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Title | The Golden Compass
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Author | Philip Pullman
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | DelRey - 1997
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First Printing | Scholastic Children's Books - 1995 (original title - Northern Lights)
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Title | The Subtle Knife
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Author | Philip Pullman
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Cover Art | Eric Peterson
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Publisher | DelRey - 1998
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First Printing | Scholastic Children's Books - 1997
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Title | The Amber Spyglass
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Author | Philip Pullman
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Cover Art | Steven Rawlings
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Publisher | DelRey - 2001
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Cover Art | Cliff Nielson
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Publisher | Laurel-Leaf - 2007
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First Printing | --- - 2000
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Title | His Dark Materials (Omnibus)
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Author | Philip Pullman
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Cover Art | Douglas Mullen
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Publisher | Random House - 2007
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First Printing | ---
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Title | Lyra's Oxford
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Author | Philip Pullman
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Cover Art | John Lawrence
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Publisher | Random House - 2003
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First Printing | Random House - 2003
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Title | Once Upon a Time in the North
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Author | Philip Pullman
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Cover Art | John Lawrence
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Publisher | Random House - 2008
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First Printing | Random House - 2008
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Category | General
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Lyra Belacqua, Pantalaimon, Will Parry, Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby, Serafina Pekkala, Dr. Mary Malone
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Main Elements | Angels, witches, anthropormorphism, alternate dimensions
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Website | HisDarkMaterials.com
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 The Golden Compass
It was no ordinary life for a young girl: living among scholars in the hallowed halls of Jordan College and tearing unsupervised through Oxford's motley streets on mad quests for adventure. But Lyra's greatest adventure would begin closer to home, the day she heard hushed talk of an extraordinary particle. Microscopic in size, the magical dust - found only in the vast Arctic expanse of the North - was rumoured to possess profound properties that could unite whole universes. But there were those who feared the particle and would stop at nothing to destroy it.
Catapulted into the heart of a terrible struggle, Lyra was forced to seek aid from clans, gyptians, and formidable armored bears. And as she journeyed into unbelievable danger, she had not the faintest clue that she alone was destined to win, or to lose, this more-than-mortal battle...
The Subtle Knife
Having slipped through a newly formed astral portal, the intrepid Lyra finds herself in the beautiful, haunted wordl of Cittagŕzze - a city where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and the wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies. For young Will Parry, in search of his father, has also stumbled into this strange new realm via a magic gateway.
Together the enlightened pair forge ahead on a perilous journey between worlds teeming with witches, angels, and sorcery - and uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. But with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat - and the shattering truth of their own destiny...
The Amber Spyglass
Lyra and Will, two ordinary children on an extraordinary and otherwordly quest, have fallen into un-speakable danger. With help from the armoured bear Iorek Byrnison and two tiny Gallivespian spies, they must enter a gray-let world where no living soul has ever gone. All the while, Dr. Mary Malone builds a magnificent amber spyglass. An assassin hunts her down. And Lord Asriel, with troops of shining angels, fights his mighty rebellion. As war rages and Dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living - and the dead - finally comes to depend on two children and the simple truth of one simply story.
The Amber Spyglass reveals that story, bringing Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials to an astonishing conclusion.
Lyra's Oxford
A beguiling new episode from the universe of His Dark Materials and other matter never before seen in this world.
Once Upon a Time in the North
Another mesmerizing episode form the universe of His Dark Materials, including the very first meeting of those two legends and friends Lee Scoresby, the Texan balloonist, and Iorek Byrnison, the armored bear.
Set in the far frozen Arctic, Once Upon a Time in the North contains other teasingly authentic memorabilia and clues, together with a thrilling board game, Peril of the Pole - complete with spinner, game board, and pieces - all beautifully illustrated and rendered by master engraver John Lawrence.
His Dark Materials - Omnibus Edition
Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, changed the face of fantasy publishing with its stunning originality. The complete trilogy went on to become a bestseller in dozens of countries around the world, critically acclaimed and showered with prizes. Together, these novels - The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass - are renowned for their beautiful storytelling, epic scope, and dearly loved characters.
