Philip Pullman

doctor evil

I`ve read the trilogy can`t remember the name , the one with the girl and the boy who had the nife that could slice into different realities, I quite liked it. Are his other books good?.

grimloch

I read one or two and I can't actually remember the names off the top of my head but I recall it was good.

EDIT: It was the Sally Lockhart trilogy, which now that it's been brought to my attention, I never actually finished.

Tar.Aldarion

no it was called His Dark Materials.he is an excellent author aye.

OfflerCrocGod

Hai! I really liked the Dark Materials trilogy. The ending is very good and it was very weird overall.

scorpy

I loved his dark materials, but the other series that nobody seems to know about(one of them was called 'the ruby in the smoke') was, if I recall correctly, pretty good. I read it a couple years ago and I quite liked it. not a patch on his dark materials though ^_^

Tar.Aldarion

ah yes i remember reading it for the first time as a wee lad,will lyra be ok!!!!? :P
twas great.

grimloch

scorpy wrote:

I loved his dark materials, but the other series that nobody seems to know about(one of them was called 'the ruby in the smoke') was, if I recall correctly, pretty good. I read it a couple years ago and I quite liked it. not a patch on his dark materials though ^_^

'The Ruby in the Smoke' was part of the Sally Lockhart trilogy, the other two were 'Shadow in the North' and 'The Tiger in the Well'

angeldelight

I've read both trilogies and I loved them both. However his dark materials is better by a mile, as would be expected given the prizes it has won etc.

Tar.Aldarion

ya always slap bang second behind lotr in best books ever isnt it.

dudara

"The Dark Materials" trilogy is soo good. I bought the first book as a Christmas present for my teenaged sister years ago, and I was hooked myself. As well as being a great fantasy story, he really manages to capture the whole teenager-growing up thing as well. Truly great.

There's another trilogy that my sister recommended as well by a different author, Garth Nix. The books are "Abhorsen", "Lirael" and "Sabriel". Maybe a little more for children, but still a good read.

angeldelight

dudara wrote:

There's another trilogy that my sister recommended as well by a different author, Garth Nix. The books are "Abhorsen", "Lirael" and "Sabriel". Maybe a little more for children, but still a good read.

They're good but the story isn't as good as dark materials. Also the writing isn't of the same quality. Still not a bad read though

Sapien

doctor evil wrote:

I`ve read the trilogy can`t remember the name , the one with the girl and the boy who had the nife that could slice into different realities, I quite liked it. Are his other books good?.

Quite excellent. I have heard disturbing rumours to the effect that the film, in pre-production with Newline, will have much of the anti-clerical theme exponged.

Also, consider moving this thread to or replicating it in the Christianity forum.

lacuna

Only a few days ago I found the trilogy while rumaging in a press in my house. I'm planning on re-reading it. It was brilliant. I read the Sally Lockhart Trilogy beforehand and loved that too.

I hope they don't make His Dark Materials into a film. It'd ruin it imo.

arrietty

They are making the trilogy into a film, AFAIK. If they're putting all three books into one film it's gonna be pretty tight.

I love His Dark Materials. There's a little book that came out a couple of years ago called Lyra's Oxford, a little red hardback book. It's got a short story and a lot of little pictures and a map of Lyra's version of Oxford. Philip Pullman's working on another book, called the Book of Dust, which as far as I remember isn't about Lyra and Will, but some of the other characters. I don't think there's any publication date for it yet.

monkeyfudge

I bought the first part of His Dark Materials to read for my nephew, Northern Lights I think it was. But it was a little bit too advanced for him at the time, but I ended up reading it myself. It was certainly very enjoyable. I'll have to try it out on my nephew again now that he is a little bit older.

It certainly does sound like the film will be terrible, all references to religion are being removed.

theCzar

His Dark Materials was really excellent, i took about half the first book to get into the weird world, but once i was in, it was so engrossing, such a fascinating story, blew my mind.

I'm surprised it isn't getting the same book-burning-in-the-bible-belt treatment as Harry Potter.

arrietty

theCzar wrote:

I'm surprised it isn't getting the same book-burning-in-the-bible-belt treatment as Harry Potter.

Oh, it is, don't worry! It is. But the books just aren't as popular or as [STRIKE]hyped[/STRIKE] focused upon by the media as Harry Potter is. That's why they get less attention. But believe me, there are pretty appalling attacks made on HDM by certain sections of the Christian churches.

theCzar

arrietty wrote:

Oh, it is, don't worry! It is. But the books just aren't as popular or as [STRIKE]hyped[/STRIKE] focused upon by the media as Harry Potter is. That's why they get less attention. But believe me, there are pretty appalling attacks made on HDM by certain sections of the Christian churches.

Can't say I blame'em about HDM, if your a religious christian, HDM is pretty blasphemous.

Scarinae

But if you remove the religion references, doesn't that kind of destroy the whole point of the books?

