His Dark Materials: A Marvelous Trilogy for All Fantasy Readers
His Dark Materials is a fantasy series for young readers consisting of three titles: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, all written by Philip Pullman. Though this series is considered highly controversial by many, once you put its theological aspects aside and focus in the wonderful story and rich characters and the world, you will realize that this trilogy is much more than many people make it out to be. In fact, the first book was made into a film in 2007 and the entire series was used to produce a television series of the same name that is expected to have a total of three seasons on HBO Max. Additionally, the original versions were adapted for American readers. But why exactly do people feel the need to tell and re-tell this story countless times? Let’s dive into into the world of HDM and truly discover what makes it so amazing.
The first novel of the series was originally named Northern Lights, but in some editions has been titled The Golden Compass. It tells the story from the perspective of eleven-year-old Lyra Belacqua, one of our protagonists. It begins by describing how Lyra and her dæmon (a symbolic representation of the inner self in the form of an animal), Pantalaimon, spy on the Master of Jordan College, Lyra’s residence, trying to poison her alleged uncle Lord Asriel. Lyra successfully warns Asriel of this, and then spends the rest of the meeting hiding while the others discuss a queer phenomenon called Dust.
Later, Roger, one of Lyra’s closest friends, is kidnapped by creatures known as the Gobblers. Mrs. Coulter, a seemingly kind and sincere woman adopts Lyra and takes away from Jordan after the Master gives Lyra a device called the alethiometer, a device that can tell its user answers. Lyra learns that Coulter leads the Gobblers, an undertaking that is entirely orchestrated by the Church. Lyra escapes and finds the Gyptians who have also had children taken from them. It is revealed that Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter are actually Lyra’s true mother and father.
The Gyptians, along with Lyra, set out to find the Gobblers and save the taken children. Along the way, Lyra finds an armoured bear named Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby, an aeronaut. She comes to know of Lord Asriel’s exile from Jordan College. Lyra discovers a child that has been separated from his dæmon (intercision) as one of the Gobblers’ experiments. Not long after, Lyra is kidnapped and finds Roger and Mrs. Coulter again. Luckily, the children are rescued by Iorek, Lee, and the Gyptians, as well as a group of witches led by Serafina Pekkala. Lyra and Iorek are taken to the armoured bear king, who Lyra tricks into fighting Iorek. Iorek is able to defeat and kill him.
They travel back to Svalbard, where Lord Asriel has been exiled, and had been researching on Dust. He informs Lyra that the Church believes that Dust is what causes sin. He wants to find the other universes (including our own which becomes a major setting in the second novel) and destroy the source of Dust in order to rid everyone of its evil. He performs intercision on Roger without Lyra’s consent, and this creates the energy to reach another universe. Lyra decides to thwart Asriel and find out what the source of Dust is on her own. The book closes as she steps into the new universe.
The Subtle Knife begins exactly where the book preceding it left off. Lyra continues into the new world to reach a city where the people have discovered how to travel between the worlds, which caused creatures known as Spectres to form. She finds a boy named William Parry, our second protagonist, who has entered the world Lyra is in from his own, our world. Will had just killed a man while trying to protect his mother and is now on a search for his father.
Additionally, Lyra comes across a scientist named Mary Malone who is conducting research on dark matter, which in Lyra’s world, is called Dust. When Malone is able to start communication with the matter, it tells her to travel into the new world. The alethiometer is stolen by a man named Lord Boreal, who had been introduced early in the previous book. However, his identity is revealed to be fake and his real name is Sir Charles Latrom. He is working with Mrs. Coulter on her project with the Church.
After a gruesome brawl, Will comes to be the owner of the subtle knife, the artifact that can make cuts into the worlds from one side and can be used like a regular knife from the other. Will and Lyra then sneak into Latrom’s residence and steal the alethiometer back. At the same time, in Lyra’s world, the aeronaut Lee Scoresby finds the explorer Stanislaus Grumman, who had been living as a shaman who is revealed to be Will’s true father, named John Parry. He wants to be taken to the world that Will and Lyra are in so he can find the subtle knife. Lee dies while defending Parry. Will’s father is later able to meet with him before being killed by a witch. Later, Will finds out that Lyra has been kidnapped by Mrs. Coulter.
The Amber Spyglass begins as when Balthamos and Baruch, two angels, inform Will that he has to go with them and deliver the subtle knife to Lord Asriel. Will ignores them and instead sets out to rescue Lyra with the assistance of a village girl, Iorek Byrnison, and Asriel’s spies, among others. They find out that Mrs. Coulter has kidnapped Lyra to protect her from the Magisterium, who believes that she is a reincarnation of Eve and will succumb to sin, so they must murder her.
