The Seeker — Read-Alike List

Did you enjoy reading The Dark is Rising? If so, we suggest that you read the entire Sequence, and we recommend the following books:

Chima, Cindy Williams. The Warrior Heir (series)
Sixteen-year-old Jack fails to take his medicine one morning, and he suddenly feels so strong that he sends his rival sailing into the net at soccer tryouts – without even touching him. Jack soon discovers his medicine is not what he thought it was, and he is no ordinary teen – he is a warrior heir. With the aid of an aunt, friends old and new, and a magical sword, Jack fights to retain his identity and follow his own path.

De Lint, Charles. The Blue Girl
When fifteen-year-old Imogene and her best friend Maxine encounter Ghost, Redding High School’s resident lost soul, the girls embark on an adventure that oscillates between the dangers of the unforgiving high school environment and a chillingly wicked netherworld of fairies and other supernatural creatures who are attracted to Imogene's personality and who threaten her safety.

Delaney, Joseph. Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice series)
In England some centuries ago, Thomas, the twelve-year-old seventh son of a seventh son, is taken on as an apprentice by the local Spook, whose job it is to keep the surrounding area free from witches, bogarts and other things that creep in the night. When Tom inadvertently frees a terrifying witch, he must overcome his fear of his new solitary position as a Spook apprentice to restore order.

DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember (The Books of Ember series)
Imagine a town completely surrounded by darkness... the only light and heat coming from an aging power plant driven by a massive underground river. Time is running out, as the city's infrastructure begins to break down, and the town is repeatedly thrown into utter blackness. Ember's unlikely savior may very well be a young girl named Lina who, along with her best friend Doon, finds clues that may show the way out and save them all.

Flanagan, John. The Ranger's Apprentice (series of the same name)
Set in the mythical land of Araluen, the series follows the adventures of Will, a small and lively fifteen-year-old boy living in medieval Castle Redmont. As an Apprentice Ranger, Will is trained to be an expert archer and knife thrower, as well as learning the skills of silent, unseen movement, tracking and concealment. Gradually, a bond develops between the garrulous, inquisitive Will and his grim-faced mentor, Halt – renowned as one of the greatest of all Rangers.

Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart
When young Meggie's father reads aloud from a book called INKHEART, an evil ruler escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands directly in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is right in the midst of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Meggie must learn to control the magic that has conjured this nightmare – for only she can alter the course of the tale that has changed her life forever.

Funke, Cornelia. The Thief Lord
Brothers Prosper and Bo are orphans on the run from their cruel aunt and uncle. When they decide to hide out in Venice, they meet a mysterious character who calls himself the Thief Lord. Using his magnetic charisma, Thief Lord leads a ring of street children who dabble in petty crimes. Prosper and Bo relish being part of this colorful new family until they learn that the Thief Lord has secrets of his own. Soon the boys are thrust into circumstances that will lead them to an extraordinary, spellbinding journey.

Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere
Richard Mayhew ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below: a dark city of lost and forgotten people, places and times. Richard encounters vividly eclectic characters such as vengeful Door, the tricky Marquis of Carabas and mysterious Hunter who accompany him as he navigates this shadowy labyrinth.

L' Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time (The Time Quartet)
Meg Murry is the classic teenage character – desperately trying to find her place in a world where she doesn't seem to fit in.  She's smart in a way that isn't really recognized by anyone but her family, which includes her mother, her absent father, her five-year-old genius brother Charles Wallace, and twins Sandy and Dennys. She is soon whisked off through time and space to a series of different planets in search of Mr. Murry, a physicist who was working on tesseracts – or wrinkles in time – before he vanished.

MacHale, DJ. Pendragon (series of the same name)
Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. But there is something very special about Bobby: he is going to save the world. Readers join Bobby as he travels from the alternate dimension of Denduron to the underwater territory of Cloral to the world of First Earth, on his mission to save the universe from ultimate evil.

Paolini, Christopher. Eragon (Inheritance Trilogy)
Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a stunning blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the bitter winter, it hatches into a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, whom he names Saphira. Eragon soon discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in an impending war. Eragon and Saphira set out to expand their magical powers and understanding of the political situation as they endure a perilous journey wrought with calamitous battles, wounds, capture and thrilling escapes.

Nix, Garth. Sabriel (The Abhorsen Trilogy)
Ever since she was a child, Sabriel has lived away from the undead and the real world, sheltered by a magician father who teaches her all she needs to know. But with her father's sudden disappearance, it is up to Sabriel to journey through a dangerous world to uncover her true destiny and to battle a rising evil.

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials series)
This fantasy follows young Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of a special world inside Oxford University. But Lyra's carefree existence changes forever when she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, overhear a secret discussion and then prevent an assassination attempt against her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel. Soon Lyra and Pan are swept up in a dangerous game in a trip to the far north, accompanied by a set of allies ranging from witches to an armor-clad polar bear.

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians series)
The adventures of the gods and heroes of Greek mythology get a new spin in the Riordan’s series, about a modern twelve-year-old New Yorker who learns he's a demigod. Perseus, aka Percy Jackson, discovers that his father, Poseidon, has been accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt. Percy must find and return the bolt in order to save humankind from impending doom.

Sage, Angie. Magyk (The Septimus Heap series)
Septimus Heap, the seventh son of the seventh son, is pronounced dead by the midwife on the night he is born. That same night, his father, Silas, finds a newborn girl with violet eyes in the snow. The Heaps take the baby girl, Jenna, into their home and raise her as their own. Ten years later, Jenna finds that she has her own grand destiny to fulfill, and that Septimus may still be alive.

Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy)
As an apprentice to the great magician Underwood, young Nathaniel is gradually being schooled in the traditional art of magic. When popular magician Simon Lovelace viciously humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to speed up his magical education until he masters one of the most difficult spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. However, Nathaniel soon learns that conjuring Bartimaeus and controlling him are two very different things – and he may be in way over his head.


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