What was your favorite book of His Dark Materials, and why?

Question

By Phillip Pullman, if you didn't know. I thought they were controversial enough that a lot of people would have heard of them, and good (great!) enough that a lot of people would have read them, besides the fact that a movie was made of the first one. But no one seems interested in answering.

My own fav is The Amber Spyglass. I'm a sucker for romance and for self-sacrifice, of which this book has both in abundance.

Answer 1

I'm a big fan of Philip Pullman and His Dark Materials as well.

My favorite of the series is Northern Lights, although Amber Spyglass is a close second for different reasons.  Pullman's writing is inviting, his characters are interesting and the plot is fresh, but what did it for me in the first book was the concept of the daemon.  For that one idea alone, Pullman deserves a place in the fantasy hall of fame.  He evoked such real emotion between Lyra and Pan, I think of it as the greatest love story of all time.  The fact that that love is between a human and her soul is pure genius.

I like Amber Spyglass for some of the same reason as you:  it is epic; it is deep and substantive and philosophical and brings the entire plot arch to a magnificent conclusion of biblical proportions - literally.  The philosophy of the last book was its biggest draw for me, but Pullman didn't disappoint with style, characterization or plot, either.

That leaves the Subtle Knife in last place.  That isn't really fair, though, because it's a good book - it just wasn't as satisfying for me as the other two.  I did like the concept of the subtle knife very much; I like how Pullman can take something as abstract as Will's thought process to open and close the window and pull it firmly into the tangible, so I can imagine myself feeling in the air for the edge of hole to another universe.  But unfortunately, Will did not come as fully formed onto the page as his knife and his windows.  He was never a believable 12 year old boy; he was too mature, too self-aware, too heroic.  As such, he was a salve for the accidental fumbling Harry Potter type hero, but he went too far to the other side and lost his humanity to me.  Lyra, as a flawed, lying, impetuous, domineering and clever girl was more believable.  

I didn't take exception to the movie adaptation as much as others did.  The producers had a hard time realizing the project, including switch outs of directors and creative staff due to different visions and the enormous technical requirements.  In the end they spent upwards of $300M for something that fell short of New Line's LOTR success, which had set the bar.  But I don't think it was bad at all; in fact I think they got a lot of it right, and its gadgets and settings beat my own imagination in some ways.

Thanks for engaging in a discussion on a much loved series.  Pullman has written many other works, including the Sally Lockhart mystery series, which I recommend to you.  Enjoy!

Answer 2

Well, out of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, (I didn't read The Amber Spyglass), I would choose The Golden Compass.

I honestly thought the movie was really bad compared to The Golden Compass. I was complaining the whole time. :]

I suspect people aren't answering because their parents might have not let them read it - I heard a lot about the books being anti-Christian?

I heard about the book first though, rather than the movie.

I thought The Golden Compass was better because in The Subtle Knife, things got confusing to me. Because Lyra and Will are from different worlds, but they both have a place in their world called Oxford?

And Lyra noted that in the museum, she saw some artifacts that she remembered exactly.

So does that mean Lyra's old?

As you can tell, I was very confused. :D