Rating: 
Summary: Parents Beware...
Review: I just finished book 3 of the trilogy, and I have to admit I'm quite disturbed. All three are extremely well written. The characters are fully realized. There were a few brief moments where I felt the "hand of the author" tweak the plot to make something happen, but for the most part I was convinced by the world the author had created. However, PARENTS SHOULD BE WARNED BEFORE LETTING THEIR CHILDREN READ THESE BOOKS! Pullman has been compared to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis and Tolkien write from and use metaphor to express their Christian beliefs. Pullman blatently attacks all religion. Parents should be aware of the following (Normally I would never give away plot points in a review but in this case I feel I have to make an exception): In these books God is senile, the blblical Enoch is now a power mad angel who lusts after women and is trying to take over all worlds, the afterlife is depicted as a prison camp, and the only way for the world to be saved is when two twelve year old children become lovers. Depending on how you feel about things you may also be shocked to find the two main angels who help our hero and heroine are gay. Pullman's point, ultimately, is that you can take one of two paths in life: Religion, which is followed by the "stupid" (his words, not mine) and Wisdom. In Pullman's world the two aren't compatable. I give it three stars for the writing, though I completely disagree with the message.
Rating: 
Summary: Great
Review: I hate it when people compare these books to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, because they are something completely original. I love this books. The ideas are kind of complex for kids, but anybody could enjoy these. There's not exactly much to say except that these books are incredible, and recommended to anyone with a little imagination.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing and Eye-Opening Trilogy
Review: These books are not only fantasy and adventure, but a learning experience as well. They open your mind to new ideas and new feelings. Will, Lyra, Pan, Mrs. Colter, Lord Aiseral and other characters are very animated. The main characters (Will and Lyra) become great friends starting in the second book. These books are good for mature readers who will understand and appreciate the book. If you read this, you won't be able to stop, so make sure you have a lot of time on your hands.
Rating: 
Summary: His Dark Materials Set -The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife
Review: Philip Pullman pretends to write fantasy, but rather uses fantasy as a platform to denounce God and present a reversed spiritual world. Witches and the rebel angels fight on the side of good, and God and the psalm singing angels are considered evil. One example, towards the end of the third book, is when the girl Mary describes an angel she met... "Her name was Xaphania. She told me many things... She said that all the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupididty. She and the rebel angels, the followers of wisdom have always tried to open minds; the Authority (God Almighty) and his churches have always tried to keep them closed. She gave me many examples from my world." The Authority dies in the third book and is replaced by Enoch from the Bible. Pullman finishes the book by encouraging people to build the Republic of Heaven since there will never be a Kingdom of Heaven. The most frustrating thing about these three books is that the reader doesn't know for sure who is bad and who is good until the third book. As a teacher, I was reluctant to recommend the first book in the series to my students because I wasn't sure what the author was really trying to say. By the second book, I was pretty concerned about the content but decided to wait until the third book to make a judgement. The third book confirmed my concerns, and was disheartening to read. I finished it, just to make absolutely sure that there wasn't a redeeming ending. On the contrary, the book ends with the two emerging pubescent children falling in love and being intertwined in each others arms then parting for life. Yuck!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Adventure; Conflicted and Deeply Bigoted Worldview
Review: The story of Lyra and Will and their attempts
to understand the universe and its nature is fun and gripping.
Pullman's ability to evoke realistic worlds and images is
amazing. His characters, on the whole, are interesting and
compelling, and his creativity is second to none. The books
attempt to deal with the great themes of philosophic and theological
thought: the nature of evil, the nature of redemption, the
power of love, loyalty, the consequences of our actions and
choices, etc. However, the overall message
is fatally marred by what can only be described as the
personal blind spot of the author himself.It becomes clear in The Golden Compass that Pullman equates
the Catholic Church, and Christianity in general, with the
very _essence_ of evil and power-grubbing authoritarianism. And near
the end of the Amber Spyglass he has declared, unambiguously,
that there is no God and that Christianity is a compelling but
erroneous belief. He describes
an institutional Church that, apparently, preaches hatred, intolerance,
torture, and fananticism. Interestingly
enough, however, every _other_ religious worldview presented (secular humanism, Deism,
Scientism, Shamanism, agnosticism, paganism, pragmatism, and a watered-down form of Buddhism)
is seen as worthy. All beliefs about the world are shown to be valid and
honorable..._except_ Christianity (and Catholicism in particular). The incredible narrowness of the author's expressed hatred of Christianity may well be, as some reviewers have suggested, a personal
thing. But the very zealotry that he seems to display in his hatred
of Christianity is the very _essence_ of what his protagonists profess to
hate about the Catholic church...their intolerance, their inability
to see beyond their own closely-held worldview, the "rightness" of
their point of view versus everyone else's, etc. I don't believe this book tries to "take down" Christianity per se, although one could argue that Pullman tries to do just that. But
I believe because of Mr. Pullman's own confused moral sense and
bigotry, the books seem to show an incredibly lopsided view of what the universe
looks like. Lying, cheating, killing are all fine and have no long-term
consequences, according to Pullman, if the ends are worthy enough; you don't
even have to regret the wrongs you to do others along the way.
