His Dark Materials- Phillip Pullman * Warning: SPOILERS! *

[Chibi Knight]

If you haven't liked it so far, you probably wont like how it all ties up.

I enjoyed the books, but then again I saw it from an artists point of view. Like, "oh that would make a really cool design" or "that was a neat idea, love to see a drawing of that", but thats just me.

[K-chan]

Okay, I’ve got to come out of my lurker cave to defend my girl Lyra cause I luffles her. <3 I love the change that takes place in her personality after the events of the first book. Yeah she was great as a child, bold, confident, witty, overall the most amusing little plucky thing I’ve enjoyed reading about. Yes there is the war on in heaven, but an equally important journey taking place is Lyra’s as she grows up. Her character is meant for the readers to connect to. We all started life, as youthful, imaginative, equally plucky little things, but as we’ve gotten older we’ve experienced hardship, defeat, loss, and we’ve all been changed and sometimes damaged by the bad things that happen to us. Lyra had to grow up incredibly fast, being thrown into the extraordinary circumstances that she was. She saw her own father, kill, her best friend. I don’t about the rest of you, but that would have frightened me certainly. By making her weak, she seems more human.

***Warning Spoilers Ahead***
** **
* *

And even though she falters, many times the following two books, and looses some of that same innocence that we loved about her, she gains a maturity that is inspiring. She comes to know death, in a literal sense and overcomes her fear of it that has plagued since her first acquaintance with it. She learns the value, of speaking the truth, and what a difference a life with purpose makes vs. a life of emptiness and malice when she meets the harpies in the Underworld at the very end.

[Shandriz]

Uh. Not all of us turn into obedient pansies when we grow up, though. Some of us just, y'know, step up to the plate and keep on going, instead of taking a backseat and letting someone else do all the dirty work. It's like if Frodo decided that after Gandalf died, he'd give the Ring to Sam. "Uh...yeah, looks like I messed up. Here, why don't you do it and I'll be your obedient servant instead?"

[K-chan]

That she turns into an obedient pansy is your opinion. I don't find that to be the case. While in Will's world she definitely gives more deference to him, that isn't the nature of a pansy. Its being smart in order to survive. She was pretty much lost in a world far different from her own before meeting Will. Will was the more experienced of the two in his own homeworld. I believe even the mid-world they found themselves with those shadow things in had more in common with his world than hers.

She doesn't give up everything to Will. They each had their own role to play. She wasn't meant to be the blade. Will had the knife, he had to be the one to decided how to use it and where they would go. He supposed to be the more physical force, but he would have been nothing without Lyra's guidance. Lyra being master of the alethiometer was to be the voice of reason. Lyra is the one who comes up with the harpy solution in the underworld, proving that she has not lost any of her wit. When all is said and done in the book Lyra has learned to hesitate, and to think before she does something rash and impulsive. She's had to learn temperance too in the end.

There is so much more I could say but I don't want to spoil too much of the ending for others. The conclusion of the series was really wonderful, and I was very well pleased with the overall character development of the children at the end.

[Akanari]

[Aindriahhn]

Well, full disclosure, I am clergy (though not Catholic)

I wasn't, however, when I read these books, and, other than the world, and some nato concepts (especially everything that surrounded the Subtle Knife), as well as some really creative re-describing (or whatever you'd like to call it) of England, and some fairly common ideas/clitches (I suppose that's what makes a genre a genre) I found the books lacking somehow. They never grabbed me, and I found myself unable to sympathise with most of the characters. The plot seemed to lack something, there were aspects that seemed pointless or unsatisfying. I haven't read the last book, though, and I'm fairly certain the first too books were new when I read them. Perhaps I'll take a peek at them again.

Personally, I preferred "The Dark is Rising" as a series.