Lament of the Mind

gobookyourself:

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

For more tales of magic, adventure and friendship, try these…

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones for a magical fantasy series about being true to yourself and overcoming adversity

The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson for the predecessor to the Harry Potter model

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman for an outstanding magical trilogy of adventure, identity and philosophy

Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce for an epic young adult fantasy series

(for ashleywaters89, goodinmyfeet, lilly-skinned)

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Everyone should read Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. For the record, the first book internationally is Northern Lights, in the United States is The Golden Compass. (Yes, that’s also the title of that AWFUL excuse for a children’s movie. Yes, the movie was modeled after the book. No, the movie is not faithful to the book. Yes, the book is far better. FAR better.) “Adventure, identity, and philosophy” are all understatements - this book series helped define me probably more than anything else. I cannot highly suggest it enough.

The others, I’ve not personally read but I’ve heard amazing things about. Tamora Pierce has been on my “to-read” list for longer than I’ve HAD a to-read list.

And just remember, just because these books are all “young adult” doesn’t mean you have to avoid them. In fact quite the opposite - you should probably actively pursue novels in that genre! These are where our best-sellers, our truly defining stories and thrillers are coming from nowdays. These are truly excellent stories, and just because they’re targeted by publishers at a “young adult” audience doesn’t mean that people who fall outside of that should avoid them. I’d say anyone from 13-130 could enjoy most of these novels just fine.

Tl;dr: Pick up this shit and read it.