Captivating children and adults alike, it is a tale born of witch clans and armored bears, shining angels and magical devices, haunted otherworlds and the shocking destinies of Lyra and Will, two children at the center of a more-than-mortal battle. This edition presents Philip Pullman's entire His Dark Materials trilogy in a single volume - a celebration of this astonishing work, now a beloved classic.
My cousin gave me the first two books in 1998. I know this because she wrote it inside the cover. Shortly after that I went out and bought the third. But I didn't get around to reading them till I heard the movie was coming out in 2007. I don't know what I was waiting for, but it was certainly worth the wait!
Pullman wrote a complex story revolving first around Lyra, and then both her and Will. They both have great destinies to fullfil, but it was imperative that, Lyra especially, did not know what her destiny should be. She must succeed in her quest, without knowing what exactly her quest was.
The book was filled with an odd assortment of characters in an alternate universe, where Oxford exists but it's not quite as we know it. It is ruled by the Magisterium, a sort of religious-political power in which heresy against the Authority was a crime. A world where people's souls are given form in a daemon, an animal companion linked to their human from birth and vanish upon their death. By the end of the book you end up wishing for a daemon of your own, and wondering what form it would take...a bird? A cat? Most people had smaller animals, but there didn't seem to be any rule that your daemon couldn't be an elephant. Though that would be awkward if your daemon could fit inside buildings, since it meant death if the distance between you and your daemon became too great.
And that is just Lyra's world. There are stranger ones than that. Even ours could appear a little weird when viewed through another's eyes.
The series was filled with a host of engaging characters. From the intelligent armoured bears in Lyra's North, to the Mulefa encountered by Dr. Malone. Pullman did a good job of making interesting characters, in particular I found Mrs. Coulter fascinating. I have to admit I was never sure when she was being truly sincere, or lying through her teeth. And her golden monkey was simply evil *shudder*.
But most of all, the language itself was a pleasure to read. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was about his choice of words, but I enjoyed reading not just for the plot, but for the sake of the way it was written. I found it forced me to slow down, to drink in the words and take pleasure in them. However, whenever there was a battle scene, things started happening so fast that I found myself reading faster as well, swept up in the events.
I guess one cannot ignore the controversy surrounding these books, though personally I believe one should read everything and come to one's own conclusion. For the ultimate goal of many of the characters in these books is to bring down the Authority, which in our world we know as God. He is neither divine nor a deity in these novels, and angels aren't what we think they are either. The first book doesn't get into this much, the Magisterium exists, but since Lyra doesn't care about it, we don't learn much. The second book gives us a peek into where things are going, but the third really turns things on their head.
People could write theses on these books, I'm sure. A lot of interesting questions arise, such as why are we sentient, where did our conciousness come from? What is the nature of our soul? What is Dark Matter? Yes indeed, there are scientific questions in these books too, not just theological ones. I actually had difficulty deciding if this was fantasy (which I view as being "magical") or science fiction (which this one tended towards, finding more scientific answers to the above questions). But the witches had magic too.
I could go on forever, but the more I talk the more likely I'll give things away, and I don't want to do that. I want you to go out and be engrossed in these novels as I was. I highly recommend this to both older children and adults alike.
February 2008
I just read Lyra's Oxford. A short-story that takes places after the events in the trilogy. It was interesting to see a brief snippet of time in Lyra's life as she is now older and more mature. And I've always been partial to stories that weren't "end of the world" plotlines, sometimes you just want a little story, about a brief period of time, just a couple of characters, and no major heroics required. Included in the book was a pull-out section containing a map of Lyra's version of Oxford, and a few other random bits of information. Those kinds of things that might get blown in the wind from one world into the next, and then later discovered in ours. An ad for a cruise ship, a postcard. Things that might have something to do with the story, or things that might just be random bits of paper. I liked it.
June 2008
Once Upon a Time in the North is another wonderful addition to the world of daemons and armoured bears. I always felt Scoresby never got enough "screen time" in the trilogy so I really enjoyed this little prequel. I found it a little over the top at times, but it was fun to meet familiar faces in their youth. And you get to find out a little secret about Hester that even she wasn't aware of. Plus you get to enjoy her sarcastic comments in her strong Texan accent, she should talk more :-)
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