his dark materials

[pauraque_bk]

Just finished The Golden Compass. I got this book back in June, when I saw it at Barnes & Noble on the "Books To Read While Waiting For Harry Potter 5" display. I'd heard good things about Pullman, and I was indeed Waiting For Harry Potter 5, so I bought it, and it sat on my dining room table for several weeks. Then OotP came out, and then there was all the new fic, and all the new debates, and I didn't pick up a non-HP book for... too long.

So I finally decided to try The Golden Compass, and ended up devouring it almost as fast as I did OotP. And DAMN, but this is a good book. It's incredibly absorbing, even before anything "happens"; the opening sections at Oxford are rich and detailed enough to merit a novel-length treatment all on their own, and it just gets better from there.

Pullman is extremely good at letting his child protagonist think and act like a child, but at the same time not letting her subsume the narrative voice. She's not belittled, it's just that the book is written with an adult awareness and morality. That must sound horribly stuffy, but it's not -- it's a subtle effect, and one that turns a good story into a profound one. I've chatted with some of you about the authorial misstep of not knowing more than one's characters -- not writing with perspective, in other words. Pullman has that perspective, and puts it to perfect use.

The prose is wonderfully sensory. idlerat, I think you might appreciate this -- it's not written like a movie. You know how everything *feels* when you read this book. The descriptions of reading the alethiometer put me very much in mind of how it feels when you shut out your left brain in order to draw. The calm concentration and the feeling out of things rather than forcing labels on them -- that's exactly what it is. Also, was I the only one who started to feel lonely while reading this book -- because I don't have a daemon?

The book should appeal to HP fans; there are similar themes. (Though without a doubt, I enjoyed The Golden Compass far more than Philosopher's Stone.) But I'd certainly recommend it to anyone. Can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

Also: Asriel. Slightly Snape-ish? ;)

Comments

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

yes! to the whole trilogy. It just gets better as it goes along. And Pullman can really write, and there are some wonderful ideas in there too. Idlerat, you might like it, I agree.

[maidenjedi]

Will read this post again later and comment more in depth, but YAY! So glad you read and liked The Golden Compass!!! I can't seem to get anyone I know to read it, and I found the whole trilogy to be some of the best stuff I've read in years.

I can't wait till you read the rest of it. :-)

[telepwen.livejournal.com]

I'm not even going to begin to try to post about this. Just IM me, yeah? WOOT to you for reading it. His Dark Materials is one of the best things in the *world*.

[edgefire.livejournal.com]

On basis of having the most beautiful. Icon. Ever. (namely, Iorek) I just had to add you. ;)

I fell in love with Northern Lights (=official name, The Golden Compass is just for the Americans *g*) upon first reading it and have loved doing so ever since. But that book is nothing, nothing... compared to The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Both those books made me cry and I never cry.

I hope that you will love the other books as much as I do. :)

[pauraque]

Northern Lights (= official name, The Golden Compass is just for the Americans *g*)

You're kidding me. Yet another parallel between HDM and HP, eh?

[pogrebin.livejournal.com]

HIS DARK MATERIALS IS BRILLIANT!

<3333333333.

I'm so glad another HP fan agrees with me. And you must continue reading, because it gets better and manages to tug on all of those emotions, unlike the HP books. *lowers voice* If you ask me, Pullman writes literature, but JKR...doesn't. Not to say that I don't love her work or anything like that :)

[pauraque]

*lowers voice* If you ask me, Pullman writes literature, but JKR...doesn't.

Shhhh! They'll hear you!

The quality of Pullman's prose is pretty definitively better than JKR's (though she took a big step up in OotP), but that's not why I'm thinking HDM is superior to HP. HP is... tongue-in-cheek, really. Self-conscious. It takes bits and pieces of magical mythology and sticks them together in a not entirely serious way. With the introduction of the darker events of GoF and OotP, I started to see the series as a black comedy.

Doing anything _really_ well usually requires being willing to make a fool of yourself. You have to completely let go of your inhibitions -- "Wink wink, I know it's kind of silly to be writing this" -- and dare to take yourself and your work seriously. That's what I see in Pullman.

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

Good for you. It's good stuff. Acutally my only complaint would be that it has _too much_ good stuff. It's a little too compacted for complete coherence sometimes.

Now go read Bujold! ;)

[pauraque]

It's a little too compacted for complete coherence sometimes.

I've just finished The Subtle Knife, and I think I know what you mean by this. I'm not sure how well a child could be expected to comprehend these books.

Now go read Bujold! ;)

Got any particular recommendations as something good to start off with?

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

Got any particular recommendations as something good to start off with?

Cordelia's Honor is pretty much what I suggest to start with. Curse of Chalion and Young Miles can work, too. (Also, both CH and YM are compilations of books originally published seperately, the first of each are Shards of Honor and The Warrior's Apprentice, respectively.)

That should be enough info to start with :P