Book Review: His Dark Materials, Trilogy

As always, I could have written the review when I finished the first book, but for some reason I just can't seem to make myself do that. I always have to wait until the story concludes.. or at least all the books in that series that have been published are read, before I write about them. When I first picked up The Golden Compass, I had no idea it was part of a trilogy, I had heard of the movie from a few years ago, and I have seen bits and pieces of that movie, honestly the only thing that really interested me was the controversy that surrounded it, apparently 'the Church' disliked this book, alot.

After do some searching and starting the series, I couldn't get enough. It started with The Golden Compass, in which Lyra, a young girl in Oxford, has made a strange discovery and then starts out on an even stranger journey. Lyra being raised by scholars since her parents death as a young child, all she has ever known is inside the walls of Jordan College. Now with Ms. Coulter coming to help Lyra grow and mature into a young woman, Lyra is taken to places she never even imagined could exist.

Discovering things that she should never know, and then running away and joining up with the gyptians, Lyra is thrust into her destiny. One that she must fulfill, but one that must never be revealed to her. Trying to rescue her dear friend and being kidnapped herself, Lyra escapes and is taken even further away. Once Lyra enters a new world and the next book The Subtle Knife begins, Lyra has learned much about her world and all the other worlds that she never knew existed, but she still has so much to learn. Her father, Lord Asriel, and Her mother, Ms. Coulter are both after Dust, they want to both destroy it and harness it at the same time. Lyra is just the tool they need to complete their work, however, they are not working together, they are very very much on the opposite sides of the coming war. Ms. Coulter is with the Church, and once they discover exactly who Lyra is and what her destiny involves they set out at once to destroy the child, killing her is the only way to stop her, to stop original sin.

Lyra meets Will and together with Lyra's Daemon, Pan, they continue her journey, take more risks and traveling through more worlds. Winning the ownership, if you can call it that, of the Subtle Knife, through battle, Will now has the power to travel to a fro throughout the worlds, any world, he wishes. Together Lyra and Will survive some amazing challenges and life threatening feats. In the third and final book, The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will enter the world of the dead, even though they are very much alive. They set out on a quest to speak with some recently deceased people they knew, some that they need answers from, and they end up fulfilling one part of Lyra's destiny, without her ever knowing. Coming back into the world of the living brings the into the direct line of fire and a war wages. Lord Asriel has called all the forces he could gather, including all the angels who rebelled from the Kingdom of Heaven centuries ago, to fight against the Athority, God, himself. To put an end to evil, and bring about a new world where everyone could live together, demolishing the Church. Cutting through the worlds in order to find safety, Will and Lyra find themselves in the welcome company of the Mulfa and Dr. Mary Malone, who is trying to find out where the Dust is going, and why things in the world are dying without cause.


Lyra's destiny comes to a head as everyone, but her realizes that she is the one to save Dust. How she will manage it, no one knows, but she will be tempted. But Will never leaves her side. Not until he has to.

I really enjoyed these books, I was very upset that Lyra and Will couldn't be together in the end, but that's how it goes sometimes. Other than that I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys history, fiction, and fantasy. Oh I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone who takes fiction seriously, like the 'Church'.

His Dark Materials Trilogy
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman