![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() At the heart of the story is the mysterious substance known as Dust, interpreted as original sin by the Magisterium (the church authority which holds an enormous amount of power over society in Lyra’s world). As with all of the best books for children, it is the darker elements which really drive the plot and ensure that the books appeal to adults as much as they do to younger readers. My very brief summary above doesn’t really do justice to the vast complexity of the trilogy and its large cast of characters. In ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’, Lyra meets Will Parry and they travel between different universes including our own in pursuit of the meaning of Dust. The first book in the series ‘Northern Lights’ is set in a parallel universe similar to ours but different in many ways and introduces twelve-year-old Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon companion Pantalaimon who travel to the North Pole to rescue her friend Roger from the Gobblers who are carrying out experiments on children. This month, I’ve broken the habit of a (five-year blogging) lifetime and reread the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman ahead of the publication of ‘La Belle Sauvage’, the first volume of the Book of Dust trilogy later this year. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |