His Dark Materials Series

I never read the His Dark Materials series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife & The Amber Spyglass) when I was a child. I remember hearing about them, and the buzz they created, and I even managed to finish the first book, The Golden Compass, but somewhere along the way I was distracted. I’m here to tell you that that distraction was perhaps the best thing that happened to me in my literary journey, since I have now finally finished the series, while living in Oxford and as an adult that understands the profound beauty and power of Philip Pullman’s sweeping epic.

I found myself initially intrigued by the main character, a supposedly orphan girl named Lyra who runs wild over Oxford, while being brought up by the many scholars at Jordan College. Lyra is headstrong and lacks manners and polish. I found myself oscillating between liking her and finding her difficult to take seriously. She is at one moment a child, willful and selfish, and at the next moment wise beyond her years. Pullman has captured that strange stage of growing up, where on the brink of adolescence we are all caught between the adult and childhood world. While navigating growing up in circumstances far from normal, Lyra introduces us to a world that is similar to ours but with just enough unusual quirks to keep us guessing. The most obvious quirk of course is that each human being has a daemon, an animal projection of their soul that can shift shape during childhood and then settles on a fixed form when the person reaches adult hood. These are not pets but an extension of that person’s being, and Pullman is brilliant for having come up with such a concrete concept for the human soul.

Lyra’s companion through the series is a serious boy called Will, who is about Lyra’s age but has none of her childish frivolity. He is determined to find his father, cares for his mother deeply, and finds himself caught up on an adventure that changes his destiny. Will is my favorite character by far, perhaps because I forget he is only about thirteen. He sees the world as it is and is quite capable in all of the unlikely and fantastic situations he finds himself in. His devotion to his mother is heartbreaking and his ability to carry the heavy burden placed upon him towards the middle of the series with grace and humility makes him the ideal hero. Reading Will again made me forget that these are books aimed at children, for I could see the man he would grow to become and admired him immensely.

We of course met other memorable characters over the course of the three novels, including Serafina Pekkala, a witch of great age and beauty; Lee Scroesby, an aeronaut from Texas; Iorek Byrnison, an armored bear; Lord Asriel, a man hell-bent on destroying God and Mrs. Coulter, a woman whose beauty and charm hides a dark and complex inner-self. This cast is strong, vitally described and haunting and funny in their turn, pushing Lyra and Will along their prophesized journey.

I feel it would be foolish to even attempt a summary of the plot of His Dark Materials, for Pullman has achieved a story that is on par with the breadth and depth of Tolkien and Lewis. There are worlds upon worlds to be discovered, people of all kinds, magic and theology melting together into a swirl of fantasy that takes up the reader and only sets them down after they’ve experience grief, elation, uncertainty and triumph. The language never condescends, and in fact I often found myself wondering how on earth these were children’s books at all? There is so much in them that made me, an adult, pause and think and therein lies the delight. A child may read them for the adventure, an adult for the theological questions and genuine exploration of emotion and destiny. Just as Lyra and Will don’t understand much of what they’ve done until the very end, the reader may experience the series on multiple levels. It’s ok not to get everything, and even better, it’s better not to be conscious of not knowing. Just as Lyra and Will are unaware of their destinies, the reader goes in without knowing what impact the novels will have on them upon completion. I personally had the tears on standby as I read the last section of The Amber Spyglass, and even during parts of The Subtle Knife. Pullman made me care about every character, never letting someone be purely good or evil, and thus when each character met their particular fate, I felt connected to that result.

His Dark Materials stands out in my mind as a series that must be read, by everyone at some point in their lives. The grace and genius that went into creating this compelling story is something to be astounded by, and I salute Philip Pullman.