2008 Woodie Awards
Somewhere over the rainbow
His Dark Materials
Cameron Summers
Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: Entertainment
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Last issue, Brother Glenn wrote on the subject of bidding favorite characters farewell. To be honest, I've rarely felt that way; it takes a powerfully written story to move a reader emotionally, and in recent memory, I've only come across one. This profound story is entitled "His Dark Materials," a trilogy of books written by Philip Pullman--it consists of "The Golden Compass" (or "The Northern Lights," in Britain), "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass."
The title of the series is taken from a passage in John Milton's "Paradise Lost," referring to the creation of the world, and the substance(s) out of which the world is made. The series takes some inspiration from Milton, but works in the context of fantasy instead of scripture. It acts as sort of a thematic antithesis to C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia," a series of fantasy novels steeped in Christian imagery and message. His Dark Materials, on the other hand, implements Gnostic imagery and messages.
This trilogy of books follows two characters from profoundly different worlds. The first is Lyra Belacqua, a young girl from a world dominated by a revisionist church, and the other is Will Parry, a boy from our world. On their journey, the two are joined by a host of fascinating characters, including Pantalaimon, Lyra's dæmon and a manifestation of her soul, a group of Lapland witches, the aeronaut Lee Scorsby, and the armored bear Iorek Byrnison.
The story deals with a slow, yet unimaginably vast, natural disaster that encompasses all possible worlds, from Lyra's own world of theocracy, dæmons, and the Spectre-haunted streets of the pseudo-mediterannean Cittágazze, to our world, and the Hadean Land of the Dead. In the midst of this disaster is a vast rebellion, a war between humankind and a group of tyrannical beings that claim to be angels.
Young as they are, Lyra and Will are unfortunately pulled from their respective worlds into this war. Lyra is drawn in because of circumstance--she is in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also because she is the daughter of Lord Asriel, the leader of the human rebels. Will, on the other hand, is a victim of fate. He accidentally wanders into Cittágazze, a city in another world haunted by invisible Spectres that kill any adult they find. Through a series of coincidences and unforeseen problems, Will becomes the owner of the Subtle Knife, Æsahættr, an artifact that can both kill Spectres and open windows into other worlds.
The title of the series is taken from a passage in John Milton's "Paradise Lost," referring to the creation of the world, and the substance(s) out of which the world is made. The series takes some inspiration from Milton, but works in the context of fantasy instead of scripture. It acts as sort of a thematic antithesis to C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia," a series of fantasy novels steeped in Christian imagery and message. His Dark Materials, on the other hand, implements Gnostic imagery and messages.
This trilogy of books follows two characters from profoundly different worlds. The first is Lyra Belacqua, a young girl from a world dominated by a revisionist church, and the other is Will Parry, a boy from our world. On their journey, the two are joined by a host of fascinating characters, including Pantalaimon, Lyra's dæmon and a manifestation of her soul, a group of Lapland witches, the aeronaut Lee Scorsby, and the armored bear Iorek Byrnison.
The story deals with a slow, yet unimaginably vast, natural disaster that encompasses all possible worlds, from Lyra's own world of theocracy, dæmons, and the Spectre-haunted streets of the pseudo-mediterannean Cittágazze, to our world, and the Hadean Land of the Dead. In the midst of this disaster is a vast rebellion, a war between humankind and a group of tyrannical beings that claim to be angels.
Young as they are, Lyra and Will are unfortunately pulled from their respective worlds into this war. Lyra is drawn in because of circumstance--she is in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also because she is the daughter of Lord Asriel, the leader of the human rebels. Will, on the other hand, is a victim of fate. He accidentally wanders into Cittágazze, a city in another world haunted by invisible Spectres that kill any adult they find. Through a series of coincidences and unforeseen problems, Will becomes the owner of the Subtle Knife, Æsahættr, an artifact that can both kill Spectres and open windows into other worlds.
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