His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials Trilogy

  - Philip Pullman

 

#1 Northern Lights

I loved the first book in the series - Northern Lights, also published as The Golden Compass. The heroine, Lyra Silvertongue is a fearless, spunky teenager. Courageous and empathetic, she is a true friend. The reader is made aware of a great secret prophesy, which she herself is unaware of for the most part, but one which puts her in grave danger.

The fantasy world introduced a very interesting concept - a unique daemon associated with each human, reflecting their personality - I visualize this as a sort of soul, but residing outside the body. There is the concept of parallel worlds, which of course is a common one, but used well. Lastly, it takes a stand against organized church, which I feel is true to great extent, but for no reason explained by the author. But it comes down rather heavy painting it so evil and black, that it is no surprise that the church took an issue against it.

It is considered as a Middle grade or YA fantasy, but I think it is rather complex for the younger readers.

#2 The Subtle Knife

The second book in the series is The Subtle Knife, where Lyra finds a friend in Will Parry, and they go off to more adventures, finding more secrets and more pain in the worlds. Though this was also taut and thrilling, I did not like it as much as the first. The novelty of discovering a new (fantasy) world has worn off, and run and chase take up a significant part of the story. But I regretted that there is very little of Lyra in this - she spends most of the book in a coma.

I comforted myself that the first one focused on Lyra, Second is focused on Will, and in the final one, they will join forces and accomplish great things together.

 #3 The Amber Spyglass

However, the concluding part - The Amber Spyglass was a big letdown. It was an interminable sequence of walking, people going this way and that, and I found a whole section of it quite pointless (and what were those weird creatures again?!). The whole grand buildup and the huge suspense fizzled out like a damp cracker.

Another thing that was a major put off was the whole characterization of Lyra. In the first book, she is a strong and independent girl. In most of the second one, she is missing. But in the third book, she hardly shows any initiative of her own, and is reduced to a whimpering damsel. Will! Oh Will!. What shall we do, Will!

It is almost as if the author started off with a well crafted, daring idea - challenging the church and creating a strong female lead for a fantasy-adventure. But owning to pressure and convention, eventually backed out on both.