Hi everyone,

I'm just zipping through Amber Spyglass, after thoroughly enjoying Golden Compass & Subtle Knife. The characters are SO AMAZING and I'm trying to read slowly so they don't end. I really do love great fantasy/sci fi, but more of the pop classics if you will - Harry Potter, Ender's Game, LOTR, anything by Neil Gaiman (particularly Neverwhere), Loved UnLunDun (China Mieville).

Can you recommend other wonderful books or series that fall under this genre? I'm less introduced in series with less sophisticated/interesting characters that go on an on (Anne McCaffrey. Artemis Fowl, Eragorn, etc..) and more into those AMAZING reads. Thanks for your suggestions!

Heard Spiderwick Chronicles and Susan Cooper Dark is Rising series are good....

Try The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1)
Author: Jonathan Stroud

Really good YA trilogy. 

If you like Harry Potter I think you would enjoy Diana Wynne Jones Chrestomanci series.  I would start with The Lives of Christopher Chant.  Also I would recommend Megan Whalen Turner's Thief series.  It starts with The Thief, followed by The Queen of Attolia and the latest is the King of Attolia.  Excellent world building, lots of adventure and political wrangling in an anciet greek type setting.

I also really loved the His Dark Materials trilogy. Make sure you read "Once Upon a Time in the North" (short book that tells some back story on Lee Scoresby and Iorek), as well as "Lyra's Oxford."  Philip Pullman is my favorite author. I would recommend his Sally Lockhart mysteries and his other YA books. I think "Clockwork" has a similar feel to some of Neil Gaiman's writing.

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series (Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen) is amazing - the books are hard to describe, but based on your list I think you'd really like them.