His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
Reviewed by Dorothy Koenigsberger
The three grand books, Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The
Amber Spyglass, are masterworks on their own and together they make a
stupendous story that embraces many fundamental concerns of life, the
universe(s) and beyond. The trilogy has been published and reviewed
for awhile now, the reviewers have almost all praised, even raved,
about these engaging stories and so my review will be one of
hindsight; for there is a wealth of imaginative material to ponder and
dream about in these tales.
The targeted audience for the trilogy is supposed to be for older
children and young people and the two central characters, Lyra
Belacqua, and, from the second book onward, Will Parry, are twelve
years old. Even so, the trilogy addresses a significantly wider
audience of readers than the publisher’s targeted one. In my own
family these stories have been enjoyed by people as young as five, in
the form of audio books of Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife, and
as old as eighty nine for the complete work. Everyone who does not
reject fantasy out of hand will derive pleasure and meaning from
reading or hearing these stories; they are almost universal in their
appeal.
Full review here
http://www.booksmusicfilmstv.com/Books/PhilipPullmanBooks.htm
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