Bookish Thoughts

I'll admit that I came to this one with my hackles raised. My feelings toward the original trilogy are strong and complicated, and they get more complicated the more I think about them. In all honestly I hadn't been planning to read it at all. But then I got it as a Christmas present and I can't just not read a book once it's sitting on my shelf. Plus I like The Golden Compass  enough to give this one a chance, since it didn't cost me anything. The truth is that I genuinely liked the beginning of the book. Malcolm is a bright, observant boy who works in a tavern. He gets recruited as a spy inevitably and almost without being aware of it. But he sees a lot and he's smart enough to put things together and subtle enough to get more information. The result is a slow story in a deeply familiar world, where information is slowly parceled out and pieced together. I liked the puzzle of it all. It also seemed like Pullman was addressing one of the bigger weaknesses o...

In the climax of Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass , the final book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, two twelve year olds save the world by having sex and declaring their undying love for each other. This is something that I do not like. I find it weird and uncomfortable and it keeps me from re-reading this book. I probably would have continued to ignore it, if not for the Mark Reads project, though it is nice to reaffirm my own view of this book. It's a shame, because there's a lot about The Amber Spyglass that I really like.Dr. Mary Malone is a great character. The mulefa and their world are endlessly fascinating. I love all the thought and detail that goes into this completely alternate evolutionary chain. Lyra and Will's journey through the underworld is great and manages to bring some Greek mythology into play with all the Christian mythology that dominates the trilogy. Unfortunately, as interesting as the bulk of the book is, the ending is e...

The Subtle Knife is the second book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Instead of picking up where The Golden Compass left off, this book opens in an entirely different world and introduces the character of Will Parry, who will eventually be the Adam to Lyra's Eve. In all honesty, I don't like this book as much as The Golden Compass . Instead of an exhilarating adventure story, Pullman starts to delve into his philosophy. It comes off as a bit preachy. Lord Asriel's ultimate goal is revealed: he's going to kill God.  The problem is that most of the characters don't really question this. Mrs. Coulter, resident bad guy, is trying to stop Asriel and gain power for herself through the church/Magisterium. But nearly every other sympathetic character is in complete agreement that God needs to die. Pullman reveals that, in his world, it was Lucifer and his rebel angels who tempted Eve with the apple, and that this was a good thing. This ...

The Golden Compass is the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. While the trilogy in it's entirety is fairly controversial due to it's negative portrayal of the church, this theme doesn't really become apparent until the end of the first book. Instead, The Golden Compass is at heart an adventure tale. It follows eleven-year-old Lyra Belacqua as she journeys north to save her best friend, Roger, from the Gobblers. The Gobblers have been kidnapping children for their own nefarious purposes. The Golden Compass takes place in a world that is similar to ours, but also incredibly different. The first and most dramatic difference is that a person's soul actually manifests as an animal companion known as a daemon. There are more subtle etymological and historical differences. For example, in this book John Calvin became pope and then ultimately disbanded the papacy in favor of a board of officials known as The Magisterium. The church ...