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His Dark Materials 3-Book Paperback Boxed Set: The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass Paperback – Box set, May 27, 2003
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These thrilling adventures tell the story of Lyra and Will—two ordinary children on a perilous journey through shimmering haunted otherworlds. They will meet witches and armored bears, fallen angels and soul-eating specters. And in the end, the fate of both the living—and the dead—will rely on them.
Phillip Pullman’s spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy has captivated readers for over twenty years and won acclaim at every turn. It will have you questioning everything you know about your world and wondering what really lies just out of reach.
Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials!
** THE BOOK OF DUST **
La Belle Sauvage
The Secret Commonwealth
- Print length560 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level5 - 12
- Lexile measure930L
- Dimensions5.25 x 3.38 x 7.81 inches
- PublisherYearling
- Publication dateMay 27, 2003
- ISBN-100440238609
- ISBN-13978-0440419518
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From the Publisher
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His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Book 1) | His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife (Book 2) | His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass (Book 3) | The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage (Volume 1) | The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Volume 2) | |
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Customer Reviews |
4.5 out of 5 stars
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4.5 out of 5 stars
10,053
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4.5 out of 5 stars
9,417
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Price | $8.07$8.07 | $8.45$8.45 | $7.70$7.70 | $10.39$10.39 | $10.99$10.99 |
Enter the world of His Dark Materials | The modern fantasy classic soon to be an HBO original series – HIS DARK MATERIALS! | The second book in the HIS DARK MATERIALS series – soon to be an HBO original series! | The third book in the HIS DARK MATERIALS series – soon to be an HBO original series! | Set in the same world as HIS DARK MATERIALS - meet Lyra before the events of The Golden Compass! | Set in the same world as HIS DARK MATERIALS - discover what happened to Lyra after The Amber Spyglass! |
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Marvelous." —The New Yorker
“Pullman is quite possibly a genius… Using the lineaments of fantasy to tell the truth about the universal experience of growing up.” —Newsweek
Praise for THE SUBTLE KNIFE
“Just as quick-moving and unputdownable as The Golden Compass. . . . The mysteries deepen and the wonders grow even more extravagant.” —The Washington Post
“Pullman’s imagination soars . . . A literary rollercoaster ride you won’t want to miss.”—The Boston Globe
“The story gallops with ferocious momentum . . . Devilishly inventive.” —The New York Times Book Review
Praise for THE AMBER SPYGLASS
"War, politics, magic, science, individual lives and cosmic destinies are all here . . . shaped and assembled into a narrative of tremendous pace by a man with a generous, precise intelligence. I am completely enchanted." —The New York Times Book Review
"Breathtaking adventure . . . a terrific story, eloquently told." —The Boston Globe
About the Author
The Book of Dust, Pullman’s eagerly anticipated return to the world of His Dark Materials, will also be a book in three parts. It began with La Belle Sauvage and continues with The Secret Commonwealth.
Philip Pullman is the author of many other beloved novels. For younger readers: I Was a Rat!, Count Karlstein, Two Crafty Criminals!, Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Scarecrow and His Servant. For older readers: the Sally Lockhart quartet (The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin Princess), The White Mercedes, and The Broken Bridge. He has written a magnificent collection, Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, and his essays and lectures on writing and storytelling have been gathered in a volume called Dæmon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling.
Philip Pullman lives in Oxford, England.
Product details
- ASIN : 0440419514
- Publisher : Yearling; First Edition (May 27, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 560 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0440238609
- ISBN-13 : 978-0440419518
- Reading age : 10+ years, from customers
- Lexile measure : 930L
- Grade level : 5 - 12
- Item Weight : 2.14 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 3.38 x 7.81 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #10,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
PHILIP PULLMAN is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents' Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work. In 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
It has recently been announced that The Book of Dust, the much anticipated new book from Mr. Pullman, also set in the world of His Dark Materials, will be published as a major work in three parts, with the first part to arrive in October 2017.
Philip Pullman is the author of many other much-lauded novels. Other volumes related to His Dark Materials: Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North, and The Collectors. For younger readers: I Was a Rat!; Count Karlstein; Two Crafty Criminals; Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Scarecrow and His Servant. For older readers: the Sally Lockhart quartet: The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin Princess; The White Mercedes; and The Broken Bridge.
Philip Pullman lives in Oxford, England. To learn more, please visit philip-pullman.com and hisdarkmaterials.com. Or follow him on Twitter at @PhilipPullman.
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The Subtle Knife is my second favorite, and introducds Will to the story arch. While I like Will and find his character well though out, it bothers me that Lyra, who up until now was braver and stronger and more clever than any adult she knew male or female, was suddenly helpless (at times) and needed to be saved/rescued or helped by the male character. The reason this bothers me is there are so few strong female characters out there, and even less who are created by men, who are totally self-sufficient and strong. Why would Lyra all of a sudden play second stringer to a boy when her own actions and plans worked so well for her in the past? It just makes me feel as if they are saying that it's better if the man makes the decisions and protects the girl. It's a little too old fashioned for me. But, the saving grace is the relationship that develops between the two, as Lyra is getting older her thoughts are changing along with her body, she's becoming aware of herself as a woman, albeit a young woman, and that is juxtapositioned against this backdrop of saving the universe, or the multiverse and herself as well. I find the relationship between them to be real, they only know each other a short while, but their experiences together, and the fact that they are about the same age, helps them to bond, and children of that age are more trusting, but at the same time selective about their friends, but when they do find a friend, they tend to be loyal and caring. this opens up a whole new world for Lyra, while she's always had help, now she has an equal. the side story of Mary Malone though never quite does anything for me, and while it seems like there is a buildup, it never actually delivers. But overall a great book, and a page turner.
