something to read (i.e. His Dark Materials)

[Monika Huebner]

> Stephanie wrote:
> 
> << HOW ODD -- I was just about to post myself and tell all of you 
> that I just finished Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series 
> (well, I haven't read the recent novella yet because Amazon is being 
> very slow in getting it here) -- the first book is called The Golden 
> Compass, originally published as The Northern Lights -- and I LOVED 
> these books.  I know other Potter fans will love these books too so 
> go read them.  I'd love to hear what you all think of them. >>

Neil added:

> I adore this trilogy too, and to think that I only decided to read 
> them because I wanted something in the vein of Harry Potter whilst 
> waiting 'Book 5'.  In the end, I'd worked my way through a whole 
> range of childlit/fantasy authors, including Philip Pullman, before 
> OoP came along.

Hm, I know how much praise this trilogy usually gets, so I'd like so
throw my (humble) opinion in. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to put
anyone off from reading it, but to tell the truth, it didn't do much
for me. I read "The Golden Compass" in 2000 after reading the first
four HP books because it was recommended everywhere as being the
perfect reading material for Potter fans. I think my main problem with
TGC was that I didn't care for any of the characters. Not even for
Lyra, don't ask me why, but there you are. I found most of them
boring, and I found the plot rather boring. I finished it, but only
got myself to pick up "The Subtle Knife" nearly two years later when
"The Amber Spyglass" was released in paperback.

Surprise, I found it rather well written, the new characters,
especially Mary Malone, were a great addition. Unfortunately, it was a
case of "bookus interruptus", it doesn't really have an ending of its
own, so I continued straight away with "The Amber Spyglass". I think
the story went downhill again in this third installment, and I found
the ending of book 3 outright unsatisfying. From what I have read on
the net since, I know I'm not alone with this opinion.

Something that always struck me as odd is that Pullman, though being
openly "anti-church" in these books, never got criticized the way
Rowling gets criticized. After all, there are witches and magic in
HDM, too.

Monika