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Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" Series
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Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series is a book where it really depends on your type of books. I got through it fine, but my mom didn't go past the first book either. Infact that's how I got my copy she gave me hers. As for Lord of the Rings, I can't believe you didn't make it past the first book. That series is great and the first book is my favorite. I love it because that is the one book where they are really all together as a group so I can't believe it didn't suck you in more.
I saw the movie before I read the first book. The movie left me cold. The book was better. Nevertheless, I can't say it grabbed me all that much. I did think the world was well realized and had a strong internal consistency. I liked the ideas put forth, but it just didn't grab me like other first books in a series did. Having said that, I will finish the series at some point, but not before I get through this year's Hugo noms for best novel.
While I don't think that "The Golden Compass" is truly awful (I did give it 4 stars), I agree that the characters are flat, and that really detracts from a book for me. It seemed that Pullman was more interested in fleshing out an ideology that opposed C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia than in actually writing a good story.I read "The Golden Compass" a while ago, so my review might be more interesting than my comments:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
I haven't felt compelled to finish the series, either.
@Roger: I am so glad to see there is actually someone else out there who wasn't a fan of the movie. Everyone I know went ga ga over it, while I walked out (seriously, this is the only movie I've ever walked out on). I loved the books (read them all :) but I also think that has a lot to do with when I read them. Sometimes, it just isn't the right time to read a book. Maybe after you get through your current reading list they will hold more appeal for you.
I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series. If you didn't like the first one, chances are you're not going to get much out of the rest. However, I do have to say that the first is a small part of a much larger story. It's not at all to be meant as a stand-alone book and much of what is character driven is revealed in the subsequent books. Until you get into book two, the characters do fall a bit flat, and maybe that is a mistake of the author's. As the story develops in the last two books, much more is revealed about the characters and as a whole they become much more well rounded. From the very beginning, I really enjoyed the story and the themes. And anyone who thought the book's take on Catholicism in the first book was offensive, definitely shouldn't move on. I don't know anything about the author's motives, but he certainly reveals himself to be anti-Catholic or at least anti-organized religion as the story develops. Any presentation of those themes in the first book seems totally innocuous compared to the following ones.
Nonetheless, the final concepts regarding self, spirituality, and free-thinking are so positive that it's hard for me to really focus on any of the negative spin the books have received.
@Jen: I fully plan on finishing the series. The first book was quite good and fleshed out a lot of inconsistencies in the movie (the explanation of Dust, for example).I do think it's a matter of timing with the book. I was reading widely different novels before and during (am I the only one with a stack of half-finished books next to the bed? I don't think so.) So, once I burn through Halting State, Brasyl, and The Yiddish Policeman's Union. I'll pick up The Subtle Knife.
The His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the few that I've given 5 stars to. I read it years ago and revisit it every now and then. I loved that it ended up being more than just a girl-and-her-friend-on-a-fantastic-adventure story - I was so pleasantly surprised by the philosophical nature of it. I also love how unconventional the ending is.The Golden Compass movie was, quite frankly, crap. It totally cut out all of Lyra's thought processes, making it seem like she just pulled all of her ideas out of thin air. And the end...where did it go? Anyone who watched that movie without reading the books must have walked away with such an odd feeling. I've heard that they didn't really plan to make the second and third book into movies, in which case, why bother with the first one at all? It's too bad, because it was visually very beautiful.
And the controversy? Anyone watching that movie without reading the books would never have known about it without all the protestor's racket.
Yeah, I was very surprised by the way the movie just...ended. When I read the book I was surprised that I still had quite a bit more to go.
Well, I haven't seen the movie and I've only read the first book, thus far. I found it not particularly interesting at the beginning (I think I found Lyra somewhat dislikable as a protagonist) but it picked up quite a bit for me as it went along, up until the ending which I really disliked. On the other hand, my wife really enjoyed it. I will read the next one, but I'm stubborn that way.
I much more enjoyed the books..on book two now...than the movie. I think his characters are interesting...definitely a nice read..I'm listening to the audio version of the second book and I really like it due to the fact there are numerous actors playing the different characters.
I really liked the first book myself. I actualy think there is a fall off in quality as you get further into the series as he discusses his ideas more and gets away somewhat from Lyra's story. I thought the girl was very smart, and heroic, the daemon's an incredibly sublime concept as you can tell from the daemon's actions things about their people, her search for her friend and the eventual discovery of the experiments on the children just an all around good story. { Although the movie was not great, I thought it did convey a little of the horror of those experiments}. To me this series is first and foremost based on his ideas with story and character third, which is why I liked the first book the best because the the first story is the best of the three parts - Lyra is an engaging character, her mother is evil incarnate and her friends are heroic -- all of which can be picked up in the first book.
I agree that the first book of the trilogy is the best of the three. I was deeply disappointed by the ending in book three and have a feeling he was pressured by the publisher to end it that way. I felt that Lyra's parents' actions were completely out of character and essentially destroyed the story for me.
I've read all three, and I also liked the first one the best... The end was really weird for me but I guess the good ol' happy tappy ending isn't always the best way to go with a story, too obvious I guess.. I want to get Lyra's Oxford now because I think it'll come back to more of that first book's feeling...Lyra is a wonderful character, I fell for her (and Pan too!) right at the beggining, even in the movie! That was the only good thing about the movie I think, the little actress felt soooo Lyra! :D
I did think he overdid the whole religious thing but I'm catholic and it didn't bother me at all.
But anyhow, ever since I read them I've been thinking myself silly on what my daemon would be and what Citàgazze is like...
All that controversy thing didn't even reach my ears (here in Brasil) but now, knowing about it, I just have to say there's no point in reading a book if you've already formed an opinion on it! I always 'delete' what I hear and make the story my own. But that's just me!
Oh, and Lord of the Rings, I couldn't get to the third... Too exhausting... But when I've got free time I'll definetly get to it seeing as I loved the first one, and the Hobbitt too!
Toodles!
Now, I also didn't read past the first book of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but that had more to do with my taste in books rather than the quality of the writing. Tolkein's Middle Earth seemed very real compared to Pullman's world that just seems to be a hodgepodge that's not very well realized. Tolkein's characters had consistency and depth. You understood their motivation. I'm not getting the same from Pullman's characters.