BY ALICIA PENNEY
Philip Pullman is expected to release the first volume of The Book of Dust – a companion trilogy for the incredible His Dark Materials series, on October 19th. Pullman ignited my imagination with the rich and authentic world building of His Dark Materials starting with book 1, “The Golden Compass.” The magic, adventure, philosophy and solid storytelling of those books is so deeply satisfying, I’ve read them probably 6 times since I first discovered them as a teenager. Needless to say, I’m fairly dancing in anticipation of the release of the Book of Dust.
Another fall release I’m looking forward to is “Oathbringer,” book three of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, due out in November. Despite being a prolific author, I only recently discovered Sanderson when Tor Books did a special free release of the first book in this series a few months ago. There’s nothing really mind blowing about these books, but they are an absorbing read and there’s some really interesting settings and magical mechanics at play in the books which kept me interested throughout the two longish initial instalments of the series.
I’m also cautiously optimistic about the upcoming release of Marvel’s Inhumans television series. I’ve always been leery of spin-offs because they rarely have the production value or, to be more whimsical about it, the heart, of the original source material. Given that this series will be a spin off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is itself sort of a spin off of the Avengers, which draws ITS source material from several comic series, I’m not sure what to expect. This show also won’t have the benefit of involvement of Joss Whedon and his creative relatives so my expectations are not overwhelming me, though I will give it a shot.
Finally, there’s going to be a Watership Down animated series coming out on Netflix sometime in 2017. This book about rabbits has been one of the most beloved books of my life, notwithstanding the somewhat terrifying animated film of 1978. I’m really excited to watch this upcoming series, and I hope it can touch hearts in the same way the book did for me many years ago.
