His Dark Materials
A trilogy written by
Philip Pullman
"All this time I was away," Lyra said, "I never thought about my future. All I thought about was just the time I was in, just the present. There were plenty of times when I thought I didn't have a future at all. And now... Well, suddenly finding I've got a whole life to live, but no idea what to do with it"
The
His Dark Materials trilogy consists of three books; "
Northern Lights" (this book is known as "
The Golden Compass" in the US), "
The Subtle Knife" and "
The Amber Spyglass". The previous write-ups have - in a beautiful way - said a few things about the book, but I nevertheless feel the need to add a few things.
The primary thing the books left me wondering, were to what degree they are
children's books. And - raising significantly more curiosity - how I would have reacted if I had read this trilogy when I was 12.
The books start off slowly, by painting a vivid
portrait of Lyra, the books'
main character. Lyra is a 12 year-old girl with a heavy
prophecy hanging over her. Early in the first novel, the reader learns that the
existence of
everything - in the widest possible sense of the word - depends on Lyra, and Lyra alone.
Well, Lyra and her
dæmon (pron.
demon)
Pantalaimon - the
morphing creature that is the embodiment of her spirit.
Compared to Harry Potter
As the books were released more or less at the same time (Harry Potter surfaced in 1997 and Dark Materials books were released 1997-2000), a comparison comes natural.
Harry Potter is a series about a guy with a special gift. He didn't know he was a
wizard at all, until he was made aware of it. On top of that, it turns out that he is the most special wizard of all, because he is the only one to have survived
Voldemort. His Dark Materials carries - in many ways - a similar
concept. An adventurous child with a special prophecy is
entwined into a story larger than herself.
Here is where the similarities end, however.
Whereas
Rowling writes engaging and
adventurously enough, Pullman's language and
subtlety is in a
different league altogether. Quite honestly, I cannot understand how Rowling has received such massive publicity, while Pullmans' work - which is significantly better in all aspects - has received little or none.
Throughout the
trilogy, there are several key plot developments and endings of subplots, where you start to get the feeling that the book might end at any moment. Puzzled, I found myself looking at another 200 (100.. 50..) pages to go, only to be baffled by the new twists and bends in the plot.
Unlike most other children's books I have seen, this trilogy seems to be quite
comfortable with death. Many of the key characters in the book snuff it throughout, and on several occasions I felt that I left dear friends behind - the sheer
vividness of the characters, their characteristics, their
passions and their
thoughts are reasons enough to read this trilogy.
But it does not stop there.
It has been a while since I was 12, and I am not sure how far along I was, but I do suspect that if I had read this novel at that age (or - even better - if I had been read to), quite a few questions would have been looming.
The novel is never directly against the church, but it is fierce in its criticism against its bad aspect - with many a kick to the groin of the inquisition, suppression of truth etc. Far larger themes are also deeply integrated into the story.
Deceit,
lies,
love,
compassion,
custom,
habit and
curiosity pull the characters in various directions, and no matter how far-fetched some of the actions are - Pullman manages to make it seem as if all the characters act correctly out of their own
viewpoint. Not one single of the characters acts "wrongly", and Pullman does not fall in the trap of labelling the bad forces "bad" just because they are bad. All the actions happen because of a reason - and although it takes three sizeable volumes to explain all the reasons, the final result is a literary work of art far beyond most of the other books I have read lately.
If you have
children of around 12 years old - or, hell, even if you don't. In fact, ESPECIALLY if you don't - do yourself a favour and pick up the first book in this trilogy. If you manage to read the first book, and if you then manage to avoid the two next ones, something completely
inconceivable has happened.
CST Approved