Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library discussion

I've just finished "His Dark Materials" and I loved it, now I'm looking for something similiar, the same genre. Now I'm thinking about reading "John strange and mr. norrel" is it good?
And I have found a book in this page that also seems interesting "magyk", Has anyone read it? Is it good?
And what about "The Dark is Rising"? I didn't like the film at all but perhaps the books are good...
Any other recommendations?
Thank you ¡

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" is good, however it's not really fair comparing it to "His Dark Materials". "Jonathan Strange..." is much more sedate for the first two-thirds of the book and doesn't really pick up the pace until the end.

The books are directed at two different audiences, I'd say. "His Dark Materials" is children/YA literature. While I'd say "Jonathan Strange..." is for a more mature crowd.

If you'd like recommendations for YA fantastic lit., I highly recommend Neil Gaiman's Coraline or Clive Barker's Thief of Always. Both are fantasy with a touch of horror - or vice versa.

I read the Magyk Series. I really enjoyed it. Some people call it a Harry Potter wanna be. I didn't feel that it was a copy though. It is written quite differently. There are similarities in the Hero is a boy that has been raised an orphan, and there is magic. Although that I feel is where the similarities end. The series is a fun read. They aren't great litature or anything, but I did enjoy the time I spent with them.

The Dark is Rising series is fairly good. Five books, two different groups of protagonists alternate between the two books, with them all in the last one. My problem is that right at the end of the last book, the second group of protagonists is made to forget everything that's happened. This is a big no-no for me and turned me off of what had been a great series otherwise.

You seem to be mostly looking at YA series, so I'll recommend Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain here. And the older thread
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_g...
has plenty of good advice.

Thank you very much for your posts, they are really helpful ¡

I really enjoyed Magyk. I dont think its a Potter rip-off either, but I do think it would attract the same audience and fans. Def a fun book to read.

I thought the Septimus Heap series (starting with Magyk) was very fun and cute. It definitely didn't feel like a re-hash or rip-off to me. It had it's own style and imagination. One of my favorite things about the first book is that at the very end, as an epilogue, it tells you what happened to all these little bit characters that were mentioned in passing. Like the maid who the main characters frightened on accident at one point. They all get little happy endings. I thought that was so cute.

I'm a fan of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. It depicts an alternate reality where magic is the norm. It's very different from "His Dark Materials" in subject matter, but I enjoyed it just as much.

I was a bit disappointed with the third book in Angie Sage's Septimus Series, Physik. It really felt ... well...unfinished. I hope that she'll make it up to me with the next one, Queste. :o)

In terms of YA literature, I would not hesitate to recommend the Artemis Fowl series. It's good fun, in my opinion ...