July has arrived which is the start of many wonderful things. Not only am I taking a month off of reviewing, I’m using this time to bring to light one of my all-time favourite trilogies and show off its grandeur for all to see.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is a series that has sold around 20 million copies, won numerous awards, and been translated into over 35 languages. It has become a movie, a play, and even a radio production, and even twenty years after the first book was published Pullman’s words still captivate readers and amaze them.
Northern Lights is the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy and it is where we are introduced to Lyra, Pantalaimon, and Oxford for the very first time. From these beginning Pullman drags us into a magical alternate world where daemons, witches, and other worlds are possible and through three brilliant books takes us on a fascinating, treacherous, and emotional journey that will amaze, frighten, and astound.
In honour of the 20th year of publication for Northern Lights I am dedicating the entire month of July to the celebration. Over the next 30 days I am going to be posting a variety of things about Northern Lights, as well as the rest of the His Dark Materials series. I have reviews, trivia, awesome fan art from some very talented people, as well as a few rambles of my own discussing the things I love most about these books. There really is so much to discuss with these novels, Pullman has created a tremendously complex and intricate universe and you can’t help but admire him for what he has not only created, but what he has achieved with these books.
If you have read these books you will know about their delights, and if you haven’t, I hope my constant praise will make you pick up a copy and start reading because it is truly a joy to experience, and it is an experience that will stay with you.
I know the entire trilogy was published from 1995-2000 but I am going to include the other two in this month as well because discussing just Northern Lights is not enough. There are also two additional books that are set in the same world but outside the trilogy which I am going to look at too. By the end of it you will either be in love with this series like I am, or you will never want to see or hear about it again, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the former though.
So join me for a wonderful month of delving deep into the world of daemons, armoured bears, the alethiometer, and Dust, and relive or be introduced to the magical and superb world of Lyra’s Oxford, and a series that has brought joy to millions!
Lost in a Good Book 