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

Re Lord Asriel being too nice-he is nice at the start of the book.

It's true about the creatures in book 3, but there was so much else that was good. They did stand out as heavy-handed, agree

Yes I really enjoyed the first book

@Trewser yes, just you

I love them. Every time I read them I find more details and ideas. I'm not a lover of the fantasy genre (except Pratchett, with his huge ladle of irony!), but PP transcends the genre. He's a true literary craftsman.

Which machine animals?

Ages since I've read it but the giraffes on wheels (I am sure they weren't giraffes on wheels except in my imagination...)

Antelopes?? on wheels. Found them so jarring it basically ruined the trilogy. I got the impression that he just got high on his own supply after the success of the first book

Trewser
I thought he'd been hanging out with Dawkins too much and they'd snorted a lot at their own very clever joke about evolution
No proof just geographical proximity

Yes!!

I mostly enjoyed it. It was rushed in places.
and I agree about the lack of daemons.

I expected it not to be perfect, as it can't be easy to adapt, so I was expecting some compromises.

What did piss me off was the amount of trailers at the end. I know it's usual to tell the audience what will be coming up, but this was really excessive.

They were the mulefa. Like an elephant. And they used seed pods as wheels.

SPOILER WARNING

I agree 7Days, I hated that film over all but Daniel Craig had a more aloof and cold quality. SPOILERS AHEAD NOW in the books he and she always seemed a bit upset at what they had created together and had to go to such great lengths for. James McAvoy seemed to care more about her than the books suggest.

I got the impression that he just got high on his own supply after the success of the first book

Yes. That's kind of how I felt about the later books (I've only read the first and it was a good while ago now)

You do realise that posting the words "spoiler warning" doesn't make your post invisible don't you?

Why do people feel the need to do stuff like that I'll never know.

To warn you. So that you don’t read it. I could just write it and leave you to it? Would you prefer that?

The two most recent books felt very thin on content to me. The first three were long and involved and you could immerse yourself in them.

Or you could just not post spoilers. It's not difficult.

If you’ve read the book it’s not a spoiler and it opens discussion about the cast choices.

Are you the ducking magisterium? Just don’t read it, it’s not difficult.

Its quite hard to blot it out if you are reading down the list of posts!

Spoiler warnings are accepted internet etiquette though aren’t they? It’s better than no warning surely. Just scroll past I agree that Asrael is less caring towards her in the book. James McAvoy seemed to be giving her little affectionate glances and I don’t remember that.

I have a problem with so many characters not having visible daemons related to events later on and how characters and viewers are supposed to react to them, but I can't really say any more about that because spoilers.

I got the impression that he just got high on his own supply after the success of the first book

I like Pullman, love his books and he has many interesting things to say about creativity and the writing process. But it is clear that he includes scenes and events to create the effect he wants without really knowing how they relate to the plot (he basically said this in the Imagine documentary) and then ends up having to explain them later on, and sometimes I don't feel that explanation works. I don't think that is necessarily a bad way of writing but for me any flaws in HDM are down to that, I think.

It's not a spoiler-free thread and people have posted other spoilers further up thread without any warning 🤷‍♀️ My mum amused me yesterday messaging us all to say not to say anything about it because she's not going to be able to watch it for a few days, but she's read the books and knows what happens anyway 😂

I enjoyed it. My DH hasn't read the books but followed it fine. He announced after the first line of text came up on screen that he didn't like it (he generally has it in for the fantasy genre) but then when they showed citagazze in the northern lights a 'fucking hell' escaped from his mouth, so I think he got into it 👍

Also thought it was odd Mrs Londsdale wasn't mentioned?? And I could have done without the bit pinched from LBS at the beginning.

Really enjoyed it for the list part - the books are probably my favourites ever, we even had a quote from The Amber Spyglass read at my wedding! I feel the problem is Pullman's world and storytelling is so rich and detailed it inevitably feels a bit rushed on the screen. And the lack of demons was a real problem for me. So far very promising though and looking forward to the rest.

I've also now listened to the Obsessed With podcast interview with Philip Pullman, as suggested by a previous poster, and it does sound as though he didn't really want the daemons to be a distraction so that could be why. He didn't really want people to focus on them and not the story by the sounds of it.

Also, how do you think that I'd get on with the books as a Christian? I know that Philip Pullman is very anti-religion and anti-church. Did his world view hinder the enjoyment of any other Christians who have read this series?

I'm Christian, Dancefloor, and I loved the books - though it is many, many years ago that I read them. At the time I saw them as Christian allegories, and almost as apologetics - I was very surprised to learn the Pullman is an atheist.

However, I don't think he's against religion per se, more the way that a faith makes it to easy to justify cruelty and coercive control of others - a sort of "I believe in God and God tells me we should/shouldn't be doing X, so as I have the power I am going to force my beliefs onto other people." I see him as opposing those people who create God in their own image in order to justify their own desires and bad behaviour.

I think I'll re-read them and see what my opinions are now that I am older (and who knows, hopefully a bit wiser - you never know )