His Dark Materials 3-Book Paperback Boxed Set: The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass

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.

One of the most famous and beloved fantasy book trilogies you can think of. One that has been tried to adapt into a movie, but it failed, as some things (okay, most things!) are probably best left in book form. It’s so epic, I can only compare it to Harry Potter. If you haven’t read it yet, let me see if I can remedy that! ★★★★★ Endless number of stars His Dark Materials is a sweeping epic that tells of a story bigger than you can imagine, but it’s also a story told through the smallest characters – a story of a world, the fate of which lies in the hands of children. In a way, it’s all about the fight between good and evil, wisdom and darkness, but not in your usual fantasy sense. This is more philosophical than you might have expected it to be, but it’s also so imaginative, so full of adventure and unbelievable details, that you’ll never get bogged down with any of the philosophy. It’s a series that you can eat through a week – no matter how long the books actually are. You won’t sleep, if you have to. Reason #1. Don’t You Just Wish Your Cat Was Your Daemon?? Daemons are talking animals that are… curiously, they’re part of you. They’re kind of your spirit animal, which also makes up part of your soul. It’s incredibly interesting, cute, and it goes so well with the story! You can talk to it, it will help you and defend you, and even if you’re utterly and completely alone, it will be your companion. It’s likely that by the end of the series, you will find yourself trying to figure out what your daemon would look like. Or maybe even does look like. (more on why I say that – in the actual book!) Reason #2. There Are Wonders And Mysteries Obviously, it wouldn’t be cool if I just gave it away to you, now would it. But let me just tell you that there are worlds to explore. That there are reasons the entire world is falling, and you need to find them out. And the reasons are all pretty grand as well. It’s not your typical overused YA tropes either, for example – oh, this or that super power has just decided to thwart the main character and their family, and you need a special snowflake to fix it. No, it’s far better than that! That said, the main character (who is a little girl) IS special, and she’s IS key to the saving of the world, but she’s no special snowflake. We’re getting to that in the next point. Reason #3. The Characters Have Flaws, They’re Not Perfect Having imperfect characters is great! Especially so, because it prevents the aforementioned ‘special snowflake’ syndrome. The main female character, Lyra, is as flawed as can be – she lies, she’s not loyal, she’s subject to other people’s manipulation. She is also ridiculously dramatic, and it’s maintained throughout the entire series in the way she talks (I specifically loved that!). The main male character Will is also a great character. He’s strong willed and he’s trustable, but he can also be ruthless, hard and cold. Both of them symbolize many things, but typical special snowflakes they are not. As for symbolizing? We get to point 4… Reason #4. The Symbolism This story has layers upon layers of symbolism, mostly to do with mythologies, or namely – Christian mythologies, exposing them quite ruthlessly at times. This is magical and super interesting, merging religious symbolism with scientific fantasy (is that.. a thing, scientific fantasy..?), and weaving together a magical build of the world, of the universe. I will not tell you what the main characters (and many others) symbolize, because that would take away from your pleasure of discovering it yourself. However, if you are religious (not only Christian, basically, any religion that is based on a single deity) – be warned, as this book might seem controversial to you. It’s not kind to organized religion. You need an open mind to read it. If you are religious, and still really want to read it (which you should!), I suggest remembering that this is just fiction and it’s an invented world. Reason #5. The Feels This series ends with a bad case of the feels. As bad as it gets. But it’s also the kind of feels you want in a book! Basically, the kind of feels we all read books for. But please, prepare napkins.

An incredible, dark, universe building book series. More twists than a Vonnegut novel, but written for the YA crowd. Do yourself a favor and skip the movie and miniseries, only the books do justice to the multiverse building. Mine got here in two days!

