His Dark Materials 3-Book Mass Market Paperback Boxed Set: The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass Mass Market Paperback – Box set, September 23, 2003

The Golden Compass is by far the best of the three, we're introduced to young Lyra, we get to see her world and how it differs from ours. The story is very intelligently written and expressed in very vivid detail. The storyline is grand and suspenseful, and (especially if you saw the movie first) the ending is quite a bit different than expected. the characters are vividly drawn, and rich in detail and resonance. I did see the movie first which inspired me to start reading the series, but the more I read the books I find the cast was expertly cast. Sam Elliot was perfect for the role of Lee Scorsby and Dakota Blue Richards' portrayal of Lyra was spot-on. but this is a review of the book not the movie. I found this one hard to put down,and if read as a fantasy epic adventure it works flawlessly. On the subject of religion, which is where most of the criticism comes from, there are times I agree with the portrayal, and other times I found myself wondering what was the purpose behind how it was portrayed. But, there are a few points in the overall story that didn't seem to pan out for me. But, again, overall it's a great series and an excellent addition to my book collection. I loved the relationships between the characters and the way the author had of showing each character's true nature. It all centers around Lyra, and it seems by their reactions to her, they tend to be defined. Much like your enjoyment of this series is how well you relate to or understand the central heroine. Fortunately she's not one dimensional like so many other child characters in books these days. She has many facets and many personal changes throughout the course of the series. I keep seeing this series compared to Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia, while I can see that to some degree, this series stands on its own. Like Lord of the Rings Pullman gives rich full details on the characters and the enviroment. You find yourself immersed in this little universe as if it were your very own. Sometimes he tends to give us too much detail, but that's fine. It never takes away from the overall story or mood. But whereas The Chronicles of Narnia was replete with Christian imagery and allegory, this one is the opposite. I am not sure if it's anti-church or anti-God (as it's been accused of being) but rather a distancing from all the things that interfere with the lives and journeys of the individual. You get the feeling he is saying that heaven is within us, good or bad is within us, you don't need to look for internal sources to govern your lives look inside of yoursel. Religion has been known to get in the way of clear thinking. There are occasions when the chuch seems to stray from it's intent and message, and there are times when people spend too much time preparing for or thinking about the afterlife that very little thought is given to the life we have now, and if there is an overall theme to the series it might be that, the greatest journeys are the ones we take within ourselves. That this life, this time we are in now, is the most precious. But, regardless of the religious or anti-religous overtones and underpinnings this is a great story with great characters and surprising events. This is a great way to start the series.The Subtle Knife is my second favorite, and introducds Will to the story arch. While I like Will and find his character well though out, it bothers me that Lyra, who up until now was braver and stronger and more clever than any adult she knew male or female, was suddenly helpless (at times) and needed to be saved/rescued or helped by the male character. The reason this bothers me is there are so few strong female characters out there, and even less who are created by men, who are totally self-sufficient and strong. Why would Lyra all of a sudden play second stringer to a boy when her own actions and plans worked so well for her in the past? It just makes me feel as if they are saying that it's better if the man makes the decisions and protects the girl. It's a little too old fashioned for me. But, the saving grace is the relationship that develops between the two, as Lyra is getting older her thoughts are changing along with her body, she's becoming aware of herself as a woman, albeit a young woman, and that is juxtapositioned against this backdrop of saving the universe, or the multiverse and herself as well. I find the relationship between them to be real, they only know each other a short while, but their experiences together, and the fact that they are about the same age, helps them to bond, and children of that age are more trusting, but at the same time selective about their friends, but when they do find a friend, they tend to be loyal and caring. this opens up a whole new world for Lyra, while she's always had help, now she has an equal. the side story of Mary Malone though never quite does anything for me, and while it seems like there is a buildup, it never actually delivers. But overall a great book, and a page turner.The Amber Spyglass is my least favorite, but that isn't to say it's bad, or unreadable, but just like the Last Battle in the Narnia Series, it leaves you feeling a little unsettled as if some of the pieces aren't actually fitting together as nicely as they should. While the story is grand in scope and still strongly sculpting the character and the story arch. There are times, you are left wondering: What was the point in that? The whole war with the Autority and the demise of the God-like Creature seems a little anti-climactic. A lot of people might lose interest here simply because of what it seems to be implying about God and religion. But, I feel that if you are strong in your faith and truly believe in what you believe then no fictional story, no matter what the intent was behind the metaphors, should be threatening to you. It simply