Hey Blog! It\u2019s time for another book review, and this one is about a trilogy that might just be one of the best I\u2019ve ever read!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The His Dark Materials<\/em> series, by Philip Pullman, is, to put it mildly, absolutely brilliant. Very few books I\u2019ve read make it to the top list instantly. These did. They are an incredible mix of sci-fi, fantasy, philosophy, religion, and growing up. I don\u2019t think you could get another story like it. It is set in a multiverse, with \u201cas many [worlds] as there are, no one would have time to find out\u201d, and covers a prophesy heard in the northern lights of a girl whose destiny would be to bring an end to destiny; the culmination of the war in heaven; and the second play of the Garden of Eden. One of the protagonists, Lyra, is in fact, the second Eve. But here, temptation, which created the mysterious particle of Dust and all thoughts after puberty, is a good thing, as adult emotions, consciousness and above all, love, are created by and are the only things which keep the Dust alive. Dust, I feel, is a bit like the Force from Star Wars, as it is created by and sustains living things; in this world we know it as Dark Matter, a particle nigh-impossible to detect which is probably responsible for the universe staying in one piece. Of course, in the multiverse, time splits the universes by different choices being made, which is why we don\u2019t all live in Lyra\u2019s world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plot of the first book, Northern Lights <\/em>starts in an Oxford college in another world, like this, but very different. The biggest difference is that every human has an animal-shaped soul, or d\u00e6mon, who is linked to them; during childhood their d\u00e6mon can change shape but settles when they grow up. There are a lot more differences between the worlds in the multiverse, and it is later said \u201cperhaps there was only one world after all, which spent its time dreaming of all the others,\u201d and that \u201cwhen \u2026 different things happen the two worlds split apart.\u201d Lyra, a girl who has spent her life living in the college, and her d\u00e6mon Pantalaimon, decides to spy on a meeting between the master and her uncle Asriel, manging to save her uncle\u2019s life by stopping him being poisoned. After some even more complicated circumstances, it becomes apparent that children are being abducted, slowly, all over the country. Lyra also meets the glamorous lady Mrs. Coulter, who invites her to stay. One of Lyra\u2019s friends gets kidnaped, and the master secretly gives her an alethiometer \u2013 one of six, a golden device that answers your questions. This is one of those things without which the rest of the story wouldn\u2019t exist, as only through reading it does Lyra know what to do. Soon after coming to stay with Mrs. Coulter, she realises she is actually staying with the very lady who leads the kidnapers, and runs away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, Lyra encounters the canal-boaters, or gyptians, who take her in, before they decide what to do. She discovers she is the daughter of her \u2018uncle\u2019 Asriel and Mrs. Coulter \u2013 totally to her surprise (WHY do all of these books start with a child who doesn\u2019t know who their parents are?!), and also realises she can read the alethiometer automatically. Not long after this, she and a few of her newfound friends set sail to the north to rescue the captive children \u2013 from a fate unthought of and far more horrible than any they could have expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re wondering what happens, (chorus please) read the book. However, I can assure you she does survive into book two, The Subtle Knife<\/em>. This one starts with Will, from our world, who wanders through a window in the multiverse and ends up meeting Lyra and bearing the Subtle Knife, which can cut anything and everything and open windows between worlds. It is really unparalleled. I would describe it as what would happen if god was evil, dark matter was conscious, you could find the truth by asking an instrument, and a knife could create portals. It\u2019s one of the best series I\u2019ve ever read, with one of the most detailed and complex plots; seriously, it is a GOOD BOOK!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hey Blog! It\u2019s time for another book review, and this one is about a trilogy that might just be one of the best I\u2019ve ever read! The His Dark Materials series, by Philip Pullman, is, to put it mildly, absolutely brilliant. Very few books I\u2019ve read make it to the top list instantly. These did. 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