And Yee Shall Know the Truth. And the Truth Shall Make You Free. Just stunning. (His Dark Materials Series - Philip Pullman)

Member Name: KingHerrod

Product:	His Dark Materials Series - Philip Pullman
Date:	09/02/02 (532 review reads)
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I like free speech, it needs its limits, but within sensible boundaries people should be free to express their thoughts. It is good for society to experience another person's point of view. Probably the biggest suppressor of free speech throughout the course of history has been organised religion. Heretics have been persecuted and murdered and alternate religions gagged by other religions. In fact the history of organised religion is one littered with petty squabbles, the suppression of any view that disagrees with whatever Church you want to pick and a real desire to only allow free speech if the Church agrees with the view. Throughout the majority of the world things are now better, people can criticise organised religion, without having to worry about having their head lopped off. There are perhaps certain religions that still suppress criticism against them, by virtue of other kinds of pressure and of course in certain Middle Eastern states, speaking against their Church can also land you in hot water, but things are better the Church of whatever denomination does not have such a totalitarian grip on people's thoughts as it used to.

What am I on about, well in his Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman has produced the most virile attack on organised religion and God that I have ever read. In fact, if this had been published a few centuries ago, Phillip Pullman would probably no longer be with us. So it is somewhat of a relief to him, at least, that the world is generally a more tolerant place about some subjects these days.

If you are a book lover it has probably not escaped your notice that the last book in this trilogy, the Amber Spyglass, won this years Whitbread book award, the first "children's" book to do so in many a year and for what my view is worth, it thoroughly deserved it. I have a sneaking suspicion that the award was for the trilogy itself, rather than the one book, as it is only by reading all thr
ee books that the full depth of this work is revealed and after all they are not children's books they are books for everyone.

Philip Pullman has been around for a while and is a respected author of children's literature, a former teacher and lecturer in English and a healthy sceptic of any form of exercise. He is English to the core and resides in Oxford, working on his novels in a shed at the bottom of his garden. What comes through in the interviews I have heard and read is that this is a man that loves the written word, loves books and most of all loves stories. This shines through, as you read the dark materials, there are references to literature from different generations and the core and driving force of the books is a real narrative, a real simple story of adventure; two kids, from parallel worlds, who embark on the quests in the traditional adventure story mould.

The Dark Materials are divided into three books, Northern Lights, the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass, each has its own distinct plot, but the three really do make up one whole story. Much like the Star Wars films, but do not worry these books make Star Wars look boring and shallow.

The plot throughout the three books centres on two children, Lyra and Will, they are of that age, the age in between childhood and adolescence, the age when you are just starting to discover who you are and boy these two encounter some experience to help them along their way. Lyra comes from a world like ours, but it is not ours, it is a parallel world, similar, some things have developed in different ways, certain technologies are more advanced and some less advanced. Will on the other hand comes from our world; he is searching for his father and looking for answers. Will does not arrive on the scene until the Subtle Knife and it is this book that provides the link and the depth to the trilogy. Perhaps this book is the only one that does not quite have its own wholly indi
vidual plot line, but it was my favourite, simply because it does such a great job in adding to the whole trilogy a philosophical content.

Lets give you some more flavour, these books are part fantasy; Lyra's world is populated by good and bad witches, armoured polar bears (ruling their own kingdom in the Artic), other worlds are populated by creatures that have evolved in a different way to our own, with a particularly interesting take on the elephant in the Amber Spyglass. Perhaps the most interesting element of fantasy in the trilogy is the daemon. These are creatures that are separate in physical form, but emotionally and mentally part of the human, animal in form and of opposite sex to the human. These daemons change form until the maturity of the human and then they settle on an animal form that reflects the nature of the human. It is by discussion of the daemon that Pullman manages to discuss some pretty deep concepts about what the soul and consciousness are. According to Pullman, even though we in our own world do not have physical daemons, we have the equivalent within us. Pullman makes the daemon sound so appealing and such fun, a child's constant companion, someone to talk too, to guide us and most of all they seemed quite cute. Lyra's daemon Pantalaimon becomes a real driving character in the trilogy. There is a certain other fantasy serial, about a boy wizard that has swept the globe, yes Harry Potter. What I can safely say is that the fantasy element in the Pullman books is executed in a far more meaningful way. Each "fantasy" character has a real point in the story and in the philosophical depth of these books, they are there for a real purpose, rather than because the author thought that in this genre of book they should be present. Moreover, they are more originally portrayed than in the Harry Potter series, I was at a loss to find any literary comparison to the armoured bear and Rowling has to my mind reall
y ripped off Pullman in her third Harry Potter book, the Prisoner of Azkaban. Her dementors are almost an exact replica of Pullman's sceptres, except his book came out in 1997 and Rowlings in 1999.

