His Dark Materials

[AllGoodDogs]

New BBC adaptation, looks so good, can't wait trailer here -

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10162256439035553&id=683285552&sfnsn=mo

[MotherOfSoupDragons]

Read the books, seen the plays and the film, can't be bothered with this, though I'm probably missing out.

[daisypond]

One of mine read Northern Lights at nine. My other child couldn’t have read it at nine. They are long, big - in every sense - books.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

clare I'd read them first if I were you. I read them at about that age and although a lot of the political/religious messages went over my head (and some stuff I just wasn't old/experienced enough to pick up on, like the priest being frankly creepy with Will, and the angels being gay), I found some of it really quite scary.

[daisypond]

Yes, there should have been more daemons around. All those cooks and laundry women, where were their daemons? Did I miss them? Or is everyone’s just small animals and birds?

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

FriendofDorothy, you have one, you just can't see it!

Although I agree, it would be lovely to have something with you like that, and to cuddle if you felt bad. Although imagine if you ended up with a horse or a hippo! I did always wonder whether there were some shapes that were just not sensible enough.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Servants should have dogs I think daisy? I'm going to have to re-read!

[WaterSheep]

I did always wonder whether there were some shapes that were just not sensible enough.

I've had similar thoughts in the past. I imagine your deamon settling as an elephant would be rather inconvenient.

[clare8allthepies]

Thank you, I think I will read them first (they sound like something I would enjoy anyway) I’m going to record the series and we can then watch it whenever I do think she’s ready for it.

[corythatwas]

Not sure I agree with the casting of Lyra- but then I always found the character in the book profoundly annoying, so that might be all for the good.

[SheStoodInTheStorm]

I've found my people!

These are my favourite books and I had such high hopes for this series as the trailers have been amazing. It felt very rushed and not enough build up to the Gobblers. I also don't think they made enough of the alethiometer. I agree about the daemons - more definitely needs to be made of them!
Wasn't sure about McAvoy but thought he was actually great (film was shit but I like Daniel Craig as Asriel) but can't get on board with Duff as Ma Costa at all...
DH hasn't read the books and he said it all felt very slow. Though future episodes look promising.

[DustOffYourHighestHopes]

Loved it but there were NOT enough damn daemons.

Also Ma Costa was too young. Also the Gyptians’ costumes were a bit too urban. They could have had great consistency and fun with those costumes, all colourful and nautical and interesting.

[WaterSheep]

I've also wondered how Daemons get their names. Do they come with name, does the child choose the name? Or perhaps the parent's of the child name them as well as their child, or even the Daemons of the child's parents?

[Pantalaimon88]

I always imagined Ma Costa as quite big, busty and matronly.

[SheStoodInTheStorm]

@PolkadotsAndMoonbeams I don't think it says they should have dogs, but rather often a settled daemon reflects the person so many do (obedient, hard-working etc)

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I think 9 might be a bit young. However good a reader is it’s not going to make a huge amount of sense without a background knowledge Christianity which isn’t likely to be taught in primary.

Isn’t the dust as much to do with consciousness as Original Sin? So the Magisterium in Lyra’s world views it as being linked to the Fall and original sin but it’s viewed differently in other worlds

[Glacecherrychops]

The parents daemons name the child's daemon @WaterSheep

[WaterSheep]

Glacecherrychops What if the parents aren't around? Does the job then pass to the daemon of whoever brings up the child?

[Glacecherrychops]

Well, I suppose it would be the daemon of whoever choses the name for the baby.

It's mentioned in la belle sauvage that the parent's daemons choose the name of the daemon

[Sgtmajormummy]

Huge fan of the books here, including La Belle Sauvage which was a fresh horror on every page! I’ll be reading the next book over Christmas.

How many episodes is the series going to be? I’m not in the UK until the end of the month so I might catch episode 4+.
The trailers on YouTube look really good (of course) and I like the Jane Eyre actress as Mrs Coulter, although she isn’t the dazzling beauty Nicole Kidman was.

[WaterSheep]

It's mentioned in la belle sauvage that the parent's daemons choose the name of the daemon

Is it I don't remember this at all. Although in my memory LBS is a foggy haze of water boat rides and a baby.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I think it’s 8.

Very annoyingly they haven’t put this up to buy on Prime in the UK. Hoping they’re just waiting for it to air on HBO first.

[Unihorn]

I absolutely loved it as a huge fan of the books. Although I think anything after the film was going to blow me away, and I'm excited at the prospect of 8 episodes per book so that it's nowhere near as rushed as all these film adaptations end up! Good timing on the release after I just finished The Secret Commonwealth as well.

I agree about Ma Costa though, not how I pictured her at all. I also thought it was odd how Mrs Lonsdale was left out. I wonder if this is to do with her playing a bigger part in the Book of Dust and this causing casting issues? Seemed like quite a big role to skip.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Should was probably the wrong word.

But it's right at the beginning so I can quote "...she saw the servant's daemon (a dog, like almost all servants' daemons)..." and "He was a servant, so she was a dog; but a superior servant, so a superior dog."

That could just be Lyra's view though, since she's meant to be quite unwordly in some ways (and also blonde, which made me mentally adjust!).

The whole daemon concept is really interesting. DP thinks that if your daemon is the same sex as you that means you're gay, but I'm not sure. I know later on a character says he never imagined having a part of him that was so beautiful and feminine (or something) until he saw her, but we don't really hear much about the pastry chef (I think it is) with the male daemon.

[Sgtmajormummy]

About the right age for the books.
I read the first two aloud to my kids when they were 11 or 12. That meant we could stop and explain the morality and Christian imagery. Reading it alone they might easily have given up. At that age Italian kids get their first taste of Dante, so it tied in nicely. Of course they both loved daemons and the Mulefa.
DC1 didn’t get the third book until I read it aloud to DC2 five years later. Loved it even then.
So I’d recommend the books for kids who are starting to realize that Harry Potter isn’t all that well written.

[colouringinpro]

Good visually but my DCs who haven't read the books needed a lot explaining, daemons etc..

Visually I thought pretty good.

I've only ever read this trilogy, would people recommend Belle Sauvage, Commonwealth, Book of Dust?