Before the movie came out, I have to say I was sadly unaware of the existence of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. And had there not been so much controversy stirred up over the movie, I probably never would have picked up the books anyway. So I have to give the religious right a hearty thank-you for turning me onto such a wonderful story I would have otherwise missed. This trilogy focuses on Lyra, a young girl who we learn early on is prophesized to do great things. An `orphan,' she was brought up by Scholars at Jordan College in England. Lyra's world is an alternate version of our own, so while there is an England, there are also places that don't exist on the earth we know. She and everyone else also has a "daemon"--an animal personification of their "spirit" that everyone can see and even talk to. As children, daemons can take any shape they please, but once you reach puberty, your daemon will take on the permanent shape of the animal that personifies your spirit. So, (as one book explains) if you're a loyal person who willingly follows orders, your daemon will probably be a dog. Lyra starts on her adventure when she and her daemon, Pan, hide in a closet and see the Master of Jordan College try to poison her Uncle Asriel (her guardian who left her at the college), who is visiting after an expedition from the North. After saving him from being poisoned, Lyra watches from the closet as Asriel shows the heads of Jordan College pictures he took of a mysterious substance called "Dust" that seems to fall from the sky and settle on adults, but not children. At the same time, children are disappearing all over England, and rumors abound about "Gobblers" who are stealing the kids to "eat" them. Right after Lyra's friend, Roger, goes missing, she leaves Jordan College with a mysterious and powerful woman named Mrs. Coulter, whom she later discovers is one of the Gobblers. With the help of the alethiometer (the "golden compass", given to her by none other than the same Master of Jordan who tried to poison her uncle), which tells the truth if you ask it a question, she heads for the North to save Roger and find her uncle, whom she learned is now being imprisoned by the armored bears in the North. There she learns what the Gobblers have really been doing to the missing children, and what Dust really is. I can't really summarize the later two books without giving away huge spoilers, so I suppose I'll leave it there. Anyway, I appreciate when authors make their protagonists (and villains) believable, by creating characters who have realistic flaws, positive attributes and believable motivations. Since HDM is a "children's" trilogy series, that's especially refreshing, as you often find literature geared toward kids with ridiculously virtuous heroes and ridiculously stupid and pointlessly evil villains. Lyra is no where near a "perfect" person. She's headstrong, rebellious, impolite and impulsive (and, not to mention, a chronic liar). But she's also loving, loyal, strong and virtuous. If I had a daughter, I would want her to be like Lyra. Mrs. Coulter, as one example of a villain, is beautifully done. She is easily despised, and yet, not everything she does is despicable. I'm sad that there are parents out there who would deny their children the experience of reading this series merely because of its religious allegory storyline. This isn't a series about "killing god" or "defiling Christianity." It's a story that elevates love, logic and reason over hate, fear and tyranny. Yes, the Church is portrayed as "evil." Yes, "God" is portrayed as a tyrant. But it is a fictional story set in a fictional world, and you could simply explain to your children that the Church portrayed in the series is not the same as the one in the real world, and that the themes of beauty and love are the important messages to take from it. And if your children have true "faith" in their religion, one good story isn't going to sway them from that. There is so much spirituality to these books, and appreciation for the world and beauty around us. It shows how even an atheist can believe in the connection between all living things, and a spirit and a soul. My one criticism comes for the end of the series. Unfortunately, I can't really go into detail because I would be giving away the end of the book, but I just felt there were some easily avoided plot holes near the end. Don't, however, let that deter you from finishing the books. It was a wonderful story that I look forward to letting my kids read one day.

