Available as an e-book
Blurbs:
Norther
n lights
When Lyra’s friend Roger disappears, she and her daemon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him. The ensuing quest leads them into the bleak splendour of the North, where armoured bears rule the ice and witch-queens fly through the frozen skies.
The subtle knife
Will has just killed a man. He’s on the run. His escape will take him far beyond his own world, to the eerie disquiet of a deserted city, and to a girl, Lyra. Her fate is strangely linked to his own, and together they must find the most powerful weapon in all the worlds.
The amber spyglass
For all those who are dying to learn the fate of Will and Lyra, hoping for the return of Iorek Byrnison, longing to know the truth about Dust, and waiting to face the ultimate clash of opposing powers, this book has the answers.
Review:
I knew Philip Pullman as a master storyteller from such wonderful children’s books as Clockwork and I was a rat! – imaginative, humorous or frightening. His dark materials is a trilogy of books for young adults, but its widespread appeal has been demonstrated by both film and TV adaptations.
From the start I was drawn in by bold, resourceful Lyra and her daemon Pan, by the Oxford but not Oxford-as-we-know-it setting and by the compelling intrigue, that begins in the first scene as the Master pours the powder into Lord Asriel’s wine. In the second book we meet Will, caring and responsible, in our own world. Again we are taken straight into a mystery as he finds a safe haven for his mother then goes home to search every inch of their house, before being interrupted by two intruders. In the third book the strands are drawn together and Will and Lyra prepare for battle.
The scope of these stories is amazing – the huge cast of wonderful characters, the adventures, the magical beings from daemons through witches to armoured bears and angels, the finely created multiple worlds. The books are exciting, suspenseful, funny and moving. The writing is deceptively simple yet catches you up and moves you quickly along. On the way feelings, motives, freedom of knowledge, morality and the structures of religion - big philosophical issues - are brought to life and explored. With us all the way are Lyra and Will, brave and extraordinary but so human and engaging, characters that will stay with you for a long time.