Interestingly, I discovered that in America 'The Northern Lights' (the first book of the trilogy) is called 'The Golden Compass' instead. Why do you think that is? I mean, there isn't even a compass in the books - Lyra has her aleithiometer (sp?), but it is certainly not a compass

arrietty

Fishie wrote:

Interestingly, I discovered that in America 'The Northern Lights' (the first book of the trilogy) is called 'The Golden Compass' instead. Why do you think that is? I mean, there isn't even a compass in the books - Lyra has her aleithiometer (sp?), but it is certainly not a compass

I read in an interview with Philip Pullman on his website (can't remember the link but I'm sure it's easily googled) that the change was made by the same editor who changed Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone to Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. They're both pretty terrible changes.

Scarinae

arrietty wrote:

I read in an interview with Philip Pullman on his website (can't remember the link but I'm sure it's easily googled) that the change was made by the same editor who changed Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone to Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. They're both pretty terrible changes.

But I mean, what's the point? Do they think that American audiences can't cope with words that have more than three syllables?

tHE vAGGABOND

His dark materials was an amazing series of books. Never heard of it until the BBC big read thing, and it was in the top 10 out of nowhere.

*marie*

I read the first two in HDM about 4 years ago, was absolutely blown away by the story, I really loved them but for some reason I never got round to reading the last one. Can someone tell what it's called and I'll try and track it down?

Tar.Aldarion

was the amber spyglass the last one? cant remember....read them in the one book...

*Angel*

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

was the amber spyglass the last one? cant remember....read them in the one book...

Yep, I loved that series.

Scarinae

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

was the amber spyglass the last one? cant remember....read them in the one book...

Yes, it's called the Amber Spyglass and it is longer than the other two books

Tar.Aldarion

ah yes it's a great trilogy and when i got the three in one for the first time nobody saw me for ages

Sapien

Philip Pullman has been described as the "most dangerous author in Britain". Does anyone agree?

grimloch

Sapien wrote:

Philip Pullman has been described as the "most dangerous author in Britain". Does anyone agree?

Maybe from the religious aspect he could be viewed as dangerous. But I disagree.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

excellent series, love it.
was helping out at a book sale and as a thank you I was told I could pick a few books from the leftovers, I found all three HDM books in perfect condition.. looked like they were just off the bookshop shelves. Took them home and read them in 2 days, stayed up on the first night to read the second book because I just couldn't bring myself to wait until after I'd wasted 8-10 hours sleeping.

ending was ... powerfull stuff.

sephirosis

excellent, EXCELLENT books. perhaps its a testament to their quality that not one person yet has slated the books, as usually happens when a book is lauded on this forum á la harry potter (actually very good) or da vinci code (actually awful).
anyway does anyone else think its a bit unfair that they are marketed as childrens books?? i think many adults would miss out on them because of this, but it has philosophical themes which are at an adult level.
ive heard of this fourth book "the book of dust" too, i hope its good. it will be an interesting read if nothing else.
just in case anyone cares my fave charater is mary (i hope thats her name i havent read the books in years!)

grimloch

sephirosis wrote:

excellent, EXCELLENT books. perhaps its a testament to their quality that not one person yet has slated the books, as usually happens when a book is lauded on this forum á la harry potter (actually very good) or da vinci code (actually awful).
anyway does anyone else think its a bit unfair that they are marketed as childrens books?? i think many adults would miss out on them because of this, but it has philosophical themes which are at an adult level.
ive heard of this fourth book "the book of dust" too, i hope its good. it will be an interesting read if nothing else.
just in case anyone cares my fave charater is mary (i hope thats her name i havent read the books in years!)

That's the beauty of them. They're extremely accessible to younger readers, like myself a few years back, and yet manage to present a few underlying themes to provide entertainment to an older reader without losing the younger ones.

Not the easiest thing in the world to do. Fair play to him.

sephirosis

fair play indeed. <<i claps>>

Calina

Fishie wrote:

But if you remove the religion references, doesn't that kind of destroy the whole point of the books?

Interestingly, I discovered that in America 'The Northern Lights' (the first book of the trilogy) is called 'The Golden Compass' instead. Why do you think that is? I mean, there isn't even a compass in the books - Lyra has her aleithiometer (sp?), but it is certainly not a compass

Actually, if I remember reading an interview with Philip Pullman correctly, book one was originally called the Golden Compass, and was sent to the US publishing industry with that name. It was afterwards that he decided to change it to Northern Lights but when the Americans finally picked up on it, they preferred the Golden Compass to Northern Lights. The German translation is of The Golden Compass, although the French is "Kingdoms of the North". Actually, the French title translations are a bit different, now that I look at them...the second one is Tower of Angels.

Tar.Aldarion

ya just noticed how nobody doesnt like the books hear hear!

sully32

Sorry to rain on the parade. But I thought the trilogy had seriously lost it by the last book. The first book was excellent I think Lyra was a great character. The second was ok, didnt like Will that much. And the third book was so bad it annoys me even thinking about. Everything about it was wrong. The preachy tone (yeah I get it organised religion is not necessarily a force for good), the stupid love story part tacked on at the end and just the general idea that the author had no idea how to finish the story.

