His Dark Materials

I spent a bit of time today and yesterday reading over reviews and comments about the books because it’s always interesting to see what other people think about books. It’s one of those wonderful conveniences brought to us by the internet. I was just saying to Clay this weekend that while I certainly remember the time before the internet and did not have regular access to it until I went to college, I still have to wonder sometimes what people did before. I often finish reading a book or watching a movie and immediately go online to read more about it.

Anyway, I wanted to see what other people thought of the His Dark Materials books, particularly The Amber Spyglass so I spent some time on LibraryThing, Amazon, and a His Dark Materials message board. The opinions varied wildly, which I expected, The Amber Spyglass is a very love it or hate it sort of book. I think my favorite response was on a LibraryThing thread about books that one would not recommend. Someone actually said that he or she would put the His Dark Materials in the category of “Books that put souls in peril.” Seriously.

There is a tremendous amount of debate about the role of religion in the triology. It seems plain that Pullman has issues with the church and organized religion in general, but so many people seem to feel that his religious beliefs got in the way of the story. I don’t really understand since it seemed clear to me that the story was headed in that direction very early on. Then again it is clear that some people did not understand the humanist message of the books. My, that sounds snobby, but I’ve so often found that particularly religious people cannot comprehend humanism and the idea that one should do what’s right not because he or she will be rewarded in the afterlife, but because it is the right thing to do in the here and now. I think that that is what Pullman is trying to say with the idea of creating a “republic of heaven” where one is.

Beyond the “Amber Spyglass is crappy” debate, the hottest topic in the His Dark Materials universe seems to be, “Did Lyra and Will have sex?” I don’t really think that it’s particularly important, especially since I read somewhere that Pullman himself said that he doesn’t know whether they did. The important thing is their realization that they love each other and that their relationship caused the Dust to stop escaping. Initially that is what I thought was being implied, but after that one scene I wasn’t so sure anymore. I’m certain that when and if a movie is made it will be portrayed as a largely innocent romantic moment. I’m dancing all around giving my opinion on this because I really don’t know and I’m not sure what I want to think. I’ll probably continue to think on this issue.

The more time that I spend thinking about these books, the more I like them and the fact that I’ve spent so much time thinking about them is, in my opinion, a huge indicator of the high quality of the books. I’m looking forward to rereading them eventually to look at the story through the lens of knowing how it all ends.