His Dark Materials

Doc Holliday

I'm your huckleberry.
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Pwns ur fase imho.

The Northern Lights (Bastardised as "The Golden Compass")
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass.

There's quite a deep storyline involved in this book, and it's quite thought provoking for a teenager's book.

Anyone else like these books?
 
I love them (actually re-reading Northern Lights again xD). I always thought it'd make a good film, but they've approached it all wrong. Too many changes from what I hear so I still haven't seen it.
I saw today that the books have been re-released, and Northern Lights has been re-titled as Golden Compass. >>
 
I have these books at home, never got round to reading them though.. I started Northern Lights years ago but only read the first chapter or so. What kind of genre are they?
 
Ahh i see, merci ^_^
In which case i shall try to read them on top of the 283718970172 other books which i have started and not yet finished.
 
Ive got all 3 and currently re-reading Northern Lights again. I finished it some years ago, then started on Subtle Knife. But I cant remember much, so an excuse to read that straight afterwards lol.
 
Yeah, I thought these books were cool. I love the idea of daemons...wish I had one! It would be a snow leopard.....
 
Erm, I only read The Golden Compass (The Northern Lights). I had heard so much about this book that I had really high expectations. All of my friends always ranted and raved about how terrific the entire series was, so I decided to give it a try. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed. To me, the writing was definitely nothing out of the ordinary. The plot was entertaining, but not remarkably so. There were also parts where it just seemed to drag. I don't know. Maybe it's because I had such high hopes for the book that I was so disappointed. I just didn't find it to be anything very special.

...But dear god, the movie was worse.
 
I love them, and have for many years. I had to listen to the tape of the first one, but after that I was drawn in. I adored the whole series. The writing style is very good, and the ideas are truly epic and original. The characters are engaging and unique. It's certainly one of my very favouite books of all time!


As for the film, I love that too! There are many who dislike it but I feel it's just 'cause it's so complex. If you don't know the story, you need to pay close attention throughout. It didn't ruin the story at all, which I feared! The characters were well cast, the filming and scenery was nice, the music was quite relaxing. I really can't see why people dislike it, but it's certainly a love it or hate it movie.
 
In all honesty, I disliked the books. When I first read the series as a teenager, I thought they were excellent. Now, coming back to it a little older, the writing seems stale and contrived.

My theory is that the books weren't intended to be entertainment. Sure, the plot is interesting, and character development is better than in some other teenage fiction, but on a critical re-read, it becomes apparent that the books are merely vehicles to peddle out Pullman's scathing attacks on organized religion. The Amber Spyglass reads less like a teenage orientated novel and more like a Communist inspired diatribe against religion. Sure, it's good to introduce complex and searching themes, and I for one am more than encouraging of questions asked about religion, but to sacrifice all that was good about the trilogy to pass on a rather ill organized and incoherent message is a waste of time, effort and potentially excellent literature. A shame.

Still, not as bad as the film. At least Northern Lights had the balls to insult religious organizations. The film was lacklustre, boring and convoluted, but of course, that's not really the director's fault. Due to intense pressure, he had to drop that theme on religion, and because the whole book is based around that theme, the resulting movie isn't going to be good. Again, a waste of a good premise.
 
the movie is a farce because of the catholic league having a big cry about it. the books are good, although the plot is a little predictable, they are entertaining as books should be but has a sub-plot so that it actualy engages the reader on more han just a basic level.
 
In all honesty I had never even heard of 'His Dark Materials' before the film was released, but I really enjoyed it so I bought the books and start reading them 1/2 days before Christmas and am half way through 'The Subtle Knife' and the are fantastic.

Furthermore, I wouldn't have even known that the film was in the slightest bit atheist until I watched the news and a load of US citizens were moaning about it. The only thing I disliked about the film is that after I read 'Northern Lights' - a lot of the book was missed out (even the non-religious parts) which brought the film down a notch. But 'The Subtle Knife' isn't exactly action packed so all I can think of is that they cut the film short to add bits into the next film (mainly when Mrs.Coulter and Lord Asriel open the path to another world).

Pullman is right though, if he wanted to promote atheism he would have wrote a Sermon.
 
Pullman is right though, if he wanted to promote atheism he would have wrote a Sermon.

I concur! I think that Pullman wrote the books to be entertaining and thought provoking, some people do try to push an agenda onto the books, but thats the beauty about literature. You can interpret art/written words in whatever way you want, you just have to believe in it.

Getting back to the topic at hand, I thoroughly enjoyed them. They were emotional and original, and despite being aimed at teenagers I didn't find them slow paced or too easy to read as with other teenage books.

I cried in places and laughed in others, and it made me consider important questions that will never be answered but should be thought about so that you can explore and know yourself. I still don't know what I believe in, but the ideas involved in the books
about the particles of Dust, yours and your Daemons dispursing with the others and become part of the world/universe
are a lovely sentiment.


So yeah I would recommend them, and come to think of it, I let a friend borrow these, and they are yet to return them!!
 
One of books that a friend of my recommended to me in Middle School. I'll admit he was anti-religon, and hated the government even then, so I wasn't sure about the books. Then I opened the first one and read it, and I fell in love with them. Creative and Original, Pullman proves that a novel aimed at children doesn't have to be dumbed down. I love it.

P.S People always same that the Mists of Avalon was against religon, too, but I thought that it only taught tolerance of all religions.
 
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