Sapien

sully32 wrote:

Sorry to rain on the parade. But I thought the trilogy had seriously lost it by the last book. The first book was excellent I think Lyra was a great character. The second was ok, didn’t like Will that much. And the third book was so bad it annoys me even thinking about. Everything about it was wrong. The preachy tone (yeah I get it organised religion is not necessarily a force for good), the stupid love story part tacked on at the end and just the general idea that the author had no idea how to finish the story.

I disagree - Pullman was bound to the events in Spyglass by the end of Subtle knife. One cannot have two characters dominate the first two books in a series of three without an important relationship between them framing the final instalment. The whole plot arc is an Adam and Eve allegory, and not a particularly subtle one, dealing with innocence, knowledge, taboo, and sexuality. The two characters are really no more than vehicles for abstract notions - Lyra, the liar who can determine the absolute truth; and Will, who can impose his will upon the fabric of space and time using a dagger, which is the archetypal symbol of the will. They had to fall in love, they had to transgress the Great Taboo, and they had to develop into adulthood with the loss of their supernatural childlike faculties. Pullman had no choice.

And the preachy tone hardly arrived out of the blue in Spyglass. It was the inevitable and consistent culmination of the series, relating intimately to the Will/Lyra, Adam/Eve concept. Effectively, the entire series is a re-telling of Paradise Lost, not only from the point of view of the rebellion, but in philosophical sympathy with it. The series as a whole is a surreptitious fable in the evils of religion - a necessary antidote to the vile and hidden indoctrination perpetrated by C.S. Lewis. That's why he's considered to be so dangerous by certain parties.

Tar.Aldarion

that was well put i guess may disagree but only very slightly
great book.

supersheep

Sapien wrote:

I disagree - Pullman was bound to the events in Spyglass by the end of Subtle knife. One cannot have two characters dominate the first two books in a series of three without an important relationship between them framing the final instalment. The whole plot arc is an Adam and Eve allegory, and not a particularly subtle one, dealing with innocence, knowledge, taboo, and sexuality. The two characters are really no more than vehicles for abstract notions - Lyra, the liar who can determine the absolute truth; and Will, who can impose his will upon the fabric of space and time using a dagger, which is the archetypal symbol of the will. They had to fall in love, they had to transgress the Great Taboo, and they had to develop into adulthood with the loss of their supernatural childlike faculties. Pullman had no choice.

And the preachy tone hardly arrived out of the blue in Spyglass. It was the inevitable and consistent culmination of the series, relating intimately to the Will/Lyra, Adam/Eve concept. Effectively, the entire series is a re-telling of Paradise Lost, not only from the point of view of the rebellion, but in philosophical sympathy with it. The series as a whole is a surreptitious fable in the evils of religion - a necessary antidote to the vile and hidden indoctrination perpetrated by C.S. Lewis. That's why he's considered to be so dangerous by certain parties.

My god, the deepness! And I just got an enjoyable story from them... I loved His Dark Materials, the Ruby in the Smoke and that series weren't as good... Even though the end of The Amber Spyglass is possibly the saddest thing I have ever read (apart from Shake Hands With the Devil), it does suffer a little from what I have just decided, on the spur of the moment, to call 'Long Series Dragdown Syndrome' - the tendency of series of books to, while never becoming BAD, get less... readable, maybe? A sense of dragging, that the author's heart isn't quite as much in it as it was. The Chronicles of Narnia has it (I think from the Voyage of the Dawn Treader on), the Wheel of Time has it (The Path of Daggers, especially), Harry Potter has it (the Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince) and His Dark Materials has it. A sort of dragging, less-interesting sensation while reading it - perhaps only because the series were so good in the first place. My opinion anyways...
Still love the books, though.

John

Just about everyone talking about the Sally Lockhart trilogy, it's not a trilogy, there are four books. I've read the first two and they were quite good, have the next two lined up. Pullman has released a load of stories he originally wrote as plays for the school he used to teach in, I read Count Karlstein, entertaining but no exactly life changing.

supersheep

Today, I was looking over my books, and I saw the Amber Spyglass. Remembering what I said about the really sad ending, I thought I'd have a quick look (was also trying to see about stealing some of the mood for whatever I write during NaNoWriMo). I dunno, maybe it was the long day, maybe it was some of the personal stuff I went through a wee while back, but I had to put it down - tears were welling in my eyes, and there was a feeling of deep and irrevocable loss in my heart. Even thinking about it now is making me teary eyed. I've no idea why this book has the power to move me so much - only one other book has made me cry, and that was with rage and frustration rather than in sorrow (the other book was Barbara Kingsolver's "Small Wonder". Thank you to she who gave me that book...)
ANyone else been that strongly affected by this book?

inflight

Definitely! The Amber Spyglass is my favourite Pullman novel, and I cried and sniffled quite a bit towards the end also even though it takes a hell of a lot to make me cry. I'm re-reading all his books at the moment cos I've had a Harry Potter overload and Pullman's depth and the emotions he brings out so forcefully always last longer and hit harder than HP. I can't wait for the Book of Dust.

Edit: I'm not re-reading them all at once.. sleepy. I've only started the Sally Lockhart series again. There.

haemogoblin

his dark materials are great, havent read them in a few years,i think they deserve a re-read. is he anywhere near finishing the book of dust?u know theyr making a film?