His Dark Materials, or, Use Magic to Kill Death
So, yeah, just finished the last book in the HDM trilogy. It's the first thing I've read in a long, long while that's generated the sensation that I get right after (for example) Miyazaki movies; that sense that everything is sparkly and right and blah blah.
I don't really do book reviews [1], but: 1st book is extremely exciting, 2nd book is a total mess [2], and the third gives me the Miyazaki feeling, so, yeah. The overarching plot is shamelessly swiped from Milton, but I feel undeniably improved in a few ways:
1) Sentient armored polar bears!
2) Plucky kids!
3) Pullman, unlike Milton, goes ahead and admits how much he likes the devil.
So, uh, yeah, I think they're great books.
And now, some visual noise:
HELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHLELLOHELOEHOEHLE
EAGLE IS NOT BALD
DID YOU EVER KNOW THAT YOU'RE MY HERO?!/1?
1
[1]: Writing is hard.
[2]: The start of it, set in Our World, is if possible too well-executed; the gray drabness is almost too much to get through after all the high fantasy at the end of the first book, and Will (the male protagonist of the series, introduced in this book) isn't as immediately likable as Lyra. [a] Likewise, the search-for-Will's-father plot didn't grab me. That said, it does necessary work for the series... it's a blast seeing how truly obnoxious Lyra seems when viewed from outside, and the Specters of Indifference make for fantastic villains.
[a]: Lyra's special ability is getting out of scrapes by telling elaborate lies, whereas Will's is making himself seem too dull for his enemies to notice. I am not speaking metaphorically here -- it's explained in exactly those terms.
I don't really do book reviews [1], but: 1st book is extremely exciting, 2nd book is a total mess [2], and the third gives me the Miyazaki feeling, so, yeah. The overarching plot is shamelessly swiped from Milton, but I feel undeniably improved in a few ways:
1) Sentient armored polar bears!
2) Plucky kids!
3) Pullman, unlike Milton, goes ahead and admits how much he likes the devil.
So, uh, yeah, I think they're great books.
And now, some visual noise:
HELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHLELLOHELOEHOEHLE
EAGLE IS NOT BALD
DID YOU EVER KNOW THAT YOU'RE MY HERO?!/1?
1
[1]: Writing is hard.
[2]: The start of it, set in Our World, is if possible too well-executed; the gray drabness is almost too much to get through after all the high fantasy at the end of the first book, and Will (the male protagonist of the series, introduced in this book) isn't as immediately likable as Lyra. [a] Likewise, the search-for-Will's-father plot didn't grab me. That said, it does necessary work for the series... it's a blast seeing how truly obnoxious Lyra seems when viewed from outside, and the Specters of Indifference make for fantastic villains.
[a]: Lyra's special ability is getting out of scrapes by telling elaborate lies, whereas Will's is making himself seem too dull for his enemies to notice. I am not speaking metaphorically here -- it's explained in exactly those terms.