His Dark Materials (including The Golden Compass)

So I’ve finally read all the books (on my HTC Touch Dual) and they were a sweet read. With loveable, believable and interesting characters from the start to finish Philip Pullman managed to make me a very happy bugger. Except for the ending. I want happy endings. I should, one day, point out what a happy ending is, exactly, so that everyone can know, once and for all, how to tailor a story for me. On the other hand the rest of the books were simply amazing, so I won’t spend too much time lingering over the relatively bad ending that made me feel a tad upset. Although in this case, unlike previous cases, I’m actually quite satisfied with the ending. Which I won’t spoil, of course. And I did say I would stop pointing out the ending. Gah. Sorry.

Sadly there was a scarcity in cool pictures from the books with all that lame text, so I took some liberties (unless you noticed I put a picture from the movie in!) in picture-material. I’m not entirely sure you’d be too thrilled if I started posting “screenshots”(?) of books in the post.

As we all are aware of, by now, we get to know the amazing girl Lyra Belacqua, a young girl destined for greatness and who’s thrust onto a journey that will change the course of mankind forever. Sounds cheesy? Of course, but I love it, especially when it’s done as well as this. We even get to meet a new character in the second book that’s supposed to be a co-main-character. Usually I hate those kind of characters that’re added far into a book, or in the second book, or fifth, but Will here’s special in many of ways. Not only is he the perfect opposite of Lyra, he’s also awesome and thrust onto a journey that will change the course of mankind forever. Cheesy? Hell yes, and I totally love it!

Regardless of cheesy synopsises (I know that’s not a word, but it’s alot more fun than ‘synopses’) and poor endings these books are brilliantly written and the characters are worth the read alone. From the flight from the wicked Mrs. Coulter (who thinks experiments upon children is cool and has a bananas monkey (bananas, monkey, get it?)) and to the massive sundering of the wall that separates dimensions (the one that we never got to see in the movie) through the death of a child (I was looking forward to seeing the movie-version of this kid die) in the first book I’ll admit I was hooked. The book’s a departure from your ordinary kind of story-telling where the heroes brandish mighty magics, massive swords, or save the world by accident when they suddenly find their mysterious mojo and blast the evil emperor (who’s usually really cool, and misunderstood). I’m not entirely sure how to explain it in further detail without going into needless spoilers, so I’ll stop right there in regards to the first book. It’s a brilliant book, damnit, so go read it!

When I picked up, or clicked on, the second book, The Subtle Knife, I was immediately disappointed that I had to be introduced to another character. When I’m this far into the whole reading business I’m rarely interested in having to get to know another character, especially when I was so fond of the previous characters. Young Will’s definately not a disappointment though. Tough, sneaky, and having balls the size of an elephant while still being only 12 or so I found myself enjoying the story about Will. Resourceful and smart, he doesn’t come across as your average 12 year old with an attention-span that makes mine look like the Orient Express in comparison, no, he’s just awesome. You’ll like him too, I’m sure. Or I’ll be angry at you for not agreeing with me.

As a matter of fact we were introduced to lots of new characters in book two and three, all of them great. I won’t bother going into them here, and I’ve said it before; Philip Pullman’s awesome at creating wonderful characters.

The second and third book should almost be considered one book, while the first one’s a prelude, because the first one acts as a backstory to get you introduced to some parts of the universe and get you going, putting the main part of the action in the next two. It takes you from the desolate world of the city of Cittàgazze where Will finds The Subtle Knife, and huge parts of the action unfolds, to the third book where they both enter the world of the dead to come to terms with past actions and solve a few problems created by the Authority.

Throughout all of this we follow Lord Asriel and the infamous Mrs. Coulter around. Asriel is introduced as the guy that “…didn’t pick a fight with the Magisterium because they were too weak…”, and Mrs. Coulter’s the woman that lies and cheats because she can, and will do anything to see how far she can take it. That’s the impression we get atleast. Two powerful people, in each their way, that we get to see far too little of during the books, although I suspect some of the magic about them would be lost if we got to know them better. Other notable people is the amazing Lee Scoresby, heroic from start to finish; Iorek Byrnison, the mastersmith; Serafina Pekkala, the wisest woman of them all; and many more. Simply put: I find the gallery of people in these books to be amazing.

Right now I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t know what else to write without spoiling anything. I could mention how Philip Pullman disses the Catholic Church in this series, or how he portrays all that is holy to be a sham and so on, but to be honest I don’t really give a shit about all of that. It’s a great read regardless of ulterior motives and themes. Some people might wax their penis/boobies by trumpeting out the vilifications of this book, and joyfully jump at the chance to throw shit at the church or Pullman, but it’s not my cup of tea. If you want to do that I’m more than happy to argue it out with you’n your friends, I’m just not going to bother getting into it here.

The three books are awesome, and I read them as great books. If you want to read three brilliant books with brilliant characters and a sweet story I recommend you pick up His Dark Materials.