His Dark Materials
#2754.06 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 6 books Status Complete 1995–2025 Reading commitment Medium Philip Pullman Last reviewed 2026-10-14
Overview
His Dark Materials is Philip Pullman's multiverse centred on Lyra Belacqua, where souls take external animal form as daemons. The original trilogy (1995-2000) follows Lyra and, later, Will Parry as they traverse parallel worlds, from an alternate Edwardian-style Oxford to the ghost-haunted city of Cittagazze, uncovering a Church conspiracy involving experimentation on children before confronting a controlling divine authority directly. It was followed by The Book of Dust (2017-2025), completed by The Rose Field in October 2025, plus five shorter companion works. Northern Lights won the Carnegie Medal in 1995 and was later voted the best Carnegie Medal winner of the past 70 years, while The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Book of the Year in 2001, the first children's book to do so. Over 22 million copies had sold in 40 languages by a 2024 count.
Portal fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (6 works) counts toward ranking
His Dark Materials (trilogy) Philip Pullman
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Northern Lights; US title: The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1996). Carnegie Medal 1995; 'Carnegie of Carnegies' 2007. | 1995 | core | 4.03 (1,639,207 ratings) |
 | The Subtle Knife | 1997 | core | 4.15 (468,205 ratings) |
 | The Amber Spyglass; First children's book to win the overall Whitbread Book of the Year (2001). | 2000 | core | 4.11 (391,200 ratings) |
The Book of Dust Philip Pullman
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | La Belle Sauvage | 2017 | core | 4.15 (116,204 ratings) |
 | The Secret Commonwealth | 2019 | core | 4.03 (65,497 ratings) |
 | The Rose Field; Completes The Book of Dust (published 23 Oct 2025). | 2025 | core | 3.54 (17,322 ratings) |
Completed by The Rose Field, 23 Oct 2025.
Library: companion shorts (5 works)
Lyra's Oxford (2003) ; Set two years after the trilogy.
Once Upon a Time in the North (2008) ; Prequel: Lee Scoresby meets Iorek Byrnison.
The Collectors (2014) ; Audio/Kindle 2014; print edition 15 Sep 2022 (Penguin). Set between La Belle Sauvage and Northern Lights.
Serpentine (2020) ; Written 2004 for a charity auction; published 15 Oct 2020.
The Imagination Chamber (2022) companion; Scenes and vignettes from the HDM universe.
Quick answers
- How many books are in His Dark Materials? His Dark Materials's Core Canon is 6 books, plus 5 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for His Dark Materials? Publication order, starting with Northern Lights. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is His Dark Materials finished? Complete (1995–2025).
- How much reading does His Dark Materials take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 6 Core Canon books · ~3,124 pages).
- How is His Dark Materials ranked? #275 in this site's official ranking, based on 2,697,635 reader ratings across 6 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #275?
Ranked #275 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.06 across 6 core books.
- Backed by 2.7M reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.54 to 4.15.
- Less than 0.01 behind #274, The Bone Season (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 6 books · Complete · 2.7M ratings · Ranks #275 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (6 Core Canon books)
- Northern Lights (1995)
- The Subtle Knife (1997)
- The Amber Spyglass (2000)
- La Belle Sauvage (2017)
- The Secret Commonwealth (2019)
- The Rose Field (2025)
Awards (verified)
- Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2005: Philip Pullman
- Carnegie Medal, 1995: won: Northern Lights
- Carnegie of Carnegies (70th-anniversary public vote), 2007: won: Northern Lights; Voted best Carnegie Medal winner of the award's first 70 years.
- Whitbread Book of the Year (Overall (via Children's category)), 2001: won: The Amber Spyglass; First children's book to win the overall award.
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Suggestions computed from what His Dark Materials and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Bibliomantik Portal fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.96
- Abarat Portal fantasy / Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.14
- Shades of Magic Portal fantasy / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.13
- Caraval Portal fantasy / Romantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.04
Official resources
- philip-pullman.com: fetch-blocked (401), registered for reference
- Penguin UK: The Rose Field
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.06 across 2,697,635 ratings on 6 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: His Dark Materials Core Canon accepted 2026-08-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia (English) Tier 2
- Penguin Random House UK Tier 1
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials
Last reviewed: 2026-08-06
Rule: Core = 6 novels across two trilogies; The Rose Field (Oct 2025) completed The Book of Dust. Five companion shorts expanded/companion.