Rating: 
Summary: His Dark Materials: The next Harry Potter
Review: If you LOVE Harry Potter, than pick up His Dark Materials. These books are about a twelve year old girl named Lyra Silvertonuge, (my favorite charater) and her adventures with her deamon Pantaliamon, her friends Serafina Pekkala, the queen of her witch clan, Iorek Byrnison, the bear king, the Aletheometer, the truth instrument that Lyra learns to read, and her new friend Will Parry, who becomes more than a friend...
This book is the best after Harry Potter. It is something worth picking up and reading
Rating:
Summary: His Dark Materials: The next Harry Potter
Review: Meet Lyra and Will, two (what seem like) ordinary children who come from to different universes...
Staring with The Golden Compass, readers with meet Lyra, a half wild, half civilized child. She journeys through her world to find the meaning of a mysterious substance called Dust, and her destiny...
The Sutble Knife readers meet Will Parry, a murderer. He meets Lyra and they become friends. Soon, they get separted...
In The Amber Spyglass, Will and Lyra discover their destiny, and the meaning of Dust...
Rating: 
Summary: It's About Time
Review: I think it's about time we were greeted with a literary series that shows all the qualities that 'His Dark Materials' does. I am only sixteen myself, and I find that the profound impact Christianity has on people severly limits our tolerance and imagination. With this series, though, we are entering an entirely new world so much unlike ours in the religious aspect yet so similar that I can't help but greatly appreciate and enjoy it.I'm glad that Mr. Pullman has introduced the young world into such controversial subjects that parents always try to steer their children away from. Children need to realize how differently some people see things - certainly not when they're nine, but definitely by the time they're twelve. If there was one thing about these books that kept me hooked, it was the role of the Authority and the Church and the fact that they weren't what everyone believed them to be. Will and Lyra went through many trials and tribulations before they reached a definite end, and the sad fact is: that's life. Sugar-coated happiness seems to be the only thing people think children should learn, and it certainly can't be said these two children were a part of that.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: I read the entire trilogy and was entranced. To all who share my enthusiasm for this series and it's philosophy, let me recommend to you another book you will find as rewarding, if not more so. It is Glenn Kleier's THE LAST DAY, and it is a triumph of entertainment and insight into the same themes. I'm not sure which author, Pullman or Kleier is more controversial. Both are powerful voices unafraid to confront the hypocrisy and arrogance of those who consider themselves our spiritual superiors. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Enthralling
Review: The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman is one of the most amazing books that I have read in a long time. I was absolutely shocked and absorbed into this book and could not put it down. This book has many characteristics that could pull any reader into it. It has the elements of mystery, fiction, suspense, magic, supernatural, realism, and so much more. This book is not for a specific gender or type of reader and would be great to use in an upper elementary or middle school level. Because of the twists and the story line I think that even high school students and adults would enjoy this selection immensely.
The way that this book was weaved is astonishing. It reminds me of the way that Stephen King weaves his books, or even John Grisham, or Tom Clancy. At the beginning of the story very little is known but there hints given here and there that make the reader want to continue and figure out what is going on. As the book proceeds the reader is dying to know and understand what is going on. Pieces are slowly added up, but the puzzle cannot be figured out until the last piece at the end is finally put in. When I read the end everything was finally put together and I completely understood what was going on. I was saddened but relieved at the same time. Then to only enhance the readers' suspense the books ends with a new beginning for a sequel. I have decided that I have to find the sequel and read it now or I won't be able to go on!
Rating:
Summary: magnificent & memorable!
Review: Come join Lyra & Will & the rest of the endearing, frightful, treacherous & brave characters, as they flee from one parallel world to the next, pursued by those who would snuff out all good & hope everywhere. A memorable, breathtaking heroic adventure about honor & bravery as two likeable children about to enter their teens take on the mantle of responsibility to save those they love & their separate worlds. Philip Pullman has composed, like a rousing symphony for an orchestra made up of every school band in the world, a formidable, intelligent & exciting story in which the struggle for dominance between those expelled from the Kingdom of Heaven is coming to a head & where good, at great cost, will survive. I have read nothing quite like HIS DARK MATERIALS & if your nerves are strong, your imagination vivid & you have a questing spirit, you will also be as impressed. Certainly not for the religiously squeamish or narrow minded.