should be read as an epic fantasy story, and not be taken so seriously. Like I stated though I found myself asking, what was that all about more? than actually getting offended or discusted by the metaphorical references. full disclosure, I am a firm believer in God but not a fan of organized religion but I do not criticize anyone who finds solace in the chuch. But at this point in the story, you already know there is a bit of an anti-authority vibe flowing through the story, and it's simply part of the mood/plot. I did wonder what it was Mary was supposed to do or say that was to be the temptation that Lyra was supposed to either give into or spurn. They were portraying her as the new EVE, and that Mary was the serpent in the garden but I never quite figured out what it was that she was supposed to do. And again it seemed like the plot was building up to something at the end of the story but it just seemed to go on for a long time without actually going anywhere (much like the Last Battle) But the tale of self-sacrifice and parting of friends and lovers more than makes up for the misfires I would like to see what happens to Lyra when she gets older and wouldn't mind seeing a reunion of sorts with all the characters. The bond between Lyra and Iorek is a pretty interesting one, and I feel that it wouldn't lessen due to time. So that would be interesting to see. I didn't like the fact that Lyra lost the ability to use the alethiometer after she had finished her mission, it was something that made her special, and it's like sad to see her lose the ability and now she has to relearn it, I guess it shows character development as it shows that originally she was a smart girl but wasn't very keen on learning, yet she was wise in other ways. But now she is shown the importance of learning and the benefits and rewards of studying. Overall I'm very happy to have found this series, and look forward to the chance to read more. So hopefully that will happen sometime soon.

I wasn't going to post a review of `His Dark Materials' (HDM) because there are so many already. This was my second reading of HDM and I liked even more the second time. But after reading some of the positive and negative reviews I felt as if I could add something to the discussion on three issues and add some comments of my own on Pullman's apparent themes. Two of these issues are, in my opinion, trivial and the third might be, but it is interesting nonetheless.If you look on Amazon or blogs or other book review sites you will see both positive and negative comparisons of HDM to `Lord of the Rings' (LOR). This is one of the trivial issues: HDM has no relationship whatsoever to LOR other than both are long books broken into three parts and are the basis for some pretty good movies.The second of these trivial issues are the positive and negative comparisons to the `Harry Potter' series (HP). The HP series are mostly for and about children and are about magic as in `Hocus Pocus' magic. HDM is about children but I would hesitate to say that Pullman wrote it for children. Pullman in interviews has said that he dislikes the label of `children's literature' as it implies `not for adults.' The themes in HDM are very adult, but I suspect that an intelligent young adult would respond to them and the adventure aspects of HDM would appeal to most younger readers as well. More over HDM is not about magic at all; it is science fiction (a genre Pullman also dislikes) in the best sense. The so-called `magic' is merely what someone might call the physics of alternate Universes.The last issue, and it may or may not be trivial, is the objection to HDM by Christians. There is no doubt that Pullman intended HDM to be a counterbalance to C.S. Lewis's slobbering exaltation of Christianity (and the superiority of male Anglo-Saxons) in `The Chronicles of Narnia' (CON) and in general a condemnation of some of the practices the Catholic Church. However most of the criticism you see about HDM seems to come from the politically conservative Christian right that interprets any and all criticism of religion as profanation of Christianity in general. I would add that there are also positive reviews of HDM solely on the basis of being anti-religion as well.I do find it interesting that some of the negative reviews of HDM by Christians are really very long and well written. It makes me wonder why someone would say that HDM was a not a good book when it obviously stimulated them to write several pages on it. I suppose that it upset them and they don't like to be upset by what they read. That is strange as it is one of the points Pullman makes in HDM. In passing he mentions that the church has imprisoned a scientist for coming up with what seems to be a valid description of multiple dimensions in String Theory. These negative reviews seem to follow a general trend on the Internet of a group of Christians who spend a lot of time sniffing out heterodoxy and attempting to stifle it.My last observation is why I think HDM is exception SciFi and why you should read it and get your kids to read it as well. What Pullman has done is to take the implications of String Theory, Chaos Theory, the theories about Dark Matter and Dark Energy in modern theoretical physics and asks the question of what a world would look like if these theories were true. What if there are other Universes and what would happen if we could travel between them? This is really, really interesting and I think Pullman has done an exceptional job here. The fact that he uses the influence of religion as one vehicle may or may not have been a major issue here, but it does not detract in any way from the fascinating SciFi aspects of this book.You can read this in three parts as it was published, but like LOR it is best considered as a whole work. HDM is available in a number of editions and I read, this time, the omnibus of all three volumes. If you don't know anything about modern physics it will not detract from the enjoyment of the book as just SciFi or fantasy.