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Stuart's Reviews > His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials, #1-3)
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Stuart's review
bookshelves: epic-fantasy, dark-fantasy-gothic, religion, ya-sf-fantasy, favorites
Dec 25, 2019
bookshelves: epic-fantasy, dark-fantasy-gothic, religion, ya-sf-fantasy, favorites
Read 2 times. Last read November 28, 2019 to December 20, 2019.
His Dark Materials: Works on Many Levels, A Modern Fantasy Classic
This is a trilogy that is best enjoyed as a single epic tale with three parts, much like The Lord of the Rings. It may have a superficial resemblance to Chronicles of Narnia in that its protagonists are children in a fantasy world, but its explorations of morality, consciousness, and its subversive view of the Catholic Church and religious dogmatism make it an anti-Narnia tale that must have C.S. Lewis turning cartwheels in his grave. It also has a lot more dark elements, especially in the portion set in our world, which reflects the far more conflicted and morally-confused world of today.
I won't describe the plot or characters as that's been done by many others well. Suffice to say that I think the books work equally well as YA fantasy in terms of the plot and adult fantasy in terms of the cosmological and religious and moral themes. The story is absolutely packed with ideas and challenging contents that elevate it far beyond a mere fantasy adventure. It also manages to take many familiar fantasy tropes like magic, witches, talking animals, quests, and a massive war in the heavens for the fate of the world, and somehow make them feel fresh and reinvented, rather than derivative.
I listened to the trilogy on audiobook, and have been watching the BBC miniseries His Dark Materials, which certainly has captured the tone of the books better than the earlier film The Golden Compass. It's a high-quality work of the imagination that has captured modern readers like the Harry Potter series, and is much superior in my opinion.
This is a trilogy that is best enjoyed as a single epic tale with three parts, much like The Lord of the Rings. It may have a superficial resemblance to Chronicles of Narnia in that its protagonists are children in a fantasy world, but its explorations of morality, consciousness, and its subversive view of the Catholic Church and religious dogmatism make it an anti-Narnia tale that must have C.S. Lewis turning cartwheels in his grave. It also has a lot more dark elements, especially in the portion set in our world, which reflects the far more conflicted and morally-confused world of today.
I won't describe the plot or characters as that's been done by many others well. Suffice to say that I think the books work equally well as YA fantasy in terms of the plot and adult fantasy in terms of the cosmological and religious and moral themes. The story is absolutely packed with ideas and challenging contents that elevate it far beyond a mere fantasy adventure. It also manages to take many familiar fantasy tropes like magic, witches, talking animals, quests, and a massive war in the heavens for the fate of the world, and somehow make them feel fresh and reinvented, rather than derivative.
I listened to the trilogy on audiobook, and have been watching the BBC miniseries His Dark Materials, which certainly has captured the tone of the books better than the earlier film The Golden Compass. It's a high-quality work of the imagination that has captured modern readers like the Harry Potter series, and is much superior in my opinion.
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Reading Progress
December 25, 2013
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 25, 2013
– Shelved
December 25, 2013
– Shelved as:
epic-fantasy
December 25, 2013
– Shelved as:
dark-fantasy-gothic
December 25, 2013
– Shelved as:
religion
December 25, 2013
– Shelved as:
ya-sf-fantasy
November 28, 2019
–
Started Reading
December 20, 2019
–
Finished Reading
December 25, 2019
– Shelved as:
favorites
January 27, 2021
–
Started Reading
(Mass Market Paperback Edition)
February 10, 2021
–
Finished Reading
(Mass Market Paperback Edition)
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Jamie
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Dec 25, 2019 07:53PM
Great review! Sounds like I need to put this on my list for 2020 :)
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Thank you for the review! Yes, I agree about the movie, and I'm (almost) watching the BBC tv series now. I did enjoy Nicole Kidman in the movie, especially, and Ruth Wilson performs admirably, too, as the dark, conflicted Mrs Coulter.
For me. The first book was classic, the second not as engaging but it was a typical middle book, the third felt wordy and I lost touch with the characters.
Kerry, you’re probably right about the individual books, but they were so short that I didn’t have the energy to write separate reviews😆
I didn't mind the first season too much, many parts that annoyed and also parts that were impressive. Will be continuing with it. But I actually found the movie to be much more memorable, despite its flaws. Certainly preferred it visually, as well as the acting.
I think the movie version was more in keeping with the fantasy feel of the story, but the BBC production has more scope to delve deeper into the story and characters since it’s a series. Much darker tone as well.
