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1 year ago
His Dark Materials Series by Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass
In Northern Lights (published in some countries as The Golden Compass), the heroine, Lyra Belacqua, a young girl brought up in the cloistered world of Jordan College, Oxford, and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, learn of the existence of Dust, a strange elementary particle believed by the Magisterium to provide evidence for Original Sin. Dust appears less attracted to the innocence of children, and this gives rise to grisly experiments carried out on kidnapped children and their dæmons in the distant North by experimental theologists (scientists) of the Magisterium. Lyra, initially excited at being placed in the care of the elegant and mysterious Mrs. Coulter, discovers to her horror that the latter works as a member of the secretive General Oblation Board (known among children as the “Gobblers”) which kidnaps the children and runs the experiments; a horror compounded later when Lyra identifies Marisa Coulter as her own mother. She also learns that Lord Asriel, ostensibly her uncle, is her father. Lyra runs away from Coulter, whereupon the Gyptians (a gypsy-like culture based on riverboats) find her and mount an expedition to rescue the missing children. Lyra and Pantalaimon accompany them, also hoping to save their best friend Roger Parslow. With the aid of the exiled panserbjørne (“armoured bear”) Iorek Byrnison who becomes Lyra’s protector, John Faa and Farder Coram, the leaders of the Gyptian people, the aeronaut Lee Scoresby, and the witch Serafina Pekkala, they save the children from the experiments and destroy the research station, then continue on to Svalbard, the home of the armoured bears, where Lyra aids Iorek in winning back his kingdom by killing his rival. Lyra continues on to find Lord Asriel, exiled to Svalbard at Mrs. Coulter’s request. Lord Asriel had been researching how to open a bridge to another world. This requires a vast amount of energy, acquired by severing Roger from his dæmon, killing Roger in the process. Lord Asriel, followed by Lyra and Pantalaimon, journey through the gate separately in search of the source of Dust. Coulter wishes to destroy Dust and thus Original Sin, while Asriel wished to kill “The Authority” (God) and bring an end to the Magisterium.The Subtle Knife
In The Subtle Knife, Lyra journeys through the Aurora to Cittàgazze, an otherworldly city whose denizens have discovered a clean path between worlds at a far earlier point in time than others in the storyline. Cittàgazze’s reckless use of the technology has released soul-eating Specters, rendering much of the world incapable of transit by adults. Here Lyra meets Will Parry, a twelve-year-old boy from our world. Will, who recently killed a man to protect his ailing mother, has stumbled into Cittàgazze in an effort to locate his long-lost father. Will becomes the bearer of the eponymous Subtle Knife, a tool forged 300 years ago by Cittàgazze’s scientists from the same materials used to make Bolvangar’s silver guillotine. One edge of the knife can divide even subatomic particles and form subtle (spiritual) divisions in space, creating portals between worlds; the other edge easily cuts through any form of matter. After meeting with witches from Lyra’s world, they journey on. Will finds his father, who had gone missing in Lyra’s world under the assumed name of Stanislaus Grumman, only to watch him murdered almost immediately by a witch who loved him but was turned down, and Lyra is kidnapped.The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass tells of Lyra’s kidnapping by her mother, Mrs. Coulter, an agent of the Magisterium who has learned of the prophecy identifying Lyra as the next Eve. A pair of angels, Balthamos and Baruch, inform Will that he must travel with them to give the Subtle Knife to Lyra’s father, Lord Asriel, as a weapon against The Authority. Will ignores the angels; with the help of a local girl named Ama, the Bear King Iorek Byrnison, and Lord Asriel’s Gallivespian spies, the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, he rescues Lyra from the cave where her mother has hidden her from the Magisterium, which has become determined to kill her before she yields to temptation and sin like the original Eve.
Will, Lyra, Tialys, and Salmakia journey to the Land of the Dead, temporarily parting with their dæmons to release the ghosts from their captivity imposed by the oppressive Authority. Mary Malone, a scientist originating from Will’s home world, interested in Dust (or Dark Matter/Shadows, as she knows them), travels to a land populated by strange sentient creatures called Mulefa. There she learns of the true nature of Dust, which is defined as panpsychic particles of self-awareness. Dust is both created by and nourishes life which has become self-aware. Lord Asriel and the reformed Mrs. Coulter work to destroy the Authority’s Regent Metatron. They succeed, but themselves suffer annihilation in the process. The Authority himself dies of his own frailty when Will and Lyra free him from the crystal prison wherein Metatron had trapped him, able to do so because an attack by cliff-ghasts kills or drives away the prison’s protectors. When Will and Lyra emerge from the land of the dead, they find their dæmons. The book ends with Will and Lyra falling in love but realising they cannot live together in the same world, because all windows must be closed to prevent the loss of Dust, and because each of them can only live full lives in their native worlds. During the return, Mary learns how to see her own dæmon, who takes the form of a black Alpine chough. Lyra loses her ability to intuitively read the alethiometer and determines to learn how to use her conscious mind to achieve the same effect.(Source: mediafire.com)
