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| His Dark Materials Gift Set: "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", "The Amber Spyglass": His Dark Materials | 
 enlarge | Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Scholastic
Category: Book
List Price: £21.00
Buy Used: £8.99
You Save: £12.01 (57%)
New (1) from £15.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  180 reviews
Sales Rank: 88907
Format: Box Set
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 3
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.8 x 3.6
ISBN: 0439994799
EAN: 9780439994798
ASIN: 0439994799
Publication Date: October 19, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Posted from the UK within 2 days.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy astounded the literary world, reaping high praise from adults as well as children. The final book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, was published to great literary acclaim, earning Pullman a place on the longlist for the prestigious Booker Prize and pushing the trilogy toward cult fiction status for both children and adults. This stunning box set contains the three books in the trilogy: The Subtle Knife, Northern Lights and The Amber Spyglass, and is the perfect gift for anyone who is looking for a challenging read. It's recommended for age 10 and above. --Susan Harrison
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| Customer Reviews: Read 175 more reviews...
 Read all three and remember nothing! June 1, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
These books are so forgetable. Regardless of all the deep theological ideas etc, I read all three in a row and was left wanting. What was the fuss about? There was so very much that could have been cut out, so much that was forgetable and pointless. The whole thing just felt like a huge rant. I'm not religious, but I found it dull and pointless, like his personal crusade against Christianity.
 Enjoyable fantasy May 26, 2008
No point in reviewing the individual books because they don't make sense alone - they are three episodes of a single story. Read "Northern Lights" (or, as I did first, see the approximately corresponding film "The Golden Compass") alone, and one is confronted with an odd children's adventure yarn, admittedly rather darker and more sinister in the book than in the watered-down film. However, one (this one anyway) was still tempted to paraphrase Randy Newman:
O, who would think a girl and bear
Could be well accepted everywhere?
It's just amazing how fair
People can be!
"Northern Lights" is actually a bit of a bore, and one is tempted to scream "GET ON WITH IT!" every few pages. However, it is an essential set-up for what follows. "The Subtle Knife" is a marvellous bit of compulsive page-turning writing as three parallel worlds come into collision and the anti-religious overtones of the trilogy, at which "Northern Lights" only vaguely hints, come more sharply into focus. The character of Will, the boy from our world, with destiny thrust upon him, is especially appealing.
"The Amber Spyglass", fattest of the three, starts off slowly, but stick with it, because it becomes ever more interesting and fascinating. One (this one anyway) is lost in admiration of Mr. Pullman's prodigious imagination in weaving together all the various and varied elements of this amazing tale. In some cases, the imagination is, to me, just too prodigious, with the creation of wheeled creatures, appealing though they are. However, you will enjoy the ride. The bittersweet ending is especially effective.
And the anti-religious message that seems to have upset some people? "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all," states one of Mr. Pullman's heroines. And devout Christians will undoubtedly bridle at his picture of "The Authority" and indeed his whole take on theology, on which he has partially based his fantasy, with many Biblical ideas (the Garden of Eden) and figures (Enoch) playing a part. However, as I understand it, this God bears little or no resemblance to the God of the Bible, whom Christians worship, and if He does, they should be very worried indeed. And, hey, Christianity has been around for 2000 years now. It should be grown up and able to stand up for itself - and be both ready and able to take a bit of honest examination. Has the faith for which many were prepared to perish in the arenas of Rome with such courage come to the point where a kids' book is a threat? If it has, it's not much of a faith. As for its potential for subverting children, it seems to me to be about as subversive as Harry Potter - and does it not represent a golden opportunity for Christian parents to expound the difference?
Unputdownable adventure August 22, 2007
Northern Lights is endlessly inventive from the interesting parallel fictional Oxford at the beginning to the Parallel World revealed at the end of the book. The idea of every person being attached to a 'daemon' is truly inspired and creates much of the charm and ingenuity that makes His Dark Materials so well-loved. Overall, a children's adventure story with grown-up overriding themes concerning the questioning of authority - a marvellous read from start to finish.
Incredible stuff May 22, 2007
You have to suspend your critical grip on reality but that's easy - it has to be done with most fiction. You just have to suspend it much higher for this. And from that height you get a spectaular perspective on the world and worlds running in parallel. Of the tools needed to get between the worlds, of the divergent evolutions of the different worlds and all wrapped neatly in an adult faerie tale.
The characters are lovable, the backdrops mainly familiar, the imagery well textured and chiselled. Each book layers beautifully on top of the previous one until the Armageddon Heaven and Hell climax. I'm not giving anything away, it's self evident in the first chapter. A great and readable yarn for all of the romantics out there. Loved it.
 Best books I've ever read, and definitely not just for children.. February 23, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I don't believe it is any exaggeration to describe this trilogy as one of the best works of fiction I've ever read. Once you have read these books, you will want to do so again and again, and each time you do you'll get something new from them.
I found 'Northern Lights' hard to get into at first, but on the advice of a friend I stuck with it, and by the end I was completely hooked. Lyra's alternate universe is so atmospheric with detail that you can almost taste and smell it, but it is so beautifully described, in a succint, almost minimalist style, that it never sounds contrived.
The books mix all-out action and thrills, elements of fantasy and myth, science, and some unbelievably profound philosophical subject matter which will certainly make you think: these books were written for children?? I won't be giving these books to my children before they are 13 or 14!
The ending of 'The Amber Spyglass' is haunting, as other reviewers have said; it is almost unbearably sad and if it doesn't make you cry - and think deeply about the meaning of life - then nothing ever will!
Finally I would urge anyone thinking of reading 'Northern Lights' for the first time to not delay, because if the upcoming movie turns out to be disappointing you might decide not to bother, and miss out on a true treat.
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