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Summary: Feminist Pederasty
Review: Pullman's books parallel the murky culturally drained environment of contemporary England whose assorted committees of public decency expurgate classic books because of "insensitivity". Like Ursula K. Leguin his purpose is merely political emetic as New Age mumbo jumbo. The polar bear reminded me of the Coke commercials. Silly.
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Summary: SWILL
Review: A sickly treacly addition to the political emetic that is modern fantasy. As subtle as the neon in Piccadilly circus. As gross as Ursula K Leguin's feminist tracks in never never land.
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Summary: The Golden Compass: to read or not to read
Review: Recently I read the Golden compass and I must say i was very dissapointed. I had heard from other people that this was an excellent and that everyone should read it. It was one of the slowest, most confusing books i have ever read. if you must read this book i suggest skipping the first 50 pages. good luck
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Summary: As Good As the Harry Potter Series
Review: A wonderful book, and the series is GREAT! It's as good as the Harry Potter series, and you won't be able to put these books down either. My three kids read them (14, 16, 17 years old) and told me I'd love the book. They were right! You won't go wrong here. Buy the HardBound books because they'll be around a while. Great series!
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Summary: Even if you don't like fantasy, you gotta read this.
Review: I have seen a lot of reviews saying that the books in this series are anti-christian, and I guess you could say they are. So are most other young adult fantasy books, in case you haven't noticed. I'm catholic and I still loved these books, even though I don't really agree with them. I know a lot of people who also belive in God that still like these books. In fact, I have not met one person who has read these books without liking them.Why? They have memorable characters, a gripping story, and interesting concepts. . .and you're almost garunteed to be crying by the end of the third book. So I would recommend to read all three of them. Even if you have never read a fantasy book before (or liked one), you may love these. In fact these were the books that got me interested in fantasy. That's why I think everyone should read Pullman's "His Dark Materials" books--you don't have to agree with them, just read them.
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Summary: Great little book!
Review: If you happen upon this book, I definitely recommend it! Once I got past the first chapter or two, I couldn't put it down! The heroine is a brave and spunky girl and her relationship with her daemon was magical. This book employed philosophical and religious ideas while remaining original. A real thought-provoker!
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Summary: WOW
Review: This is one of my all time favorites. read the next two in "His dark materials" The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Also two very nice books. All i can say is 5 stars is not enough! READ IT!-YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN
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Summary: Fabulous! Wonderful! Glorious! Etc!
Review: I intended to write yet another rave review of the book, but instead, I think all you have to do is go and read the reviews of people who hate it. Surely a book loathed by people this small minded (from their reviews, anyway), pretentious and scathing can only be good. One person hadn't even read the book, and was slagging it of because of what critics said! I've learnt never to listen to quotes from critics, because you can get ompletely the wrong idea. Several more reviewers called The Golden Compass almost satanistic, overbearingly anti-Christian. But the anti-Church message is subtle. If you are someone who is offended at the idea that the Church could do terrible, cruel things, don't read this because you won't like it. Go and read some history books instead. If you are ready to be enchanted and pulled bodily along with Lyra on her desperate quest, experience pangs of longing for your own personal daemon, be breathless with shocked excitement, and wide-eyed with wondor at the landscape before you, do read it. And one more thing; there's a lot of people saying that this is not a children's book. It is. Whoever said adult themes didn't belong in children's books? I read this at the age of twelve, and fell in love with the book. So, you adults: just because YOU like it too, doesn't mean it's not written for us kids!
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Summary: Wonderful stuff
Review: The trilogy His Dark Materials is one of the most compelling that I have ever read. My entire family is reading it avidly, and fighting over the copies. It is at times a challenging book, and will offend religious bigots, who need to be offended anyway. The first book, offering an amazing parallel universe, has tremendous plot velocity, a cornicopia of amazing notions and really intruiging ideas. The second and third books are a little less compelling, as the number of plot lines grows too large to be managed. None-the-less, if you like philosophically motivated fantasy, YOU WILL LOVE THIS! If you are a religious fanatic, parts will be hard to take.
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Summary: amazing
Review: This is just a great book. The writing is gorgeous, the world -- so like and yet so unlike our own -- is fully and finely drawn, and the characterization is amazing. Lyra is an amazing literary achievement. Writing a child who is so fiercely intelligent, perceptive, complex, and suspicious of others and yet is still a child must be one of the most difficult tasks a writer could take on. It's true that it questions Christianity, at least, but to say that religious people shouldn't read this seems to me to be insulting their intelligence and imagination. I just don't see how someone who believes they can begin to comprehend and appreciate the vastness and subtlety of God can't read and be enriched by a book of fantasy that argues, in a rich and complex manner, against the version of their religion that exists in a parallel world. Isn't true faith resilient enough for that? I would certainly give these books to the most devout people I know. The question of whether it's for adults or children seems to me more interesting. I'm an adult and I obviously love it. In that sense it's clearly for adults. I'm not sure about kids. There's no content that I would see as objectionable for children, but even though I tend to believe I had sophisticated taste in literature when I was younger, I'm not sure how I would have felt about this. I loved The Lord of the Rings as a pre-teen, for instance, but this is a more complex work -- emotionally, intellectually, and morally -- than that. Just keeping track of all the characters as the series progresses is something of a challenge, and understanding the analogies between Lyra's world and ours requires a fairly adult set of knowledge. But then, maybe kids would just enjoy it in other ways than I do, even though they'd be missing lots of what I appreciate. Who's to say the reverse is not true? In the end, with this much more than most books, I think it just depends on the person. I'm sure a smart 10 year old would get more out of it than a dumb-as-nails 30 year old any day.
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