinth filled with stories, hidden far beneath the surface of the earth.

When the labyrinth is threatened, Zachary must race with Mirabel, and Dorian, a handsome barefoot man with shifting alliances, through its twisting tunnels and crowded ballrooms, searching for the end of his story.

You can read Her’s thoughts about The Starless Sea here

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the ‘Cemetery of Lost Books’, a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ by Julian Carax.

But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from the book, a character who turns out to be the devil.

This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax’s work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind…

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Sabriel is sent as a child across the Wall to the safety of a school in Ancelstierre. Away from magic; away from the Dead. After receiving a cryptic message from her father, 18-year-old Sabriel leaves her ordinary school and returns across the Wall into the Old Kingdom.

Fraught with peril and deadly trickery, her journey takes her to a world filled with parasitical spirits, Mordicants, and Shadow Hands – for her father is none other than The Abhorson. His task is to lay the disturbed dead back to rest. This obliges him – and now Sabriel, who has taken on her father’s title and duties – to slip over the border into the icy river of Death, sometimes battling the evil forces that lurk there, waiting for an opportunity to escape into the realm of the living.

Desperate to find her father, and grimly determined to help save the Old Kingdom from destruction by the horrible forces of the evil undead, Sabriel endures almost impossible challenges whilst discovering her own supernatural abilities – and her destiny.

A good book can do just about anything; from taking you on a wild and fantastical adventure to making you feel like an all-knowing super sleuth (if you figure out the killer twist).

But what’s good to read? Each week, #Bookmarked will help you out – with an insight into the best novels hitting shelves right now and other faves that everyone needs to read at least once in their lives.

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