Young Writers Society

I just finished reading the His Dark Materials trilogy (Golden Compass-Subtle Knife-Amber Spyglass) and they were the best books I've ever read, and in my opinion, better than HP or LOTR or most other books. I've just been wondering why it seems like no one ever has read these books. They're amazing works of fantasy.
Overall, If you haven't read these books, you owe it to yourself to read them right now. They're also very inspiring for stories, in my opinion.
Definitely a must read

I agree.
I first finished the series in grade 4, but I have re-read them many times. Instead of getting more dull, they seem to be more captivating each time I go back to them!
And yes, they are much better [in my opinion] than LOTR and HP. I mean, the setting s and imagery were vivid and inspiring, the characters incredibly well-developed. My favourite ideas of his were the Daemons and the Subtle Knife/other worlds.
So if anyone hasn't read them, read them now or I'll come after you with a Butcher knife!
Just kidding, but you really should!

I can't agree, I've read far better fantasies an after reading action scenes with "and" non stop. It gets tedious. I like first one, but Subtle Knife action scenes ruined it for me. I enjoyed it before that and until I read such terrible action scenes. It's like he rushed it all. My favorite fantasy writer Ian Irvine I recommend if you want to read an amazing author try him. I'll plough through it some time. Though not looking forwards too it :s.

I love The Golden Compass! It's so brilliant, the universe, the characters, everything. I'm planning tho read the rest of the trilogy soon.

Golden compass was pretty good, but about 20/30 pages into The Subtle Knife, the one witch really started bashing the Catholic Church. Instant turn-off. Put it down and haven't picked it up since. It is a great series with a lot of potential, but as the author himself has stated: It is an anti-Narnia, a direct rebuttal of the Christian Faith.
So much talent, put to such ill-concieved purposes...

Pullman has been described as the anti- CS Lewis and to be honest I have to agree. The only reason I wouldn't call him a better author is because he's written for our time.

Yes, Pullman bashes the church, but the entire trilogy is intended for that purpose, albeit that rant by Serafina was a little obtuse (if in character).. personally I think his writing style is great, his symbollism and characterisation are wonderful, and his plots are layered so that people can enjoy them on a variety of levels.

He is the best children's author I have ever read, without a doubt.

Rubric

I love the books - and people do seem to be reading them - I mean, why would there be a movie based upon the first book if people didn't?

I dunno, why would they make a book out of Eragon? The book's terrible, and the movie made me feel physically ill. And yet, they made money on it.

Which is not to degrade Pullman's work. I am Christian. I've read the books. I'm rather offended at the heavy-handed anti-god of the series, but I can still appreciate the story as FICTION.

Although I disagree that these are considered children's books. You don't call Jurassic Park a children's book just because it has dinosaurs in it, and you don't call His Dark Materials a children's book just because the protagonist is a child. The two don't walk hand in hand.

Kang227 wrote:Although I disagree that these are considered children's books. You don't call Jurassic Park a children's book just because it has dinosaurs in it, and you don't call His Dark Materials a children's book just because the protagonist is a child. The two don't walk hand in hand.

That's not why it's a children's book. It's a children's book because the writer wrote it as such. Whether it fits into other people's perceptions of a children's or not book is irrelevant. In fact, the only reason I can see for not seeing it as a children's book is that the actual writing can get a bit Tolkeiny.

His Dark Materials are some of the best books I've ever read simply for the emotions they evoked from me while reading. I talked about this with my sister over Christmas -- I said that through all the other books I've ever read, I'm still not sure books have touched me in the same way Pullman's have. No other book has made me cry (at the ending). I'll never forget them; they were an integral part of my childhood. And I remember them with great fondness.

Well I have very mixed feeling about the trilogy. I loved some of his original concepts (daemons, aleitheometer etc) however as a Christian I naturally disagreed with all of his points. I originally read them in 6th grade over the summer for fun, I really didn't grasp what he was trying to say (the whole anti-God original sin thing) and just read the story, but I recently re-read them for the movie that just came out. W-O-W I was so surprised, it was nothing like I remembered. Phillip Pullman is a good writer, he can keep you engaged etc, however I think he fails in his attempt to kill God. Basically "God" is this powerless fallen angel who just floats away, which is nothing like the real God. The real God has more similarities to dust (though I would never pretend it is a perfect match) than anything, and the Magestirium has more similarities to communist regimes than the Church. I love how Phillip Pullman shows all the bad things that the Church has done (mistakes which are a result of not doing what God says ironically) but never any of the good, and how he glorifies atheism without showing all the bad atheism has accomplished. People trying to make the world Atheistic has killed more people than any religion. Think Hitler (though there is some evidence that he practiced witchcraft) tried to set up a 'perfect' world without a God, Stalin, and basically any other communist regime. Phillip Pullman said in the series that Christianity is nothing but a convincing lie, however I would suggest that his series is nothing more than a convincing lie. I think everyone should read these books, even Christians, to either enjoy his story or to see the fallacies of his thinking.

I'm sorry to go off on a complete tangent, but Hitler was a Christian, and very sure in his beliefs. Just see here and here.

Actually he wasn't. You know the saying that actions speak louder than words? This would be a prime example. He did not practice Christianity, therefore he is not a Christian. He may have tried to justify his causes using 'God' as his justification, however I believe it would be completely fair to say that he fails miserably. His actions as a leader stemmed from the teachings Friedrich Nietzsche (atheist), Karl Lueger and the Christian Social Party ( which overtly supported the occult Guido-von-List-Society), and superstitious French writer Edouard Drumon. In fact Karl Lueger is probably the most responsible for implementing the anti semetism which infected Hitler. To be perfectly fair, however, my research tells me that there were a lot of German 'Churches' who tried to meld the teachings of Nietzsche and the Bible (which did not work) and so some of the German misconcepts on Christianity may have stemmed from corrupt 'Churches'.
Even believing in God does not make one a Christian for certainly Satan himself believes in God, but he is defiantly not a Christian! I am not saying that Hitler was an atheist, however his regime was set up to fulfill the day dreams of a potently evil atheist.

and sorry for starting the tangent.

Just because Hitler 'wasn't a Christian' as you say, that doesn't mean he was an atheist and that doesn't mean that atheism influenced him to do anything. Christianity has start a lot more wars that atheism has.

Anyways, I'm reading the Amber Spyglass right now, and it's actually very good. The God they are talking about isn't REALLY God, but someone who decided that he was God. The book isn't about defeated God, it's about defeating someone who is imitating God, so I don't understand why people seem to think it's so horrible.

I'd like to point you all in the direction of Killing the Imposter God, a book about the theology of His Dark Materials. It argues that the Authority is not God, and in their interpretation, Dust is the truey divine Thing, whatever you'd like to call it.

Also, the author's personal religious politics are hardly a reason not to read a book. It's like saying "oh, I don't like The Chronicles of Narnia because CS Lewis was Christian and the stories have lots of Christian themes."