Morals are all relative, and all philosophies of the nature of life are
fine, just as long as they aren't Catholic. Deep truths abound in these books, but they always seem just out of reach
of its author, and thus, out of reach of the reader. We never seem to know
what the point of the journey was, unless it was just the fun of the ride.
But this moral confusion and undisguised bias against all things Christian
takes what _could_ have been a great trilogy...even a saga of the magnitude
and scope of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", and reduces it to a moral muddle. What a shame.
Rating:
Summary: Great Adventure, Conflicted and Deeply Bigoted Worldview
Review: First off, I want to congratulate Philip Pullman on the
scope and wonder he captures in this creative romp through
many worlds. The story of Lyra and Will and their attempts
to understand the universe and its nature is fun and gripping.
Pullman's ability to evoke realistic worlds and images is
amazing. His characters, on the whole, are interesting and
compelling, and his creativity is second to none. The books
attempt to deal with the great themes of philosophic and theological thought: the nature of evil, the nature of redemption, the
power of love, loyalty, the consequences of our actions and
choices, etc. However, the overall message
is fatally marred by what can only be described as the
personal blind spot of the author himself. In a piece of fiction that deals with multiple worlds and
multiple species, one would expect there to be many, many
ways of understanding the universe. And these would, presumably,
hold similarities to each other in the way that the real world's
great religions are similar. That is, one would expect divergence
on rituals, mythologies, cosmological descriptions of origins, etc.,
but one would universally expect to see that the ends do not justify
the means, that love, humility, charity, concern for others, etc. are extolled
and taught as the greatest truths and virtues, that striving toward wisdom and
communion with the sacred is a task we all share. And Pullman's trilogy
_does_, to a certain extent, respect these great truths...with
one incredible exception. It becomes clear in The Golden Compass that Pullman equates
the Catholic Church, and Christianity in general, with the
very _essence_ of evil and power-grubbing authoritarianism. And near
the end of the Amber Spyglass he has declared, unambiguously,
that there is no God and that Christianity is a compelling but
erroneous belief. He describes
an institutional Church that, apparently, preaches hatred, intolerance,
torture, and fananticism...really the worst caricature of the worst
abuses of the Catholic church over the last two millenia. Interestingly
enough, however, every _other_ religious worldview presented (secular
humanism, Deism,
Scientism, Shamanism, skepticism, Paganism, pragmatism,
and a watered-down form of Buddhism)
is seen as worthy. All beliefs about the world are shown to be valid and
honorable..._except_ Christianity (and Catholicism in particular). The incredible narrowness of the author's expressed
hatred of Christianity may well be, as some reviewers have suggested, a personal
thing. And I have no doubt that Mr. Pullman is entitled to his
beliefs. But the very zealotry that he seems to display in his hatred
of Christianity is the very _essence_ of what his protagonists profess to
hate about the Catholic church...their intolerance, their inability
to see beyond their own closely-held worldview, the "rightness" of
their point of view versus everyone else's. I don't believe this book tries to "take down" Christianity per se,
although one could argue that Pullman tries to do just that. But
I believe because of Mr. Pullman's own confused moral sense and
bigotry, the books seem to show an incredibly lopsided view of what the universe
looks like. Lying, cheating, killing are all fine and have no long-term
consequences, according to Pullman, if the ends are worthy enough; you don't
even have to regret the wrongs you to do others along the way (witness
the ironically Christian-like redemption of Lyra's parents at the end of the
trilogy, despite their collective torture and killing of innocents).
Morals are all relative, and all philosophies of the nature of life are
fine, just as long as they aren't Catholic. Deep truths abound in these books, but they always seem just out of reach
of its author, and thus, out of reach of the reader. We never seem to know
what the point of the journey was, unless it was just the fun of the ride.
But this moral confusion and undisguised bias against all things Christian
takes what _could_ have been a great trilogy...even a saga of the magnitude
and scope of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", and reduces it to a moral muddle. What a shame.