So we have an adventure/fantasy story, along the lines of C.S. Lewis or Tolkein, written to appeal to older children and adults alike. In tandem to the adventures of Will and Lyra, is the quest of Lord Asriel, he has a mission, a mission to destroy the "Authority" a figure obviously meant to be God. Let me mention another famous character from literature, Aslan the lion, from the Narnia chronicles; books tub thumping in their adherence and praise of the Christian church. Asriel is the antithesis of all that Aslan represents in the Narnia chronicles and it cannot have been a mistake that the names of the two characters are so similar.

But despite being partially in the fantasy genre, these books are about real issues that face the world. The primary issue addressed is the place of organised religion in society. The criticism is not at the principle message of religion, but at the way organised religion has led to that message being obscured, by the Churches themselves as they bicker to establish superiority over each other. The criticism is at the distinctly undemocratic nature of all forms of Church and that of God. God is portrayed as firstly a totalitarian figure and then somebody who has lost touch with all conscious creatures throughout each world. God is portrayed as somebody who took the credit for creation, when it really wasn't him at all. Throughout the trilogy, Pullman champions the theory of evolution and adaptation to surroundings ahead of God's divine creation. However, as somebody who is not a fan of organised religion, I felt Pullman went too far, but at least he had the guts to say what he thought. He could be construed as just being the ultimate democrat, in the sense that he wants all kingdoms, dictato
rships and unrepresentative bodies to disappear, not just the bodies that control organised religion.

""I am a King, but it's my proudest task to join Lord Asriel in setting up a world where there are no kingdoms at all. No kings, no bishops, no priests. The kingdom of heaven has been known by that name since the Authority first set himself above the rest of the angels. And we want no part in it. This world is different. We intend to be free citizens of the republic of heaven.""

But it is not just religion that is observed and discussed; it is questions such as what is consciousness? What is death? What is the purpose of life? What is the universe made of? Pullman excellently explores the theory that we are but one world in many different dimensions, all having evolved in slightly different ways, interconnected by the substance matter of the universe. I suppose that if you are a scientist, this is the subject of Quantum Physics. But correct me if I am off the mark.

There is still more to add to this great tapestry, the books are a warning about the environment, all around us in the trilogy, the environment is being destroyed with catastrophic results for the wildlife, both aware and unaware of their existence.

So we have three novels, forming one story, with an adventure fantasy side to appeal to older children and a real depth as Pullman asks the big questions of life. Lifting the trilogy even further into the classic status is Pullman's superb characterisation, from the main protagonists, to the stuffy academics, bigoted priests, gung ho explorers and kindhearted polar bears. All of Pullman's characters are captivating, pulling the whole story together into one of suspense, innovation, imagination, thought, myth, adventure, philosophy, danger and religion. The Dark Materials has all of this in spades. It is fantastic, if you want to read an easily presented debate of who we are, a
plain adventure story of a traditional or Tolkeinesque nature, or a critique of how organised religion has behaved throughout history these books are for you.

This is what Ruta Skadi, a good witch, says about the history of the Church ""For there is a war coming. I don't know who will join with us, but I know whom we must fight. It is the Magisterium, the church. For all its history - and that is not long by our lives, but it's many, many of theirs - it's tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can't control them it cuts them out."" She has a point.

Give these to your children to read, but be prepared to discuss difficult issues afterwards and if you are a fan of organised religion, read them with an open mind. Pullman has created a classic, better than Narnia, better than Tolkein and Harry Potter is not in these books league. They certainly leave you with things to contemplate. It is perhaps unfair to compare Rowling's work to Pullman's, Harry Potter, is I think, aimed at a younger generation of reader. However, in terms of what books will be true classics and what will be just another good children's series, Pullman falls into the classic camp and Potter into the the later.

If you start the Northern Lights and find it is quite average, persevere, in terms of the three books, I found it the most child like of the three the one with the least depth. Persevere and then by prepared to truly admire Pullman as he pulls it all together in a feast of battle, philosophy and imagination. The books are magnificently written, revealing in their detail and at times intense in their language. Pullman intended to write a version of Milton's Paradise Lost for our generation. This is better.

""Tell them stories. That's what we didn't know. All this time and we never knew! But they need the truth. That's what nourishes them. You mu
st tell them true stories, and then everything will be well, everything. Just tell them true stories.""

The three books are available in a boxed set, published by Point and for sale at £19. That will be £19 well spent; in total the three volumes are nearly 1,000 pages long. I was sorry to put them down.

The Observer said, "Philip Pullman, is he the best storyteller ever?" Who knows, but he is one of the best I have read.

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