Once Upon A Time In The North Book Review

by The Wanderer 

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Steampunk
Series: His Dark Materials Novella
Pages: 144

(Spoilers for His Dark Materials are below).

Twenty-Four year old Lee Scoresby has recently won a hot-air balloon in a game of chance. Since then he's been sailing around the world working freelance. During this particular adventure, he ends up in Novy Odense, a town in the North that has an important election coming up. This election could determine how that town's politics will benefit the wealthy oil contractors that have been slowly discovering more oil and with it more power, and it could have detrimental effects with the local polar bear populations .

Lyra's Oxford Book Review

by The Wanderer 

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Steampunk
Series: His Dark Materials Short Story
Pages: 80

(Spoilers for His Dark Materials are below).

While on the roof of Jordan college Lyra and her daemon Pan help rescue a witches daemon that's being attacked by birds. This daemon has flown across the world to deliver a message personally to Lyra, bringing her on another short adventure.

The Book of Dust Volume One: La Belle Sauvage Book Review

by The Wanderer 

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Steampunk
Series: The Book of Dust Volume One
Pages: 464

(Spoilers for His Dark Materials are below).

Eleven year old Malcolm Polstead works and lives at his father's inn, The Trout, attends school, and enjoys paddling his canoe La Belle Sauvage, when he's not quietly observing the wide array of eclectic adults that enter his home. It's being at the center of all these adults, and a quiet observer, that soon lands him the task of becoming a spy. A dangerous proposition to be sure, but as a spy he soon discovers it's the six month old baby, Lyra Belacqua, who's being secretly taken care of by the Priory across the bridge, that's in even more danger.

The Amber Spyglass Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk
Series: His Dark Materials Book Three

Pages: 518

Buy on Amazon!

(Spoilers for The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife are below).

Philip Pullman concludes the His Dark Materials Trilogy with the Amber Spyglass, and what an ending to the trilogy this book is.  Pullman continues to prove he has guts as a storyteller, not only with his philosophical statements, but also with the way the plot the resolves itself at the end.  More importantly the book is like riding an emotional whirlwind, as plot threads resolve in unexpected ways, readers will find it nearly difficult not to be entranced by everything this book throws at them.

Reading the Amber Spyglass makes you forget that this is a book for children.  Various literary critics and literary award committees seem to have forgotten that the book was for children, too.  The Amber Spyglass would win the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year Award (A British book award that is an equivalent to the American Pulitzer), becoming the first children’s book to ever accomplish this feat.

Exceeding all of my personal expectations for this book, Pullman delivers a beautiful, deeply meaningful conclusion to his trilogy.  The plots all resolve, many in unexpected ways, and they provide a catharsis of emotion that neither of the previous books had been able to match.  Simply put the Amber Spyglass is perfection in children’s fantasy.

The Subtle Knife Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk

Series: His Dark Materials Book Two
Pages: 341

Buy on Amazon!

(Contains spoilers for the Golden Compass).

His Dark Materials continues shortly after the concluding events of the Golden Compass.  Like the Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife continues the overarching inverted Adam and Eve metaphor that dominated the plot of the first book.

New characters and new worlds dominate this sequel, all of them welcome additions that help to advance the story.  Perhaps one of the greatest parts of the book is the knife the book is named after, which is probably one of the greatest magical items ever put into a fantasy book.

Despite the new characters and magical items The Subtle Knife functions like your typical part two in a trilogy: the plot thickens, the stakes are raised, and great evil meets the main characters.  The Subtle Knife is a great sequel that keeps the momentum from The Golden Compass running, however it does not surpass the quality of the first book.

The Golden Compass Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Scholastic

Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk
Series: His Dark Materials Book One
Pages: 399

Buy on Amazon!

The Golden Compass is one of the greatest, albeit controversial, children’s fantasy books that has been written.   The first book in a trilogy called His Dark Materials, author Philip Pullman structures his series around an inverted retelling of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

The controversy of Pullman’s stories settle around the fact the books are geared towards children and include themes such as the importance of sex and romantic relationships to the maturation of a child, and the corruption of humanity that is brought upon by religion and the church.  However other themes like the importance of freewill, the dangers of ignorance, and the recognition that good and evil should only represent a person’s choices and not their identity are universal themes and ideas that anyone can appreciate.

The depth of which Pullman’s book explores all of these above issues makes this trilogy for adults as much as it is for children.  Add in some inventive magical devices, fascinating cultures and characters, and a quick moving plot and you have The Golden Compass: one of the best children’s fantasy books.