After coming across online discussions about how this set of books was a kick in the pants to Christianity, and how secular humanists were carrying these books as their banner in the culture war against fundamentalists, I didn't really want to wade into that quagmire. So often, books touted in a culture war read like a manifesto. But I was trying my hand writing at an "alter-earth" fantasy myself, and Pullman's trilogy seemed to be succeeeding where I was failing. So I thought I would give it a chance. I have heard other people say that "His Dark Materials" trilogy was the finest piece of fantasy since "Lord of the Rings." I have also heard it called a humanist alternative to "The Chronicles of Narnia." Needless to say, I was dubious. No one since Le Guin has managed to craft a thick fantasy for young adults, and I was growing comfortable with the thought that the genre had been mined. But, after reading this trilogy, I am now convinced that Tolkien, Lewis, and Le Guin were just hacking at the stone. Thankfully, "His Dark Materials" was not a polemic against religion, nor was it an allegory or manifesto. It was a truly baroque piece of writing, damn near perfect. Naturally, I can now see why a few feverish fundamentalists would be horrified--God is a minor character, which I suppose would be as offensive to Xtians as a drawing of Mohammed is to Mooslims--not that I really care what religious nuts necessarily opine. That Phillip Pullman drew on "Paradise Lost" for inspiration and foundation is a thought-provoking thesis, happily neglected when the tale gets underway. Rather than pedantically preaching, Pullman works his craft: breathing life into his characters, making their dramas and conflicts real and imperative, and painting it all in language just barely within reach of the highly literate young adult. It is the reader's job to build and defend her own beliefs. In the end, I prefer to think that Pullman wishes to be as major an English writer as Milton was--or else that he wanted to remind us that High Fantasy was invented during the British Rennaissance. That's as far as the controversy goes for me. One ot the best things about the three novels, I believe, is a chiascuro worthy of Rembrandt. He blurs the edges of things, and puts shapes in the dark shadows at the hazy periphery. He suggest millions and millions of parallel worlds, populates maybe four, and yet you can almost feel the weight of all those universes pressing your hands as they hold open the pages. He only suggests a marvelous history for many of the secondary characters, and then your imagination unwinds their own novellas in your reveries. His talent for description makes reading a participatory process, rather than a receptive one. The result is a holographic oevre, alive and growing in the reader's imagination. There really is nothing like this trilogy. It is astonishing, marvelous, original, and thoroughly entertaining--much like the main character. The heroine, Lyra, is such a novel hero. She starts the story as an almost Dickensian urchin, then undergoes a tempering of character, forged in the fires of conflict and machination, and undergoes a tragic, orphean fall. Oh, how I wanted to change her fate! But what happens to her is as necessary as all the tribulation most very character meets. "His Dark Materials" outshines "Lord of the Rings," "Narnia" and "Earthsea." There is nothing like it, and I suspect, nothing else will eclipse it for at least a century. It is a masterpiece of English literature, and I feel blessed to have finished it.

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.

My Grandson started reading Golden Compass, and I started looking around on the web for the others in the trilogy and came across the dispute as to whether the series was indeed fit for children to read. Both sides of the dispute appeared to me to lack credibility and seemed to be way over sensitive, so I decided to read the series and decide for myself. My conclusion? Both sides are correct to some extent. Yes, the series is something of a propaganda fusillade against the Roman Catholic Church, but the attacks are actually mostly weak and shallow. The Church's tolerance of religious torture and the story's depiction of that is probably fair, although I am no expert by any means on that. The anti-religion bias in the series is there too, but it is so shallow that it is meaningless to any person knowledgeable of any of the good things religion has brought to civilization. The entire story is clean, although sometimes quite violent. But, in my estimation it is free of the gratuitous violence present in so many of our movies that the kids like and survive from so easily. Probably no bad dreams. The story is a basic struggle of good versus evil, and good wins in spades. The setting is so fantastic that it is hard for someone to really imagine that it connects to our world or our current civilization, even though there are a lot of similarities. For example, the supernatural beings in it are essentially nuts, although within the world view. So, it is very easy, if one feels the need to counteract any part of a perceived negative message, that is very easy to do. The flow of the story is somewhat jerky, but I think that all of the loose ends eventually get cleaned up so that it makes sense. Although, there is something of a change of heart of one character that is really kind of shallow and not well developed. All in all, it was a fine read, and when over it left me with a feeling of wanting to know more about the future of the main characters. That, to me, is a good thing.

Really nice set, the book is better than the movie!

Fantastic story for young adults - and even adults themselves. This edition has zero pictures anywhere, and the pages are rather thin, but for the price (around 100PLN for the trilogy) i'm more than happy. my daughter is enthralled and so am I!

Every child who loved the Narnia books should read this. It's meat and potatoes compared to the candyfloss books out there. Satisfying and thought provoking.

Beautifully written light fantasy at its finest. This is my absolute favorite book series of all time.

This is a great edition. You can feel the quality of the pages. It came in great condition. Amazing purchase

It's Phillip Pullman, nothing else needs to be added here