His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

**Monarch** · 12-11-2005, 18:08

Has anyone read these? Its been over a year since iv read them but I was just wondering who else has?

I liked the first book, very adventury, second book was great, third - wtf was he on when he wrote that ending? Whatever happened to happy stories that ended well?

Thoughts?

**Somebody Else** · 12-11-2005, 18:37

First - good, second - also good, though not quite as good as first. Third - went all wrong with the whole 'I'm gonna make some crazy religious dross up' thing.

Still, I found it a better series than a fair few contemporary childrens' fantasy books.

**Mikeus Caesar** · 12-11-2005, 19:52

Read these a few years ago, thought they were great.

**Uesugi Kenshin** · 12-11-2005, 22:50

They were great when I read them several years ago, I haven't read anything like that in a long time though, I've moved on to some really good sci-fi recently, though that also never ends well. Every book in the series ends up with a worse outlook than the last.

Oh well two more to go!

EDIT:Figured I should throw this in afterwards, the series starts off with Revelation Space iirc and is by Alistair Reynolds.

**Crazed Rabbit** · 12-11-2005, 23:41

1: Good. 2: Pretty good. 3: Rather poor.

It seems he let his anti-Christian sentiments get the best of him. A shame, really, as the first one was great.

Crazed Rabbit

**Monarch** · 12-12-2005, 17:02

Ye all that stuff in the third was odd. Also I thought like shooting myself every time we had a chapter about those bulls with wheels on their legs and that woman, boring chapters. Still, 1+2 were good imo.

**master of the puppets** · 12-12-2005, 17:11

i liked all of them, but your right about his anti-christianity slipping into it, but that anti-christian/god story line was really quite good if he thought to do it a bit better. the elephant things with the wheels was kinda boring but it does make you think a tiny bit about evolution.

**Geoffrey S** · 12-12-2005, 21:58

Loved them.

**econ21** · 12-13-2005, 03:44

Brilliant books - especially the first, as people say. It was just impossible to put down from the moment the Oxford college Principal tries to poison Lyra's father onwards. A cracking and inventive story with some excellent characters. Mrs Coulter and the golden monkey are hard to beat as archvillains - getting the kidnapped kids to write letters home, then secretly burning them. Severed children and daemons, it's all good.

I actually liked the anti-clerical stuff - its nice to have an unapologetic aetheist - but could not stand the cycling elephant bits.

The National Theatre did a production of it a year or two back. It's really worth seeing, if it comes back or tours. It stresses the romance angle, book ended by rather sweet scenes of Lyra and Will talking to their absent selves in the Botanical gardens. The daemons and armoured bears are very well realised too.

**Alexander the Pretty Good** · 12-13-2005, 05:00

Read the first two, thought the first was better (I think; I cannot remember much of the second, which says it all).

The guy doesn't like CS Lewis. Jerk.

Should I try to finish the series, in light of the not to good closer?

**econ21** · 12-14-2005, 01:53

Originally Posted by Alexander the Pretty Good

Should I try to finish the series, in light of the not to good closer?

Probably not, if you found the second book forgettable. Also as a CS Lewis fan, you may not like it (more literal-minded Christians may take offence). But it's not a bad ending, IMO. If you do get it, I'd recommend you skim read the tedious chapters about a scientist and some cycling elephant-type things. The core ones with Will and Lyra are pretty good - there's a powerful chapter about a visit to the land of the dead and the denouement of the maturing relation between the two youngsters is well handled.