I watched the movie "The golden compass" when it first came out, although I haven't had read the book at the time, and was very disappointed in it. I thought it could have been much more. So I was hesitant to read the books.

A year ago as I was browsing the book store I found the whole trilogy for a very good price and I could not resist buying it. Forward one year , I was low on reading material so I grabbed it and I was pleasantly surprised! I was kicking myself for not reading them sooner.

I just have finished reading His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass).

The trilogy is geared towards children but I have to say that it needs a level of maturity to be read. I believe that maybe the kids should be at least 11- 13 to read it since it does contain some information that could be hard to process.

In the books we get to know the 11 year old brave girl Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon who live in a parallel world to ours in Oxford. Lyra takes us with her on her adventure were we get to meet many interesting beings who become her closest friends and allies.

What I found surprising (and I truly did not expect in the books) was the religious (or anti religious as some people would say) aspect of it. It talks about how religion corrupts and how it could turn people into evil beings. It talks about angles and death. It talks about how the soul occupies not only us, but the whole world. It talks about God and the idea of God .

All of these things existence and purpose are questioned and searched.

Truly a thought-provoking trilogy, surprisingly philosophical. The author is truly talented when it comes to creating all these fantasy parallel worlds to ours.

Wether you are a person of faith or not I encourage you to read it. The trilogy is very well written and very thought-provoking.

Well, I finished the entire 3 book set in just over a week, and I have to say Philip Pullman's ability to tell a fascinating story full of adventure is second only to J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Robert Ludwig and Tom Clancy.
The Characters were well thought out, and the story was well planed, but the biggest downside to the entire story was Pullman's unfortunate prejudices, which are more than evident throughout.
Pullman seems to believe it is impossible to have a stable, healthy relationship between a husband and a wife. In fact the best marriage relationship we see in the novels is between Will's mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Parry. And the fact that John Parry is said to have basically abandoned his family(whether intentional or not) sums up that relationship fully. In fact, every other relationships mentioned in the Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spyglass (aside from the pseudo romantic embraces of adolescent children) is adulterous at best. We have Lyra's parents who gave birth to her out of an affair and the witches who continually seduce whomever they please then go on their way when something more important comes up. The only person who shows a shred of morality when it comes to having a relationship is John Parry, Wills father. Who refuses to sleep with a witch because he never gave up his vows to his wife. And while this is truly a noble act, it is far outweighed by the rest of the books.
Next we have the main character, who's known best for her ability to lie through her teeth with there rarely being any consequences.
We also have the Magisterium, basically Lyra's worlds version of the church, which seems to be run by people who most would lump into the same category as Adolf Hitler and Ted Bundy.
An easy way to quickly sum up these novels is, put simply like this. Where great authors such as Tom Clancy, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien all have written stories including references and symbolism towards things that they love,(ie. Tom Clancy loves the navy, and J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are both Christian authors) Philip Pullman seems to have filled his story with with references, attacks and symbolism towards things he absolutely hates. It's unfortunate when an author has to drop to such low standards as to attack things he doesn't understand or hates.
When it comes down to it, I do think the story is worth reading, but it is definitely not for the age group that most publishers have marketed the book towards. It has so many questionable moral attributes that I just can't see a 9-14 year old reading this book and not either being confused, or walk away with a severely corrupted understanding of the world and how things should work.
Philip Pullman definitely knows how to write a story that can captivate the hearts of his readers, but he either needs to get his moral compass straight, or start writing for an older audience. And that's why I gave this 3 out of 5 stars.

An enchanting fiction story of the most important little girl and her destiny. This trilogy is an hymn to the love and beauty of our world, a true heroic quest.

I often wonder if, "back in the day", when J.R.R. Tolkien or a C.S. Lewis were turning out what would become their signature series of juvenile novels one carefully crafted book at a time, they knew on some level they were creating a masterpiece - something that would only gain in strength and resonance long after their own lives had passed.

Besides being wonderfully entertaining sagas pitting good against the darkest of forces, both of these series shared some pretty BIG themes, many of which parallel those that form the doctrine of the Christian faith. These have been thoroughly discussed and examined by academics for decades, so I will let that sleeping dog be.

In his wildly popular trilogy "His Dark Materials", Philip Pullman has also created a rousing adventure rich with characters and page-turning action, resting on a foundation of the most classic of conflicts: Good vs. Evil. However, it is here that Pullman becomes more Dan Brown than C.S. Lewis, as the antagonists are no other than the organization of the Church, loosely disguised by the title of "the Magistrate", and the faulty "God" they serve, known as "The Authority".

Do I have a problem with this? Not at all. The past and present abuses of the Church and crimes committed in the name of religion are well documented in history and sales of this trilogy and the novels of Dan Brown are unprecedented. Nevertheless, Church bashing and conspiracy theories seem to be a modern phenomena and I have to wonder how the attack on the secular aspects of religion in these novels with stack up in the long run against the "high road" taken by Lewis and Tolkien.

Having said all that, of the three series, I found Pullman's to be the most entertaining - complex enough to engross adults, while remaining accessible for the teens. I recommend reading book one, "The Golden Compass", before renting the recently released movie. While the movie is good, there have been many changes to key facts and it ends at a point several chapters from the end of the book. I can only assume the next movie will pick up from where the last left off.

But be warned, the books are very much intertwined, so if you do start with book one, you may feel compelled to press on without interruption to the end of book three. So, you may as well save some money and buy the entire set now.