Will and Lyra go to the Land of the Dead and free the ghosts that are there, including Lyra’s friend Roger. Meanwhile, Mary Malone finds creatures called the mulefa, and she finally understands that Dust is created and enhanced by life that is cognizant. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter join forces to defeat Metatron, the Regent of the Authority. However, they both die together in the process.
In the final chapters of the story, the Authority dies as well once Will and Lyra release him from his crystal prison. The two soon realize that they are in love with each other but cannot stay together in the same world, because if someone leaves their world for a prolonged period of time, they will die. Also, unless they close the windows to the other worlds, a Spectre will form. However, the two resolve to meet each other once every year in the same place in each of their respective worlds. Lyra and Will’s dæmons take their final forms and Lyra can no longer read the alethiometer like she used to, and must learn to read it consciously.
Overall, there are a plethora of things that this trilogy did well. The first and most prominent are the incredibly complex and well-done characters, especially Lyra and Will. Lyra has a unique yet compelling personality that makes her incredibly easy to root for. Will is also a very mature and moral protagonist. This helps both of them combat the antagonists well and makes for a thrilling plot.
Another one of the books’ strong points was the use of symbolism. Pullman used symbols frequently that could be noticed easily by avid readers, especially the titular objects, especially the subtle knife. Though there were a few common tropes, especially how Lyra played the role of damsel-in-stress for Will to save more than once, the story’s main themes and ideas were positive and interesting once its theological aspects were set aside.
Additionally, the book was incredibly immersive and engaging. It was easy to get absorbed in its adventurous and mysterious elements, especially in the first book and early on in the second when the plot was still developing. Plus, the story was compelling and had many intricate details that made it feel much more real that all avid readers would love.
While the trilogy had many positive attributes, there were numerous aspects of it that we as readers were not quite as pleased with. The first was that the concept of the trilogy was rather controversial, as it touched on a few theological ideas that many readers may not have agreed with. This part of the story was incredibly prominent and hard to ignore, which made reading the books difficult at times.
Moreover, the plot was too hard to keep up with sometimes. Every few chapters, there would be an information dump where readers would be filled in on dozens of details and important pieces of information that are important to remember later on. New characters would pop in at any time and the concepts were too complex for readers to understand in the short window of time in which they were introduced.
Additionally, characters simply did not act their age. Will and Lyra were excessively mature for their age and had no trouble getting past losses, injuries, and conflicts with ease that even adults would struggle with. They did not show an adequate amount of emotion, regret, sorrow, or worry considering what they were going through; they were constantly determined and it rarely felt as though they were actually children.
Not only that, but their love story together was not compelling enough, considering it was the main pairing of the series as Will and Lyra were the main characters. This part of the story was unnecessary since their love story hardly related to the storyline and conflicts. Plus, there were barely any hints at a possible romance in past chapters. It happened suddenly without any warning, almost as if Lyra and Will just fell in love with each other overnight.
Not only did the books reveal too much information to keep up with at once, they also felt incredibly sluggish at times. There would be several consecutive chapters in which nothing excited happened, especially in The Amber Spyglass. This novel felt like it was too long considering how little actually happened. As the final book of the series, it should not have had this issue. Though some parts of it were action-packed and thrilling, a good majority of it failed to meet the reader’s expectations.
Furthermore, the series was too short for the number of characters that it had. Several other similar fantasy series are known to have massive amounts of characters, including J.K. Rowling’s famous Harry Potter series and many of Rick Riordan’s novels. However, being a trilogy, His Dark Materials should not have had nearly this many characters. It definitely should not have added a dozen new characters by each chapter’s end.
If that wasn’t enough, one of the main characters, Will Parry, is not introduced until the second book, so we are not able to spend much time with him or learn much about him. There is a similar problem with supporting characters as well: they are killed off before we truly get a chance to see them as three-dimensional characters. With such a complex plot and a very low page count for many characters, there was no time for character development.
All in all, though it has numerous flaws, HDM is a wonderful trilogy for all readers, especially those of in middle grades who enjoy books of the fantasy genre, especially the high or epic fantasy subgenre. Readers can expect to experience an adventure as well as a mystery that is generally quick-moving, captivating and enchanting with interesting and complex concepts and ideas. This book may not be completely suitable for readers of younger ages, as it has mature content and themes. However, this series is definitely one worth trying and for most will make for a thrilling literary ride.
