I am fascinated by the many worlds and characters Pullman has created, and I enthusiastically recommend this trilogy to everyone--young and old. My book club hasn't read this trilogy yet, which consists of The Golden Compass (or The Northern Lights), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. But I will encourage them to because it will provoke some interesting conversation.

I was curious to see what all the hubbabaloo was about "killing God," and, I have to say, I disagree with the notion that that's what these characters do. I understand the story as showing a tyrannical "authority," who is not the true creator but an angel imposter, who has inspired the religious leaders to oppress its peoples by spreading lies and keeping them in ignorance, and it is Lyra and Will's duty to help Asriel and others overpower this imposter and his minions and establish a new kingdom of heaven that fosters knowledge and tolerance and diversity.

But the new Adam and Eve have to pay a price in order to help their respective worlds to succeed.

Both The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife were FAST reads full of intrigue and delightful creativity. The Amber Spyglass was equally delightful in the amazingly creative worlds and inhabitants, but much more slowly paced. Over all, I highly recommend the entire trilogy.

This is probably the closest thing to what I would want to write, only I would want to write a much expanded, ever-updating version. In many respects, Squires work is consummate competence: her summary of Pullman's biography is excellent, and she does a smooth job of synthesizing a great deal of story and thematic material in a very brief space. There are a few outright errors: her assertion about what Asriel says to Lyra about Dust at the end of the first book and Pan's summary of it later leaves out what Asriel says to Mrs Coulter at the end of that book and then retcons later in his conversation with her in TAS; Squires calls Tony Makarios an old friend of Lyra's, which might be a mix-up with subsequent adaptations where the character is merged with Billy Costa, whose brother is also, confusingly, named Tony. She also puts a great deal of weight on the catch-all term politics, whereas I tend to think of that as largely a red herring in Pullman's story, subsumed under the much more important process of storytelling. Still, she is a perceptive reader overall, asking brilliant questions, connecting widely separated quotes from within the books, as well as essays, speeches, etc, and reviews (up until about 2003). A handy little volume, nothing earth-shattering, but I'll have to check out her other book on Pullman, Master Storyteller.

more reviews: https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2...

*read for study purposes*