Books like “Northern Lights”

What to read after “Northern Lights” by Philip Pullman: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Eragon
Christopher Paolini · 2002
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the mountains, and it hatches into a dragon. Chosen as her rider, he is hunted by the king's servants and must leave his village to learn the ways of the Dragon Riders and join the rebels.
2
Pawn of Prophecy
David Eddings · 1982
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
Garion grows up on a quiet Sendarian farm, unaware of the forces watching him. When a mysterious storyteller and a royal sorceress arrive, he is drawn into a search for a stolen artefact, travelling with a company that hides its true purpose from him. The old prophecy of the Belgariad has begun to move.
3
Malice
John Gwynne · 2012
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
The Banished Lands have known peace for years, but old rivalries are waking. Corban, son of a village lord, dreams of becoming a warrior; far away, a princess and a giant's son are caught up in the schemes of kings. A prophecy of the Bright Star and the Black Sun begins to unfold.
4
The Neverending Story
Michael Ende · 1979
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
Bastian, a lonely boy, steals a book about the dying world of Fantastica. As he reads he is drawn into it, and discovers that only he can give the Childlike Empress a new name and stop the Nothing from swallowing the land.
5
The Sword of Shannara
Terry Brooks · 1977
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
Shea Ohmsford lives a quiet life in the Shady Vale until the druid Allanon arrives with a warning: the Warlock Lord has returned, and only a descendant of the Shannara line can stop him. Shea sets out with a small band of companions to find the Sword of Shannara, the one weapon said to be able to destroy the Warlock Lord, before the Northland armies reach the Southland.
6
Blood Song
Anthony Ryan · 2011
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
- Epic Fantasy
- Coming of Age
Vaelin Al Sorna is given to the Sixth Order as a boy and raised among warriors who serve the Faith. His strange gift, the blood-song that lets him hear the dead, marks him for a harder path, and his training ends in a war that will decide the future of an empire.
7
The City of Brass
S. A. Chakraborty · 2017
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
- Epic Fantasy
- Quest
Nahri has survived in eighteenth-century Cairo by faking healings and stealing what she can. A careless summoning calls a djinn warrior to her side and drags her to Daevabad, a city of magic and old feuds, where her true blood makes her a threat to everyone around her.
8
The Riddle-Master of Hed
Patricia A. McKillip · 1976
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
Morgon, prince of the island of Hed, won a riddle contest against a ghost and now wears three stars on his forehead. When shape-shifters attack and the High One's realm begins to stir, he leaves his farm behind to seek answers about the fate that binds him to a land he has never seen.
9
The Blue Sword
Robin McKinley · 1982
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Chosen One
- Coming of Age
Harry Crewe, newly orphaned, travels to a remote outpost on the Darian border to live with her brother. Corlath, king of the Free Hillfolk, carries her away from the fort, and she finds an old magic waking in her blood. Caught between two peoples, she must decide where she belongs.
10
The Ninth Rain
Jen Williams · 2017
From the same world: “Witches”
- Witches
- Quest
For years the invading Jure'lia have been beaten back, but the cost has drained the empire. Tormalin, an exiled Eboran, and Vintage, a scholar, are hunting the truth about the fell-witches when they find Noon, a woman carrying a power the Jure'lia have waited centuries to claim.
11
The Book of Three
Lloyd Alexander · 1964
From the same world: “Epic Fantasy”
Taran, an assistant pig-keeper who wants only to be a hero, loses the oracular pig Hen Wen and follows her into the land of Prydain. With a bard, a princess and a creature named Gurgi, he stumbles into a war against the Horned King.
12
The Dark Is Rising
Susan Cooper · 1973
Similar plot moves: “Chosen One” and “Quest”
On his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton learns that he is the last of the Old Ones, born to hold back the Dark. As midwinter closes over the Thames valley, he must gather the six Signs of Light before the Rider and his powers can rise. A tale of the Light's long war against the Dark.