His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is Philip Pullman's landmark fantasy franchise about Lyra Belacqua, daemons, parallel worlds, Dust, power and moral choice. The current seeded database only includes Northern Lights, the first novel, but that single title already represents the franchise's defining strengths: one of the great openings in modern children's fantasy, a fierce heroine, armoured bears, witches, a sinister child-stealing organisation and a world that feels intellectually and morally alive. This is upper-middle-grade fantasy with real darkness and philosophical weight, not a cosy adventure.

A major modern fantasy classic for strong readers: thrilling, dark, morally serious and full of daemons, armoured bears and big ideas.

Primary themes

• Good vs evil
• Growing up
• Identity
• Moral ambiguity
• Power and authority

Tone palette

• Adventurous
• Exciting
• Dark
• Thought provoking