Archive for July 25th, 2005
2005.07.25
His Dark Materials
His Dark MaterialsI’d seen these books on the shelves almost every time I went to a bookstore. Finally I could take it no longer; I bought the series. I’m glad I did.
The books The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass are collectively called His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. That title alone was confusing to me because it implied a negative energy I wasn’t sure I wanted to read. Still, I can only see a book so many times before I decide enough is enough. Mookee can attest to that since he’s done the same with The Man Who Never Missed
I’m not going to go into the story because I don’t want to give much away, but I haven’t read something that involved so much at once in a long time. It takes into account the many worlds theory and quantum physics, talking bears, diverse cultures across the many worlds, aliens and angels, anbaric technology (which ties in a whole linguistic theme as well!), and a whole religious theme that borders on the Gnostic and probably pissed off a bunch of Christian fundamentalists.
The story revolves around a girl named Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon. Daemons are, in her world, and external manifestation of the soul. It sounds silly but it’s really quite brilliant. While the books are billed as teen fantasy, I think it’s really very adult in scope. Definitely worth
