I just started reading The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman, which is the second book of Pullman’s trilogy “His Dark Materials”. I started reading the first one because I heard it recommended somewhere and had never heard of the author before, and I wanted to try something different from my usual reading (which consisted mostly of books by Terry Pratchett).
So I read the first book of the trilogy (The Golden Compass) and, well, I did quite enjoy it. It is a fantasy book playing in a parallel universe comparatively similar to our world (I won’t write spoilers here). The world was well thought-out and presented, though some stuff seemed a bit strange. The story was well written, the settings and moods were varied (which I value), the characters likeable, and with good suspense toward the end.
However, I closed the book thinking, ok, that was a nice children’s story (it won the Carnegie Medal after all), but nothing overwhelmingly great. Instead of continuing to read the series, I was going to try something different again, “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card, which I started reading the same day I finished The Golden Compass. Bad Mistake. I started reading the book, and after a few pages I noticed that I was not really paying attention, my mind was still busy with the last book. It made no sense to continue reading just then. Then I remembered the text on the first pages of The Golden Compass:
“The Golden Compass forms the first part of a story in three volumes. The first volume is set in a universe like ours, but different in many ways. The second volume is set partly in the universe we know. The third volume will move between the universes.”
I was very curious to see how that would play out, knowing the end of the first book and the differences of the world presented in it to ours. I was curious what exactly he meant by “our world”, how he would present it in contrast to the world of the first book. And I noticed that I cared a lot more for the fate of the characters than I had originally believed. So I decided to abandon Ender’s Game for the moment and went to get the second book of the trilogy His Dark Materials, the book I’m reading now, The Subtle Knife. And from the moment I opened it, I was hooked.
This can’t be because of the second book alone. Even the best book needs a while to get the reader so involved, but I was glued to it from page one. In fact, I was thrilled, and this doesn’t happen to me often when I’m reading. I realise now how good The Golden Compass really is, both on its own and as part of the trilogy, and I can highly recommend the series to practically everyone who doesn’t become desinterested when things look a bit childish at first.