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A review by lupetuple
His Dark Materials Omnibus by Philip Pullman
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I can't say I've been touched by anything quite like this in a long time. I cried, I laughed, I was brought to think about so many questions that the themes pose, issues recurrent in my life... Lyra and Will have become such dear characters to me; there are certain lines that I will retain forever, how they struck me the moment I read them.
Pullman's writing is mythical; every sentence holds weight. It balanced between points of view and evocative description so well.
I had issues with a couple of scenes toward the end of The Amber Spyglass, regardless of my affection for the character it concerns, as they seemed to address an imminent threat all too cleanly--I'm talking aboutFather Gomez and the foreboding he inspired, yet he was easily and quickly disposed of, and the children had not a single hint about it. I did tear up when Balthamos vanished, though. I also felt that Pullman's use of other religious traditions like I Ching divination and vague shamanism to interact with the phenomena of Dust was superficial.
There's also the matter of how his handling of Mrs. Coulter struck me as misogynistic at times (she became one of my favorite characters, either way). It's most obvious in the first book, when Lyra is paraded around and made to act like a "proper girl", and in my view, it implied that womanhood, growing up to be a woman, meant shallowness and a preoccupation with appearance. Lyra also showed her disdain toward the female Scholars.
It's hard to describe my experience with these books. It feels too revealing, or impossible to put into words, because I did not expect to love them so much, or be so overcome with feeling.
Pullman's writing is mythical; every sentence holds weight. It balanced between points of view and evocative description so well.
I had issues with a couple of scenes toward the end of The Amber Spyglass, regardless of my affection for the character it concerns, as they seemed to address an imminent threat all too cleanly--I'm talking about
There's also the matter of how his handling of Mrs. Coulter struck me as misogynistic at times (she became one of my favorite characters, either way). It's most obvious in the first book, when Lyra is paraded around and made to act like a "proper girl", and in my view, it implied that womanhood, growing up to be a woman, meant shallowness and a preoccupation with appearance. Lyra also showed her disdain toward the female Scholars.
It's hard to describe my experience with these books. It feels too revealing, or impossible to put into words, because I did not expect to love them so much, or be so overcome with feeling.