Rating:
Summary: Darker and faster than Harry Potter
Review: The His Dark Materials trilogy was my second attempt to find a series to keep me busy between Potter books (the first being Tolkein), and I have to say, it was extremely rewarding. The comparisons to Harry Potter should stop at the fact that both series include children as main characters, fall into the Fantasy realm, and have British authors. HDM is a darker series with a much more controversial storyline. In the books, Lyra, a girl raised by a college of professors in an alternate-universe kind of Oxford, and Will, a boy with a haunted mother and a missing father, journey through their world and other worlds to save the world's children from one man's plan to cut them from their daemons (the outward manifestation of the soul). To say that this is a complex story is an understatement, yet Pullman creates more than one beautiful world with grace and apparent ease. The books have been released both as young-adult trade paperbacks and as mass-market paperbacks geared to attract adult science fiction/fantasy readers, and I think the latter audience is the more likely sell. This is a fabulous series for adults and older children, particularly if they can read it together and discuss its points.
Rating:
Summary: Simply grand
Review: I got the first book for my birthday, because i'm a total bookworm and everybody knows it. I finished the book and went to the library the next day and got both the second and the third. The series just blew me away. It wasn't the average fantasy-elves, magicians, unicorns, etc. It was so original and had everything you wanted. Clear pictures, totally enough action, original story line, wonderful characters, suspense, just everything. It starts out with Lyra, an orphan at Jordan College, and the first book is about her adventure into the north, finding out she has parents and who they are, discovering new worlds, and new people(or bears). In the second book she meets Will, running away into the new world, trying to save his mothers most precious possession. He recieves the subtle knife (in exchange for a couple of fingers) which lets him cut into any of the millions of worlds that exist. The third book is the best of all, and takes them through lots of worlds, including the world of the dead, and then thier parting back into thier own worlds. These books, just thinking about them gets my mind racing with the fabulous adventures these two have, and all the wonderful things happening that make you want to laugh with relief as they get out of one prediciment, and then cry as they hit another. You can read them over and over again, and always discover something you missed the time before. I've read hundreds of books, and these are definitly in the top 5. If you like fiction, get these books. I guarantee 'em.
Rating:
Summary: Power and beauty, plot and character development
Review: First thing I'd like to say: people who talk about this book having no character development are wrong, I believe. Philip Pullman depicts his characters in such a subtle way that you become attached to them without having to read through their life stories. You can take so much out of their actions and dialogue. The absence of sap in this trilogy blows me over. Nothing has affected me so profoundly before. It was this trilogy that inspired me to write my own. My views are completely altered- and I hope they never change back. It is like seeing the world through new eyes. You start looking at things differently, wondering how you ever could have been so shallow and ignorant. I've recommended these books to many of my friends, but judging from their responses, they are truly not for everyone. People have different preferences, of course, but I don't see how you could just drop any of these books without knowing what happens. The plot reels you and and keeps you there, close to the end, but never quite reaching it. Even at the Amber Spyglass, there are questions unanswered, and I think that is part of the majesty of it all. Pullman doesn't tell you how to think, he presents each idea in the same way, lets you decide what to believe. These books had me thinking and feeling differently than I ever have before. A period of depression I've never known crept up on me after the conclusion, keeping me awake at night, hoarding my attention during the day. One morning, however, I woke up and realized it was okay to feel the way I was feeling. That day I noticed the smallest things, thought more about life in general than was normal. Now, this is a regular occurence. These books leave me with a sense of beautiful sadness every time I read them. It takes something powerful to send chills up my spine. After reading His Dark Materials, I am grateful that I don't have nerve damage. What else is there to say? Read them, if you think they're your kind of books. Don't shun them because they are classified as children's fantasy. And please don't compare them to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. These are wonderful books in their own ways, as are His Dark Materials. As I am reading The Golden Compass, or The Subtle Knife, or The Amber Spyglass, I'm not thinking about Hogwarts or the Shire. There's not enough room left in my mind for them. You wouldn't think a thirteen-year-old could think in this way, but they most surely can.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: If you're thinking about exploring a new series but are hesitant for one reason or another, let this be the review that pushes you to reading these books. In the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, Pullman hits the literary nail right on the head. The first book, The Golden Compass, puts in motion a unique world, somewhat like our own, with an even better storyline. We follow Lyra, an untraditional protagonist, as she pieces together mysterious phenomena that surrounds children disappearing, possible parallel worlds, and fighting armored bears (to name a few.) The second book, "The Subtle Knife," maintains the momentum of the storyline, while you savor every page in "The Amber Spyglass," the final installment. A series for all ages, His Dark Materials is some of the best innovative fantasy/fiction, and rivals the best - Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc... The story will stick with you for quite some time - no matter when you turned that final page.
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