His Dark Materials

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Has anyone else read em? Trounces Mssr. Potter methinks (although I have not read the H. Potter books, nor will I, becuz they are overly popular and I am a contrarian to the core.)

― jess, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I havent read them because I'm more contrarian and reject even the 'alternative to Potter' ha.

(OK I would read them happily if someone lent them to me. Isn't that where Lyra got her name from?)

― Tom, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes. I was in the middle of the third book :P It's usually Maria but Lyra is so much prettier.

I loved the second book and waited three impatient years for the third, and when it finally came it wasn't the most exciting thing ever in the world that I've read, so I was disappointed. Now I'm rereading the Sally Lockhart books, which aren't much good but they're set in Victorian England so they fit in with my current craze.

― , Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

it didn't even occur to me that's the book lyra prolly got her name from, but then again, i am a dense, dense human being.

― jess, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can I just make a pitch for Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books here? I can? Oh thanks.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'll second that. And give a poo poo to the bowlderized Disney "Black Cauldron."

― jess, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ten months pass...

I just read the first one and adored it. I want a daemon. please please?

― Ms. S., Saturday, 20 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think this is a magnificent series. I expect they work beautifully as adventure stories for children, with the daemon idea being very charming, and intelligent polar bears in armour are another winner. However as an allegedly intellectual adult, I loved the richness of the underpinnings and thematic content, the radical ideas spun off from the fringes of modern physics, and the astounding central meaning: even if religion is 100% true (as it can be and is in this fantasy world) it is still a very bad thing, to be opposed. This is a daring and original theme, especially for a young audience.

I don't care about Harry Potter, and these aren't that market - they're much more in the Lord of the Rings sector, but I think they are superior in every way to that, and (urgent and key point) immensely more enjoyable to read.

― Martin Skidmore, Saturday, 20 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three months pass...

These are the best ever books! i love the ending to amber spyglass and think it fits in with the theme of the books really well!

― Serafina pekkala, Saturday, 2 November 2002 22:14 (twenty-three years ago)

two months pass...

Just read the first one this weekend on a whim. I'm not sure I see what the fuss is about. I did enjoy it, though, and the idea of armored polar bears fighting each other is pretty cool.

― J (Jay), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 19:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic. Daring themes and a rollicking good adventure story. I loved the way that we're introduced to Lyra's universe first and grow accustomed to it so that when we meet our own universe in Book 2, it seems strange and foreign just as Lyra's initially was...
Go and read it. New Line Cinema (of LOTR fame) have apparently bought the moovie rights too...

― Minky Starshine (Minky Starshine), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 20:27 (twenty-three years ago)

I read the first and second books a long time ago. I thought they were grate.

― Curtis Stephens, Wednesday, 29 January 2003 20:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I completely fucking loved the first two and dropped the third one halfway through. Did anyone else have this problem?

Still, highly recommended.

― That Girl (thatgirl), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 20:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Pick it up again, That Girl!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 21:32 (twenty-three years ago)

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