Philip Pullman

What Philip Pullman has done here is to write a full blown, unashamed genre novel to conclude 'His Dark Materials' (even if he'd deny it). Lord Asriel is holed up in an Adamant Tower, there are battles between zeppelins and gyrocopters, there are tiny people with poisoned spurs who ride dragonflies, there's some real science-fictional world-building with alien elephants on wheels, thought-directed flying machines and a DNA bomb. It may not be certain quite which genre it is, fantasy or show more science fiction, but it's definitely genre. Let no-one tell you otherwise.

In the meantime, we have all the apparatus of the previous two novels carried forward: the daemons, Dust, the Church militant and the intercision devices. Marisa Coulter plays a large part in this book; her motivations become clearer. Will and Lyra journey to the Land of the Dead, where things are changed.

In an afterword, Pullman says that he has taken ideas from every book he's read: certainly, whilst reading, I kept connecting the story with other ideas, facts and events that I'd come across in my life. That shows that I was never this book's intended audience; if I were 13 or 14, there would be so many new ideas in this book that I might be astonished. Instead, as an adult, I kept nodding to Philip Pullman in acknowledgement.

In classifying this novel as genre, I'm also drawing on that same experience. I can think of a number of genre novels from genre writers that cover a lot of the same ground; the difference is that many readers will not have come across these other writers, and 'literary' critics would most likely dismiss those writers as mere hacks. Well, that's their problem. As subjects for a 'young adult' novel, life and death and love and loss and getting along with other people are important themes, and this book tackles those things perfectly well. Ultimately, the book is about trying to get young people to recognise what life is like: people are sometimes neither good nor bad, stuff happens, people we love pass on, and other people we've never met turn out to be full of good things like honour and generosity and curiosity and ingenuity.

The BBC/HBO television dramatisation hasn't got as far as 'The Amber Spyglass' yet; part of me kept wondering "How are they going to tackle that?" at various points in the book. I was now irrevocably locked into visualising the characters in the book as the actors from the dramatisation; not a bad thing, though it did make me raise an eyebrow at the love between Will and Lyra because, as I said in a previous review, in the dramatisation they are played by slightly older actors and that adds a degree of sexual tension to the story that the bare words of the novel would not support. Pullman's anti-clericalism is given full play in this book: the Church are definitely the Bad Guys here, waging war and sending out an assassin. The assassin is dealt with almost off-handedly, almost by accident; this might seem like a cop-out, but it's more believable than if there had been a show-down between a professional killer and two children.

Overall, then, a worthwhile conclusion to the trilogy, but perhaps not as ground-breaking as some give it credit for. Pullman brings all his threads together and delivers a book rich in life's lessons. show less

Grimm Tales for Young and Old presents a collection of tales by the Brothers Grimm, creatively reimagined by Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials. Unlike the familiar bedtime stories of our childhood, Pullman takes us back to the darker roots of these tales. This collection is not intended for bedtime reading with children.

The book begins with an insightful introduction discussing the nature and origin of fairy tales, and each story is followed by a brief explanatory summary. show more Pullman’s easy writing style lends a refreshing twist to these timeless stories captivating the reader with their unique charm and ensuring accessibility for a modern audience.

These stories, however, mirror the values of their time, portraying women fixated on bearing children, cruel stepmothers, and men constantly falling in in love at first sight with beautiful women who are gifted to them by their fathers; hell, in Snow White, the woman doesn’t even need to be breathing for the prince to fall in love with her beauty!

Contrary to the title's implication of tales for the young, these narratives are not suitable for children. Pullman reminds us that the original tales served as cautionary fireside stories, exploring the darker aspects of the human soul, and providing warnings about the perils of the world. For this reason, the tales in this collection are better suited for mature readers, and I urge you to take note of the trigger warnings before embarking on your journey into the depths of these pages. show less

I've never read anything by Pullman. I don't know why, his titles didn't strike a spark of curiosity in me. Too much for children, I said to myself. Then, by mistake, I bought this trilogy. It stayed quite a while gathering dust in my kindle, then, again by mistake, instead of opening the book before or after, I opened it. I started reading it and I couldn't stop myself. I saw the dawn a couple of times, because the tome is very full-bodied, and tonight I finished it, leaving a couple of show more tears on the pillow. I believe that Lyra and Will, and Pantalaimon and the demons in general - personification of the most intimate part of the human being, capable of changing shape until the child with whom they are born becomes an adult - the bears, the witches and all the incredible procession of characters in these books will always remain with me. Perhaps the best fantasy - and coming of age novel - I've read since Lord of the Rings. show less

This is the last in the trilogy that I had started late last year, and my goodness did it affect me. This one seemed a bit longer than the previous two, and I suspect that’s because it manages to go around and tie up almost all the lost ends from the two previous stories. I love big, universe-ending showdowns that get into metaphysics and really explore the foundations of worldbuilding, and this had tons of it. The book spends ample time in about four or five different worlds and explores show more they way each of them work, and how they work together. I was surprised to find that the main antagonists of the entire series, Lyra’s parents, and then ultimately the Authority and his protege, Metatron, don’t get a huge send off or show down. They are all dealt with and do their part, but the book doesn’t linger on punishing them or making them “see the light” in any way. I think this was the right way to go about dealing with them, as it doesn’t dwell on the suffering they’ve caused others or encourage hatred in any way.

The rest of the book is so surprisingly sweet that I was found myself quite emotionally involved in it. I was worried that it would get creepy at some point because of the adult themes it deals with, but everything is wholesome and written in such an uplifting way. I really, really liked the conclusions to each of the character’s story arcs and was very satisfied upon finishing everything.
There are a few other books that seem to explore the world that was created here--there is much more to explore, I’m sure, but I don’t know if I’ll go back and read them. While I found the ideas really fascinating, I kind of don’t want to go back and feel like the character’s stories aren’t ended, and getting emotionally involved in a book is pretty exhausting anyway. Maybe at some point in the future, but not any time soon. show less