Review: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

I've been aware of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy for years, even before the movie adaptation of The Golden Compass came out in 2007, but I read it for the first time this week.  I absolutely loved the entire series, and I sped through the last book in record time because I was dying to know what would happen.  Book stores and libraries classify the series as young adult fiction, but I think reading it as an adult made me appreciate certain aspects of the story more than I would have ten years ago (when I was fourteen).

Since His Dark Materials is a fantasy story, the plot is hard to explain to someone who hasn't read them too.  Lyra Belacqua is an orphan who lives at Oxford University, but not our Oxford.  Her world is very similar to ours, with a few adjustments, such as witches, armored polar bears, and daemons (a tangible part of the soul that takes the form of the animal, depending on each person's unique personality).  What drives the plot, though, is Dust.  Some people want to study it, some want to destroy it, and Lyra's destiny is tied to it.  And really, saying anything more than that would ruin most of the twists and turns of the story.

His Dark Materials might be classified as a young adult series, but Pullman has said in interviews that he intended for adults to read the books too.  Because he had such a diverse audience in mind, Pullman did not write the series at a juvenile reading level.  There are some themes that children can relate to (childhood vs. adulthood, the pros and cons of growing up), and there are other themes that adults would appreciate more (religion vs. science, the beauty and value of all forms of life); however, everybody can enjoy Lyra's adventure for the pure narrative alone, without any knowledge of various symbolic meanings and parallels.

It's impossible to discuss His Dark Materials without mentioning the controversies that erupted first when it was published and again when the movie premiered.  I've seen the series described as the anti-Chronicles of Narnia, and Pullman purposely created a narrative that inverted Paradise Lost.  One of my few complaints is that all the "good" characters are either skeptical or completely reject religion while all the religious leaders are written as zealots trying to maintain complete control over society.  A mixture of the groups would have made for even more interesting characters, but then Pullman probably would have had a harder time telling the story he wanted.  However, I would still encourage everyone (children and adults alike) to read this series because it's an engaging adventure story on the surface, yet it contains so many parallels to our society that the reader is forced to stop and think. 

Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars - There were some chapters that dragged in the third book, and I felt that one of the major plotlines had a weak conclusion.  Overall, though, His Dark Materials is one of the best fantasy series I've ever read.