Giving His Dark Materials one more try

While I’m an avid Philip Pullman reader, I have to admit that I never warmed up to The Golden Compass, which is why I wasn’t eager to finish the His Dark Materials trilogy. I have a tolerance point for fantasy books — I usually draw the line at unpronounceable names, epic quests, made-up languages, and maps of imaginary lands unless the author can find a way to reel me in. The Golden Compass isn’t really hardcore fantasy, but I found it too serious for a young adult novel, and religious (whether for or anti) propaganda isn’t really my thing, so the book didn’t appeal to me. I preferred Pullman’s singular works outside of His Dark Materials, such as Clockwork, I Was A Rat, The Scarecrow and His Servant, The Firework Maker’s Daughter, The Gas-fitter’s Ball, Spring-heeled Jack, and The Butterfly Tattoo.

While I didn’t take a liking to The Golden Compass, I did manage to read it twice. About a year after reading the first book, the party-planning outfit I put up with my cousin Dianne, Silverdoe Productions (hahaha, let’s see who can figure out why) got our first real assignment (outside of our own birthday parties) — Sophie’s 7th birthday party! It was a birthday party for Sophie, who’s the niece of our high school classmate Elena, held at the Powerplant Cinema with a special screening of The Golden Compass movie!

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It was loads of fun, we had a lot of pizza and Krispy Kremes, and I painted faces and even made an Iorek teddy for Sophie! :) Check out more photos here.

Anyway, because I found a trade paperback of the second book in the trilogy at Book Sale, I decided to mooch the rest of the set in the same Scholastic Point edition, although it took me more than a year to get around to reading The Subtle Knife (book #108 for 2009).

It was also among the books I read on my sickbed, and boy, did this book surprise me!

I was expecting to feel the same way about The Subtle Knife as I felt about The Golden Compass, but I was shocked to find that I really liked this book.

I found Will so much more engaging than Lyra ever was. Not just because Lyra lived in some sort of parallel universe that was difficult for me to really picture before I saw the movie, but also because Lyra’s such a queer child, and I never really related to her. And it is difficult to relate to her — she’s not very friendly and is a bit spoiled, she mysteriously reads prophecies made by The Golden Compass, her parents are crazy (I swear), and the book keeps going on and on about Dust.

Will is easier to get to know — he lives in a world that is much like ours, and from the first chapter he gains your sympathy as a brave boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders, a boy who has had to grow up faster than he should but has retained his childlike innocence and pure heart.

This book contains less adult characters than the first book, and doesn’t have the grand epic feel of the first book, making it less intimidating. I also like that this book is more character-based than plot-driven, because it made me want to read on in the series, something I never really planned on doing (or at least immediately) after The Golden Compass. Even Lyra is more likeable in this book, and when she and Will team up, the adventure is more exciting!

The quest for the meaning of “Dust” continues, spanning other worlds as more entryways open up and traveling throughout the spectrum becomes easier. Characters from the first book,  such as Lee Scoresby, Serafina Pekkala, and Mrs. Coulter make an appearance in this book, but other parties involved in the quest are also revealed. While it has less plot elements than The Golden Compass, I found The Subtle Knife more fast-paced, maybe because events were less miserable and they don’t spend time mooching about in the snow. Hehe. And it’s a bit shorter than the first book too.

While I still don’t care about the eschatological implications and the latent symbolism posed by the trilogy, I do want to read the third book, The Amber Spyglass, soon. And while The Golden Compass movie had shoddy transitions (making it hard for people who haven’t read the book to follow the story) and an abrupt ending (cut short ahead of the book ending), I still liked it for the  beautiful production and the general faithfulness to the book, and I’m really looking forward to a second movie, if they’re still making one, as New Line said it would only make a sequel if the first movie does well, and it didn’t really earn a lot in the US.

I’m glad I read The Subtle Knife, because I spoke too soon after reading The Golden Compass. The second book really changed my opinion about the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I’m looking forward to reading the series to the end now.

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My copy: Scholastic point trade paperback, bought from Book Sale

My rating: 4/5 stars