Rating: 
Summary: Most Original and Thoughtful Fantasy Imaginable
Review: "His Dark Materials" is a nothing short of a meditation on the nature of humanity and divinity masquerading as a series of fantasy novels. Eliminate the name of the trilogy in that last sentence, and it could describe several really great works -- The Lord of the Rings, Dune, the Chronicles of Narnia. And this is a work equal to those. There are significant differences: perhaps because Pullman is a contemporary author, the characters speak normally, and not like Oxford dons, the action is not broken up for lengthy expositions on the history of the imaginary lands, peoples or languages, and of course, this is a profoundly irreligious series of books. This may be viewed by some as a strength and others as weakness, but all in all it does make for a great readable work with a terrific fresh sense of where good and evil come from. It is labelled a young adult book, but I'm really not sure why -- maybe it's part of a subversive effort to keep the theology under the radar of those who would never deign to read something that involves teenagers. Whatever. Lord knows how many doctoral dissertations and book clubs this has launched -- the possibilities for provacative discussion are endless. Read it and participate.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, interesting, great reads
Review: I am a big fan of Harry Potter, so I decided to read these books. One is actually going to be for a book club at my school on October 3. Very quickly I was sucked into the Golden Compass, and the excitement just never stoped. They were heart pounding, interesting, and very deep books. They present a picture in your mind so great, and there charm just never wears off. A must read for science-fiction fans. The pace, the charecters, the excitement is right on. The world is so descriptive, and the plot complex, yet it is easy enough to understand. Please note though: These books are quite more evil, and deep then the harry potter books, and some of the things I would say should not be read by people under 11-12. It is a great read for 13+ year olds. There is also a level of violence that is much higher then that of Harry Potter also.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, But Nothing Special
Review: ... They're good, not great, and nowhere near amazing. There, I said it. Now read the reasons. I applaud Phillip Pullman on his spectacular imagination, which has created a world parallel to ours in which all people have daemons in the form of animals, the church has almost complete control over our lives, armored bears rule kingdoms in the arctic, and God himself is a lying slimeball. ... There are two major problems. One is the surprising lack of humor. I can think of one funny part in "The Subtle Knife" and about three in "The Amber Spyglass." And don't look for much in the way of wit. The second is the finale. While this could have ended on a thought provoking and mystical note, it instead has to go for a sappy cliche about how we need to do the best we can with where we are and what we have (Awwwwwwww...). P.S. Don't read these if you are easily offended by anti church slander.
Rating: 
Summary: Heart wrenching
Review: What a tremendous trilogy! Quite original--daemons, beautiful witches, bears in armor...At the end, I cried worse than I ever had for any other book (I'm over 20 yrs old now and have read quite a lot of books). Was the ending the perfect outcome for our two heros...I'm still conteplating whether it is. But it succeeded in one thing--making me think about it nonstop for days.
Another problem I have with this trilogy is the lack of breathers for our characters. Everything happened so fast and there was so little or no comic relief to offset the urgency and darkness of the story that it all became too overwhelming at times.
But at the same time, the reason why I love this trilogy so much is because of the characters. I simply fell in love with Lyra and Will and it was wonderful to see them develop into the mature people they became.
There is only one trilogy I know of that I love better--one that I've grown up with and reread over and over again and has stayed in my heart since I was twelve years old--and that's--no, not the Lord of the Rings--but Patricia A. Mckillip's The Riddle Master trilogy. And that alone says a lot about what I think of Pullman's trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Controversy, phooey
Review: Just getting back from a study of children's literature in England, I dove into Pullman's trilogy, (first titled NORTHERN LIGHTS on my UK purchase). I was impressed to see that on the children's best seller list, Pullman was first, second and third! Our instructor warned us that Pullman is quite controversial due to his stand against organized religion. I do hope that adults don't spoil a perfectly wonderful read with overtones that young readers may never pick up anyway. Leave the deep meanings to adults, but let the children immerse themselves in the delightful description of two worlds--like ours but different. If you buy the book for a young reader, do not start reading it (or just go ahead and buy two copies right away!).
Rating:
Summary: Fab !!!
Review: Am a big fan of Harry Potter, The Trilogy: The Golden Compass/the Subtle Knife/the Amber Spyglass were even harder to put down! I read them in 2.5 days! A fantastic read just wish the books didn't end
Rating:
Summary: Books that last in the mind
Review: Few writers can weave force, imagination and conviction so well as Pullman has done in this trilogy. His gift for suspense is extraordinary, and also for vivid description and fierce poignancy--in re-reading, I found myself dissolved in tears again, time after time. But I think that some of the secondary characters are best of all. Serafina Pekkala and Iorek Byrnison seem to be already immortal (consulting Google), and then Lee Scoresby and the extraordinary Hester, No-Name the harpy--and Mrs. Coulter, all by herself, is phenomenal. I'm rather sorry that there are movie plans for this trilogy; I'm not sure the movies are up to it. But the good news is that Pullman plans another book about "some of the characters." Because I am an adult, I would love this to be an adult novel, exploring some of the themes at the end of the third book, but I can see that this might be a marketing mistake. In any case, I can't wait to read it.
Rating:
Summary: His Dark Materials
Review: To some up the entire expirience in one word. Wow. As seems to be a genre turn most science fiction books today are dealing with destorying one god or another.. ((See also Dragons of a Vanished moon) At anyrate I started this serries when i was a sophmore in Highschool and am just now getting around to finishing it. It is deffinatly one of the most inventive stories of its time, and the explanation of Daemons in the last book just makes the serries incredibly believable.. The only thing i was disappointed with was the ending.. I guess much like Dickens original ending of Great expectations.. The book deffinatly sends the reader through the full range of emmotions and was deffinatly entertaining. I'd suggest this book for anyone with the capacity of reason.. :)
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic ride
Review: Philip Pullman pulls off a triumph of style and substance to bring us one of the most thought-provoking trilogies of the last decade. The characters are well-developed, grabbing the attention and emotions of the reader in a thrilling way. Those previous posters who think that Pullman is disrespectful in his vision of 'God' as a weak and ultimately killable character would do well to look up Gnosticism and pay particular attention to the concept of the Demiurge.
Rating:
Summary: There ar not enough stars in the world...
Review: to express how great these books are. These books have everything to love in them. READ THEM. Don't read them in a continuous string though. It really is better to read them over the course of a year. And to thouroughly understand them, it really pays off to read each book twice before going on to the next one. The only thing wrong with this three paperback set are the covers. The publishers, for some reason, thought that it would be good to make these extraordinary novels look exactly like many of the cheap science fiction novels that are all too present in the world of books these days. If you want the best versions of these great books, I would recommend getting the Knopf Paperback editions. The ones with the red and black and white spines. They are easy to hold, convenient for carting around, and they have some of the best covers. you'll have to wait for the Amber spyGlass to come out in this type of softcover though, but it's still worth the wait.
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