His Dark Materials

In between night-shifts the past week I wolfed down Phillip Pullman's stunning "His Dark Materials" trilogy. What a fabulous set of novels. They combine to tell an epic story about coming of age, what it is to be human, and the importance of free thinking and making the most of the time we've got in the amazing world we are in. It's a masterful inversion of Milton's Paradise Lost and a fierce criticism of organised religion, with fascinating characters and an imaginative realization of the multiple worlds interpretation of quantum physics.

Every kid, and every adult, should read it.

Philip Pullman quotations:

“When you look at organized religion of whatever sort – whether it's Christianity in all its variants, or whether it's Islam or some forms of extreme Hinduism – wherever you see organized religion and priesthoods and power, you see cruelty and tyranny and repression. It's almost a universal law.”

"I suppose technically, you'd have to put me down as an agnostic. But if there is a God, and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against."

"I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak... Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God."






Links:

• Documentary - Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials"
• Wikipedia - His Dark Materials
• Philip Pullman's website
• Bridge To The Stars Fansite
• His Dark Materials Sparknotes
• HisDarkMaterials.org