The Subtle Knife<\/i> and
\n The Amber Spyglass<\/i> by Philip Pullman (Books 2 and 3 of the His Dark Materials<\/i> Trilogy)<\/p>\n
After finishing The Golden Compass<\/i> (or, Northern Lights<\/i> in Europe) I wanted to wait to see the film before continuing on in the books. But I heard the film was a bit unfortunate, so I never got around to seeing it. So, thus, during last week’s beach vacation, I knocked out the last two books in the trilogy.<\/p>\n
I have to say I enjoyed the final two more than the first, which is not to knock Compass<\/i>. The second two moved along better, with action and adventure and really wild things. Regardless of how good (or bad) the first film is, I would still love to see the last two adapted, because there’s a heck of a lot of exciting stuff to put on the screen.<\/p>\n
I very much enjoyed Pullman’s inversion of Paradise Lost<\/i>, not because of any antipathy to the Christian religion, but because it’s always good fun to flip the convention of tradition. I would have enjoyed an inversion or re-imagining of the Greek\/Norse mythology just as well (Gaiman’s American Gods<\/i>, for instance, or Adams’ The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul<\/i> come to mind amongst many others).<\/p>\n
While I thought there were a moment or two of weakness in the writing quality, I think by and large Pullman’s technique is superior to other fantasy epic writers, and here I’m thinking of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, possibly even J.K. Rowling. I’m not sure I can authoritatively say why, but my best guess is effective use of Show Don’t Tell.<\/p>\n
A few words on the title of the first book… I mentioned<\/a> that I preferred The Golden Compass<\/i> to Northern Lights<\/i> as a title, and given the titles of the next two books, it just makes better sense. The Compass, the Knife, and the Spyglass are each plot-significant handheld objects introduced in each of their respective books, and make for a nicer “title rhythm” for the trilogy.<\/p>\n Oddly enough, The Golden Compass<\/i> was a misunderstanding… Wikipedia entry:<\/p>\n Pullman earlier proposed to name the series The Golden Compasses<\/i>. This term also appears in the poem Paradise Lost<\/i>, where it poetically refers to the [drafting] compasses with which God shaped the world, an idea depicted in William Blake’s painting The Ancient of Days<\/i>. Due to confusion with the other common meaning of compass<\/i> (the navigational instrument) this phrase in the singular became the title of the American edition of Northern Lights<\/i> (the book prominently features a device that one might label a “golden compass”1<\/sup>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A few words on “atheist”2<\/sup> themes… I had heard that the book was more anti-dogma than anti-belief, and quite honestly, I’m not sure whether this trilogy can be classified in such a way. It’s a speculative fiction novel, a huge “What if?” It’s got Angels, and God, and (a) Church… and they’re certainly the Bad Guys. But this series wouldn’t convince anyone to be a atheist, or even agnostic. It’s not an allegory; It’s just taking some existing traditional characters and turning their story on its head.<\/p>\n But, were I a believer, I’d have a tough time overlooking God as Bad Guy, even for the sake of a good story.<\/p>\n _____ The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (Books 2 and 3 of the His Dark Materials Trilogy) After finishing The Golden Compass (or, Northern Lights in Europe) I wanted to wait to see the film before continuing … Continue reading
\n1<\/sup> And I believe actually described as such in the book.
\n2<\/sup> Can it be an Atheist novel if God is a character?<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"