The Amber Spyglass is my least favorite, but that isn't to say it's bad, or unreadable, but just like the Last Battle in the Narnia Series, it leaves you feeling a little unsettled as if some of the pieces aren't actually fitting together as nicely as they should. While the story is grand in scope and still strongly sculpting the character and the story arch. There are times, you are left wondering: What was the point in that? The whole war with the Autority and the demise of the God-like Creature seems a little anti-climactic. A lot of people might lose interest here simply because of what it seems to be implying about God and religion. But, I feel that if you are strong in your faith and truly believe in what you believe then no fictional story, no matter what the intent was behind the metaphors, should be threatening to you. It simply should be read as an epic fantasy story, and not be taken so seriously. Like I stated though I found myself asking, what was that all about more? than actually getting offended or discusted by the metaphorical references. full disclosure, I am a firm believer in God but not a fan of organized religion but I do not criticize anyone who finds solace in the chuch. But at this point in the story, you already know there is a bit of an anti-authority vibe flowing through the story, and it's simply part of the mood/plot. I did wonder what it was Mary was supposed to do or say that was to be the temptation that Lyra was supposed to either give into or spurn. They were portraying her as the new EVE, and that Mary was the serpent in the garden but I never quite figured out what it was that she was supposed to do. And again it seemed like the plot was building up to something at the end of the story but it just seemed to go on for a long time without actually going anywhere (much like the Last Battle) But the tale of self-sacrifice and parting of friends and lovers more than makes up for the misfires I would like to see what happens to Lyra when she gets older and wouldn't mind seeing a reunion of sorts with all the characters. The bond between Lyra and Iorek is a pretty interesting one, and I feel that it wouldn't lessen due to time. So that would be interesting to see. I didn't like the fact that Lyra lost the ability to use the alethiometer after she had finished her mission, it was something that made her special, and it's like sad to see her lose the ability and now she has to relearn it, I guess it shows character development as it shows that originally she was a smart girl but wasn't very keen on learning, yet she was wise in other ways. But now she is shown the importance of learning and the benefits and rewards of studying. Overall I'm very happy to have found this series, and look forward to the chance to read more. So hopefully that will happen sometime soon.
If you look on Amazon or blogs or other book review sites you will see both positive and negative comparisons of HDM to `Lord of the Rings' (LOR). This is one of the trivial issues: HDM has no relationship whatsoever to LOR other than both are long books broken into three parts and are the basis for some pretty good movies.
The second of these trivial issues are the positive and negative comparisons to the `Harry Potter' series (HP). The HP series are mostly for and about children and are about magic as in `Hocus Pocus' magic. HDM is about children but I would hesitate to say that Pullman wrote it for children. Pullman in interviews has said that he dislikes the label of `children's literature' as it implies `not for adults.' The themes in HDM are very adult, but I suspect that an intelligent young adult would respond to them and the adventure aspects of HDM would appeal to most younger readers as well. More over HDM is not about magic at all; it is science fiction (a genre Pullman also dislikes) in the best sense. The so-called `magic' is merely what someone might call the physics of alternate Universes.
The last issue, and it may or may not be trivial, is the objection to HDM by Christians. There is no doubt that Pullman intended HDM to be a counterbalance to C.S. Lewis's slobbering exaltation of Christianity (and the superiority of male Anglo-Saxons) in `The Chronicles of Narnia' (CON) and in general a condemnation of some of the practices the Catholic Church. However most of the criticism you see about HDM seems to come from the politically conservative Christian right that interprets any and all criticism of religion as profanation of Christianity in general. I would add that there are also positive reviews of HDM solely on the basis of being anti-religion as well.
I do find it interesting that some of the negative reviews of HDM by Christians are really very long and well written. It makes me wonder why someone would say that HDM was a not a good book when it obviously stimulated them to write several pages on it. I suppose that it upset them and they don't like to be upset by what they read. That is strange as it is one of the points Pullman makes in HDM. In passing he mentions that the church has imprisoned a scientist for coming up with what seems to be a valid description of multiple dimensions in String Theory. These negative reviews seem to follow a general trend on the Internet of a group of Christians who spend a lot of time sniffing out heterodoxy and attempting to stifle it.
My last observation is why I think HDM is exception SciFi and why you should read it and get your kids to read it as well. What Pullman has done is to take the implications of String Theory, Chaos Theory, the theories about Dark Matter and Dark Energy in modern theoretical physics and asks the question of what a world would look like if these theories were true. What if there are other Universes and what would happen if we could travel between them? This is really, really interesting and I think Pullman has done an exceptional job here. The fact that he uses the influence of religion as one vehicle may or may not have been a major issue here, but it does not detract in any way from the fascinating SciFi aspects of this book.
You can read this in three parts as it was published, but like LOR it is best considered as a whole work. HDM is available in a number of editions and I read, this time, the omnibus of all three volumes. If you don't know anything about modern physics it will not detract from the enjoyment of the book as just SciFi or fantasy.
Top reviews from other countries
Lo consiglio come regalo o se si vuole evitare di acquistare tre libri diversi.
Reviewed in Italy on August 20, 2022
Lo consiglio come regalo o se si vuole evitare di acquistare tre libri diversi.