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Ashley Marie 's Reviews > His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials, #1-3)
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Northern Lights / The Golden Compass - 12Nov16
4 stars
Breathtaking and smart and utterly brilliant. Reading several of Pullman's interviews has made me decide to re/read the Chronicles of Narnia at some point in 2017; the misconception that His Dark Materials is a direct rebuttal of Narnia has interested me for years, and then to finally read this and hear from Pullman himself that it is NOT said rebuttal makes it that much more interesting. I love the idea of the church being the ruthless/villain entity, much like the Library in the Ink and Bone series. And the daemons! Such a fantastic idea :) The ending was a sucker punch and I can definitely say I wasn't expecting it. I loved meeting the ice bears and I'm looking forward to the next book!
I liked the film adaptation for its effects and the cast. The script just suffered unendingly, poor thing, and that made it utter crap overall.
The Subtle Knife - 18Oct17
4 stars
First of all, I'm amazed that I didn't make mention in my Golden Compass review of how fantastic the full cast audiobook is. If anyone wants to do a reread or even pick it up for the first time, it's really easy to follow. Pullman does the overall narration himself, and I swear to god he sounds like Liam Neeson. (Score!)
This book follows the dark tone of the first; as in the real world, villains never look like villains and they're everywhere. No more ice bears in this one, but we are introduced to Will, and Serafina Pekkala and Lee Scoresby are back :) The idea of church/religion vs science breaks through a little more clearly in this book, so we can see that an inevitable war is brewing.
And then it had to end on a goddamn cliffhanger, and it threw all my reading plans out of whack. (But I'm sure Amber Spyglass will be worth it, so whatever.)
The Amber Spyglass - 1Nov17
4 stars
The final chapter brings sadness, as final books always do. I wasn't able to start this as quickly as I wanted to, but once I did I actually found it tough to keep up in places. Between the angels and the Authority and using the subtle knife EVERYWHERE (or so it seemed), I think I lost the thread of the story for a short while early on. Venturing into the Land of the Dead brought me right back though; I definitely cried when Lyra had to leave Pan. And the ending wasn't the happiest we all could have wished for, but I think it gives the best closure. This is, after all, a story about growing up, and growing up means you have to do things you don't always want to do. Something about facing a choice between what is right and what is easy... different series, same idea ;) I'll be ever glad to have visited this world (worlds?) and I'm looking forward to the new Book of Dust series so I can come back!
Trilogy overall - 5 stars
This is one of those series everyone should read. It's brilliant.
Sidenote: Funny how it took me exactly a year to read this trilogy.
4 stars
Breathtaking and smart and utterly brilliant. Reading several of Pullman's interviews has made me decide to re/read the Chronicles of Narnia at some point in 2017; the misconception that His Dark Materials is a direct rebuttal of Narnia has interested me for years, and then to finally read this and hear from Pullman himself that it is NOT said rebuttal makes it that much more interesting. I love the idea of the church being the ruthless/villain entity, much like the Library in the Ink and Bone series. And the daemons! Such a fantastic idea :) The ending was a sucker punch and I can definitely say I wasn't expecting it. I loved meeting the ice bears and I'm looking forward to the next book!
I liked the film adaptation for its effects and the cast. The script just suffered unendingly, poor thing, and that made it utter crap overall.
The Subtle Knife - 18Oct17
4 stars
First of all, I'm amazed that I didn't make mention in my Golden Compass review of how fantastic the full cast audiobook is. If anyone wants to do a reread or even pick it up for the first time, it's really easy to follow. Pullman does the overall narration himself, and I swear to god he sounds like Liam Neeson. (Score!)
This book follows the dark tone of the first; as in the real world, villains never look like villains and they're everywhere. No more ice bears in this one, but we are introduced to Will, and Serafina Pekkala and Lee Scoresby are back :) The idea of church/religion vs science breaks through a little more clearly in this book, so we can see that an inevitable war is brewing.
And then it had to end on a goddamn cliffhanger, and it threw all my reading plans out of whack. (But I'm sure Amber Spyglass will be worth it, so whatever.)
The Amber Spyglass - 1Nov17
4 stars
The final chapter brings sadness, as final books always do. I wasn't able to start this as quickly as I wanted to, but once I did I actually found it tough to keep up in places. Between the angels and the Authority and using the subtle knife EVERYWHERE (or so it seemed), I think I lost the thread of the story for a short while early on. Venturing into the Land of the Dead brought me right back though; I definitely cried when Lyra had to leave Pan. And the ending wasn't the happiest we all could have wished for, but I think it gives the best closure. This is, after all, a story about growing up, and growing up means you have to do things you don't always want to do. Something about facing a choice between what is right and what is easy... different series, same idea ;) I'll be ever glad to have visited this world (worlds?) and I'm looking forward to the new Book of Dust series so I can come back!
Trilogy overall - 5 stars
This is one of those series everyone should read. It's brilliant.
Sidenote: Funny how it took me exactly a year to read this trilogy.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
July 10, 2014
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 10, 2014
– Shelved
July 10, 2014
– Shelved as:
fantasy-high
July 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
i-own-it
November 1, 2016
–
0.0%
"Had originally planned to read this in December, but why not start early? Full cast audio at work, paperback omnibus at home. #LetsDoThis"
November 1, 2016
–
3.75%
"And they're drunk. I can definitely see this getting banned in school libraries for that. And the mild swearing -- hearing an adult say "hell" in a kid's book when I was a kid? My mom probably would've taken that away from me. #sheltered"
page
35
November 12, 2016
–
26.05%
"Somebody read this prior to writing Harry Potter... Professor Trelawney, albeit a different one, is mentioned every once in awhile and it makes me smile."
page
243
November 14, 2016
– Shelved as:
on-hold-for-now
December 14, 2016
– Shelved as:
on-hold-for-now
October 17, 2017
–
39.66%
"Started The Subtle Knife today. The whole Dust/dark matter thing is really interesting."
page
370
October 17, 2017
–
43.3%
"I think I can safely say, with the introduction of the angels, we're now getting into the main plot arc.
PS: Lee Scoresby is life."
page
404
PS: Lee Scoresby is life."
October 18, 2017
–
58.63%
"I'd originally planned on reading Subtle Knife, then jumping over to Murder on the Orient Express, then Lion/Witch/Wardrobe, then coming back to this for Amber Spyglass.
...............
Nope. Amber Spyglass, here we come."
page
547
...............
Nope. Amber Spyglass, here we come."
October 25, 2017
–
66.13%
"The whole Iorek/Lee thing was... slightly scary. But he is a polar bear, I suppose."
page
617
November 1, 2017
–
96.68%
"Ahhhh 30 pages left. And so much has happened!!
- I definitely cried when Lyra had to leave Pan.
- I can't believe I only noticed it in the final book, but why does the golden monkey never speak? Pantalaimon, Stelmaria, all the rest have voices. Why doesn't the monkey?
I'll come back and finish this after I hit my writing quota for the day #NaNoWriMo2017"
page
902
- I definitely cried when Lyra had to leave Pan.
- I can't believe I only noticed it in the final book, but why does the golden monkey never speak? Pantalaimon, Stelmaria, all the rest have voices. Why doesn't the monkey?
I'll come back and finish this after I hit my writing quota for the day #NaNoWriMo2017"
So when you do plan on starting La Belle Sauvage? :)