TAS: Part 1: Chapters 1 - 13

[Suzanne]

Section 1

Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Chapters 1 - 13 (pages 1 - 170)

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling things for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later sections/books. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.

[Suzanne]

I've ended up with lots of listening time, and occasionally a kid around while I was listening, so I'm moving through this fairly quickly. Unfortunately since I'm listening, it is hard to remember what happens where.

A few general observations - the religion thing didn't bother me a ton in the earlier books - it is more prevalent than I would like in this one.

I really like the world of the mulefa - what interesting creatures. They just seem so gentle. Which makes me really worry the priests are going to come in and kill them all off.

Will is sure faithful to Lyra.

I was surprised Iorek ate the body of Lee Scorseby, but I shouldn't be I guess. Makes sense.

Mrs. Coulter seemed sincere when talking to Will. Except she can't be trusted... But....I can see why he has a problem.

I'm enjoying this more listening than I did reading. Maybe that's because it's a different book. But it might just be because I like this story more in audio form.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

My big takeaways:

Phillip Pullman LOVES lying, and thinks all kids should get good at it.

Pullman REALLY hates religion, and emphasizes this with "pre-penance" or whatever it was called. Basically you can be absolved for any future crime so long as you put in enough penance ahead of time. WTF!?

I agree about the loyalty Will shows Lyra.

Iorek eating Lee was disturbing. I'm not sure how it makes sense other than "well he's a bear, who eats meat?"

I'm not sure if I trust Mrs. Coulter or not. That monkey is still vicious. I think it reflects her inner self. However, her actions don't really make much sense if she was lying to Will. Why would she take Lyra and not either kill her or hand her over to the church if not to protect her?

The quality of the audio is good, but this series just isn't for me. This one is on pace for another 3 star rating. They are OK books, but not as great as I was hoping considering their popularity.

[Suzanne]

Yeah I struggled with my rating - I rounded up from 3.5 because I enjoyed the audio quality.

I agree - that pre-penance things is messed up.

And that's exactly what I was thinking with the monkey. Like...she seems nice, and it SEEMS like she has given up all power to protect Lyra, but the monkey is pulling wings off bats.

[Jaime]

I really liked the fact Will went after Lyra first.

It was nice to see Iorek come back into the story. Him eating Lee was logical and necessary for him to continue his quest to find Lyra. As a bear and with his culture I just thought it made sense for him. I've read books were humans had cultural reasons for eating people, so a polar bear eating a person really didn't shock me. I just found it sad.

Balthamos and Baruch are an interesting addition. I am also curious about the whole going to rescue Roger from the Land of the Dead.

I believe that Mrs. Coulter believes she loves Lyra and is doing what is best to protect her. Though I don't trust her and her judgements/actions have been flawed/evil in the past. Everyone always thinks they are the good guy.

[Suzanne]

That's a good point Jaime. Everyone is the hero of his/her own story :)