His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullmanby Philip Pullman
Shares rank 19 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
People recommend it as an escape into a completely different world with great themes and messages, and say it cannot come more highly recommended.
People recommend it as an escape into a completely different world with great themes and messages, and say it cannot come more highly recommended.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Escape into a different world
“I was able to escape to a completely different world, and it was the first love story I really enjoyed.”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class” Great themes and messages
“Got great themes and messages too.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading to your kids?” Highly recommended by commenters
“cannot come more highly recommended”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| His Dark Materialsby Philip PullmanThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Got great themes and messages too.”
“cannot come more highly recommended”
“I was able to escape to a completely different world, and it was the first love story I really enjoyed.”
“Where every episode is shot like a big-budget movie, and is pretty amazing compared to anything filmed in the 90s.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.