His Dark Materials

A series overview for my friends.

If you're interested in reading His Dark Materials, it's quite simple but there are some points I'd like to address.

The read order is:

1. His Dark Materials (main series)
   1. Northern Lights (British version) / The Golden Compass
   2. The Subtle Knife
   3. The Amber Spyglass
2. Lyra's Oxford
3. Once Upon a Time in the North (technically a prequel, but I think it should be read after Lyra's Oxford)
4. The Book of Dust
   1. La Belle Sauvage
   2. The Secret Commonwealth
   3. The Rose Field

At any point after His Dark Materials, you can read Phillip Pullman's Daemon Voices. These essays are on writing and storytelling, but are excellent, and are optional.

The audiobook versions of Everything but The Book of Dust are read and narrated by Phillip Pullman, the author, and up to Lyra's Oxford, include a full cast. The audiobook version of Daemon Voices is also read by Phillip Pullman.

The Book of Dust is read by Michael Sheen. I once wrote a semi-displeasuarable review of his reading of La Belle Sauvage. I believe Lyra deserves to be voiced by a woman, not Michael Sheen, but his reading is quite good.

Daemon Voices is a collection of essays by Phillip Pullman. I have a set of favorite essays:

• Magic Carpets: The Writer's Responsibilities
• The Path Through the Wood: How Stories Work
• Let's Write It in Red: The Practice of Writing
• Poco a Poco: The Fundamental Particles of Narrative
• Reading in the Borderland: Reading, Books and Pictures
• “I Must Create a System…”: A Moth's-Eye View of William Blake
• God and Dust: Notes for a Study Day with the Bishop of Oxford
• The Republic of Heaven: God is Dead, Long Live the Republic!