What do you make of His Dark Materials?

[nikolai]

I'm half way through the second book (though don't be afraid to put in spoilers). I'm also finding it quite strange, both in terms of the world he's built - which is odd - and the writing, which is quite simple but for some reason is sprinkled with complex latinate words every now and again. I'm finding it hard to understand why it's so popular.

I do like the margin illustration that (in my copy at least) tells you which universe you're in at the moment. That's very clever; some book designer must have put a lot of though in to their job...

nikolai.

 

[mmu1]

I think Pullman is an excellent writer, but I hate him and those books with a passion.

He very clearly has strong social beliefs involving not just the promotion of atheism, but attacking religion (primarily organized religion) outright, and I think this sort of thing has no place at all in novels being marketed as children's books and giving no outward indication that they actually deal with profoundly adult themes.

And for the record (not that it's going to help, I bet) I'm agnostic and it's the peddling of someone's politics to children under the cover of a straightforward fantasy story I object to, not necessarily Pullman's views.

 

[Pielorinho]

I describe him sometimes as the Anti-Lewis, or these books as the Anti-Narnia. Although his religious views/political views are a lot subtler and fairer than Lewis's, they're definitely in there, and he's definitely passionate about them.

I loved the books, and consider them some of the best fantasy of the century. Tremendous writing, gargantuan imagination, sympathetic heroes, and complex villains make for great reading.

His books, especially the first one, are kind of confusing: it took me a long time to figure out what time frame he's writing them in. Eventually

Spoiler

I figured out he's writing them in an alternate-universe present

. But I dig it when an author throws me a little off-balance, so that was fine.

They're not really children's books; I think it's a mistake of dumb book marketers to put them out as such, just because the protagonists are young. Although a precocious reader could get into them, the language and concepts are very sophisticated; I wouldn't give them to your run-of-the-mill genius kid until she was at least twelve or thirteen.

Daniel

 

[tetsujin28]

Personally, I think he's a horrid writer. But that's just me.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I am largely mystified why they're so popular, having read all three. I thought they suffered from a lack of detail, that was my main problem. So many things were left unsaid, underdone, or just ignored.

They're not bad, per se, but they're not anywhere near as good as people like to make out.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I loved them, they are deep, dark, and complex, and I would have loved them just as much when I was 12 years old. But then again I was 12 when I read Lewis' Screwtape Letters. I don't consider him antireligious, though he is definitely a counterpoint to Lewis, and I think that reading both writers back to back would put both into perspective,

Much more satisfying for me than Harry Potter..And unlike most writers for young adults he assumes an intelligent audience, his novels presuppose the act of questioning to be a good thing.

The Auld Grump, Pilgrim's Progress, Screwtape Letters, and His Dark Materials would be a fun read in series I would think...

 

[ConnorSB]

I read them when I was younger, and I think i read them exactly when I should have- I was old enough to understand them, but not so old that I was already jaded to his writing style and views.

So I ended up always having fond memories of them (in part because I agree with his views, and in part because I had a literary crush on Lyra, and envied her [EDIT: of] her deamon.)

 

[mmu1]

I don't consider him antireligious, though he is definitely a counterpoint to Lewis, and I think that reading both writers back to back would put both into perspective...

Um... He has a character who was a Catholic nun specifically spell out how she realized that there is no God, religion is a lie, and all it does is keep you from being happy in the time you have on earth.

Which, in the Golden Compass universe, is all true - and the characters need to wage war against organized religion and heaven itself in order to set things right.

Hell, he has the church in his world (which is the Christian church, simply manifesting itself differently in a parallel world) perform viscious experiments on children's souls.

For that matter, how can you say he was a counter-point to Lewis but not anti-religious? It's self-contradictory.

And whether someone would enjoy these books at 12 or not has exactly nothing to do with whether or not they should be marketed to someone who's 12.

 

[Pielorinho]

I loved them, they are deep, dark, and complex, and I would have loved them just as much when I was 12 years old.

Then you'd be the run-of-the-mill genius kid I'd give them to at that age .

Daniel

 

[Wrath of the Swarm]

Hell, he has the church in his world (which is the Christian church, simply manifesting itself differently in a parallel world) perform viscious experiments on children's souls.

And what exactly do you think the real Christian church has done? Its sects have taught countless doctrines to approximately two thousand years' worth of children. Experimenting with souls is what all religions do.

Except Taoism, of course. Which in its pure form isn't even a religion at all. Go Taoism!

But back to the point: if you think such material is too dangerous to be given to children, do you favor exposing them to religious claims? That stuff is at least as dangerous, usually more, than what you're complaining about.