Did you know that due to the requests for a boycott of the first movie based on these books by the churches in the USA, the film flopped in the USA and now the sequels are unlikely to be made. (Tis a pity but...) This is a lesson for us: the best form of protest is economic. Hit them in the pocket. Marches and shouting angry slogans in pointless.
so no one else has read His Dark Materials? Not even Abu Hasan our erudite brother?! Not even Sidi Kunh? SA01--this is MUCH better and more grown-up than anything JK Rowling managed with HP (though I am a big fan of those too)...
:s1: Well, after a few weeks I have finally finished the last book in Pullman's acclaimed trilogy [Northern Lights*, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass] and can say that it is the most original fantasy work since Tolkien which I've read. For those interested in organised religion and philosophy and quantum physics [like readers on sunniport i presume] this book is a must-read. It is openly anti-organised religion [specifically Catholicism but all religion in general] but the story is wonderfully told and, as children's fantasy, it is brilliant although it is equally enthralling for adults. He wrote it, I believe, as a counterpart to C S Lewis's Narnia Chronicles with their obvious Christian allegory. It is much much better than JK Rowling! The invention is wonderul: talking armoured polar bears, peoples' souls on the outside of thier bodies in the guise of animals [called daemons], renegade angels, witches [but not as you know them!], parallel universes, armies of dragonflies mounted by tiny warriors, etc. etc.