Rating: 
Summary: Good.....but seems to be lacking something...
Review: It's pretty interesting...Pullman has great imagination, with daemons and dust and all, but the story just don't seem to get to me. All the books seem to end tragically, the last ends pretty abruptly, and all the characters are all pretty twisted. It's kind of depressing, like there's almost no good people in the world anymore.
Rating:
Summary: These books are great!!
Review: First of all to those people who think this book is blasphemous,
it's just a BOOK! It's not going to HURT anyone.
Besides that, I think these books are so amazingly great. Some of the characters are difficult to place on the good or the bad side, and I like that. Most characters in books are so obviously good or bad that you get bored. And to those who say the books are depressing, well, so is life sometimes! As another reviewer said, you have to take the bad with the good. These books are very different than other books I've read, butI found that they were different in a good way, and so I would definitely reccomend these books!
Go and get them!
Rating:
Summary: These books blew me away!
Review: A friend recommended "His Dark Materials" to me during a discussion of books we loved as children and teenagers -- the ones that we still enjoy. So far I've read them twice and given them as gifts to several more friends. Pullman has an astounding imagination and is a very, very gifted writer. If I were a writer, this is the kind of book I'd want to write. By the end of the third book, I felt the characters were close personal friends whose company I was about to lose -- so I went back and immersed myself in their world again. I'm not sure I would recommend this series for children; it's intelligent and enthralling, and the main characters are pre-teens (just), but some kids are going to find it too much. I think it depends very much on the individual child; my brothers read "The Lord of the Rings" around age nine, while I didn't get into it until adolescence, and this might require the same kind of judgement call. But kids who are ready are going to be swept away -- there are no punches pulled, no dumbing down, and the young protagonists are fully fleshed-out and incredibly vivid people. I am a fan of SF and fantasy, but I'm not sure you have to be to like these books; the issues they deal with are much more complex and transcendent.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely consuming- disturbingly thought provoking
Review: Pullman's moving His Dark Materials series is based on Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" and deals heavily with religion and metaphysics. It's not for the very young, the easily offended, the narrow minded, the faint of heart or those looking for a light,easy, preachy or moralistic children's book. These three books make you think and feel. I reccomend buying all three books at the same time, setting aside a large chunk of time, reading a summary of "Paradise Lost" and stocking up on food and facial tisse because this powerful, but heart- breakingly melancholy series offers no closure until the third book. I think it's about 1000 pages or more in total.
That said, you'll notice that while many praise this book, it's dificult to say what's it's about (notice lack of plot summary in reviews and even on back of books). Let's just say that it is set in many different worlds, some like ours, some different, and the main characters are 11 year old Lyra, 12 year old Will and 3000 year old Dust. The three books really focus on what happens to and how people deal with Dust (a sort of conscious matter) in different worlds and planes of existence.
The books are definetly fantasy, not sci-fi, and those who enjoy the richness and detail of Harry Potter's world , or Tolkien's work will enjoy this one. The His Dark Materials series is much more challenging, and frankly unsettling, because it is so imbued with moral ambiguity, and moral slippages- what's right in one situation isn't right in others, etc. It may leave you questioning what and why you believe.
The Dark Materials series stands out because of the mixture of romance, action, mystery, technology,legend, and lore. More than being about religion, or other worlds or rites of passage the His Dark Materials series is about Truth. Live truthfully, question the truth, and never, ever prevent others from living truthfully. The worse thing you can ever do, the series implies, is to keep the truth from people. Keeping people in the "Dark" prevents them from enjoying life and living in the moment.
I don't feel that I can adequately describe how powerful, moving or important this series is. It's absolutely consuming; it'll take you away. Read this one- you won't regret it. I'd give it an infinite number of stars if I could.
|
