I'm familiar with the title, but I cannot recall whether or not I've read it. Can you remind me about it?

how did you type that character? the ae thing.

Like this; "æ" .

@kimk, you can access all those things from the character map, I know that on XP it's under Start\All Programs\Accessories\System Tools, dunno about other systems

@Esq, His Dark Materials is the trilogy about Lyra and Will and the revolt against Heaven. I agree with Arania, it's probably the best story I've ever read. There are so many levels of hidden meaning to the story, you have to read it again and again to find them all. A bit like the alethiometer

"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't"

@Darkstone, stop teasing those who havent read it

It's made up of:

Northern Lights (American: Golden Compass)
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass

And I agree, its a great trilogy, I read them when they first came out

I've read the trilogy several times, and i reckon its a dam good
story. I've heard that there is a movie based on the books being
produced.

I heard that too, but I wasn't too enthusiastic - I think the books are much too visual, they leave so much to the imagination (but in a good way), and also if the films are going to be anything near reasonable length, they'll have to chop bits off...

"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't"

it's a good trilogy, I enjoyed it, dam sight more bite in it than that Harry Botter rubbish. Wife and daughter adore Pullman's work, but I wouldn't go that far, he's not that good. Frankly, it rambles on a bit and I think isn't too sure about it's audience at times, is it for kids or not? (no)

Pullman said one of his primary motivations in writing was NOT to produce an escapist fantasy, ironically the "fantasy" genre fans have taken his work to their hearts. When someone compared him to C S lewis, he was quite upset; he thinks that work like Lewis' is deceptive and cheating with it's magic and world shifting. citing the magic apple from Narnia that cured Digory's dying mother in The Magicians Nephew, Pullman said using such plot devices as miraculous solutions to tragedy was a cruel and foolish idea to put into a child's head. Possibly a bit harsh but I see where he's coming from.

Sorry about the late response, ive been about 100Km away from my computer for the last three days so i havent had a chance to check OT.

Ok, one warning, i may put some MAJOR spoilers in this post, so those who are going to read the book, dont read this

<SPOILERS>


@darkstone: i made thæ character by using the MSword 'insært' fæture, copying it from MSword, ænd using ctrl+v whæn i need it, and yes, i laced it with æ on purpose

@taw: pullman is a bit right, but that comment is a bit extreme, the 'realism' stting on a work of fiction should be based on the age group it is set at, considering the realism greatley increased over the course of the seven narnia books, and the reader being required to be older and older to persevere that long, he got it pretty well IMHO

---

American: Golden Compass

---

well, the alethiometer is a bit like a compass, and it's made of gold, but that dosent explain the Dark matter EM cage in oxford, oh wait, that was in book 2 wasn't it?

@dark: i hope they do make a movie, although it may be a little MASSIVE!!!, they could chop each one in half to make it more manegable, one from the start to just after they escape from the experimental facility, then from then to Asriel's gateway creation, then to the incident with Boreal in our world, then to lyra's capture, then to the travel to the world of the dead. it could be manegable.

I had only two major quams with the trilogy, one more so than the other:

1) dæmons: pantalaimon in particular. the idea of a 1/2 soul companion intrigues me to the point where it occupies me almost completely. Now for a quaestion and a statement:
statement: in book one in the guillotine room, and in book three in the world of the dead, when Pan is almost separated from Lyra, i could almost feel it, as though i had my own, and it was happening to me, must be my imagination. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Question: i found a particular site from google when i searched for 'dæmon', and i came up with something very curious, i couldnt see the whole site as it had exceeded its usage limit, but it looked like this guy was more affected by the book than i am, either that or pulmann didnt write a work of fiction.

2) the ending: did anyone think that the ending was a bit extreme? i didnt really think that shattering the knife and severing every world from each other was the only plan of action, especially the isolation of lyra from will, they could have stayed in a world foreign to them both, or swithching back and forth ever ten years so that they both heal over a ten-year period and then go to the other world again.

Ok im done, i just had to say that

</SPOILERS>

The best thing about the internet is that you can reach out and drop an email on top of the book's author's head if you want to argue something with him

" In Defeat, Malice; In Victory, Revenge! "

Aranaia said,

"considering the realism greatley increased over the course of the seven narnia books"

you're saying that as you go through the narnia books from magicians nephew to last battle, they get more realistic? But they were'nt written chronologically, were they? Lion and Witch was first, Magicians nephew was written as a prequel many years later after the Silver Chair.

What Pullman was complaining about was not "realism" per se, but the portrayal of impossible solutions as literary devices in a novel which purports to have a moral dimension. He is an atheist, after all, wheras Lewis was a very devout Christian (and best m8s with Tolkien)

as to your points 1 & 2, that's what good writing does very few books make me feel like that now.


Edited by - Tawakalna on 5/3/2004 3:59:02 AM

Just finished reading them. They were pretty darn good. I like the multiverse setting alot.

@TAw or TWK or whatever. I did not know he was an atheist but my comment towards the end of the series was "this is a man who hates god" (not that it bothers me just a reaction )

Like the concept of daemons being in or out dpending on the world.

Very hard to categorize It was a bit simplistic in places but deep in others young adult is where i would put it I guess. It didn't seem to have to many meanings to me it seemed pretty clear cut maybe I am just Dense

Overall I give it a Solid B as a trilogy

I Am Sharp like Bowling Ball

I'd pretty much agree with that assessment!

Dense I gather I dont thinks I have ever read the narnia books except for a classroom version of The lion the witch blah blah. are they worht it not as a psuedo son of god story line but just as good stories?

I Am Sharp like Bowling Ball