His Dark Materials

Cold – “Anti-Love Song”

I love you guys.

My new year has been pretty low-key and uneventful so far – New Year’s Eve I watched Finding Neverland and Jersey Girl with Heidi, talked to Daniel a bit, and went to sleep. The next day, Heidi and I did a bit of shopping (I got underwear, of course) and we were going to go to Chronicles of Narnia with Daniel’s stepmom, Tami, but it was sold out, so we went to King Kong instead. Word of warning: LONGEST. MOVIE. EVER. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but there was a lot of stuff that could have been cut out to make it a bit shorter (Naomi Watts’ same expression over and over and over throughout the whole movie, for instance) without wrecking the story.

As for today, I have spent all day on the couch reading the third and final book in the His Dark Materials series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman. I just finished it and came in here to write about it. It has been said that the series “stands with the Lord Of The Rings as one of the most resonant fantasies of our time” and that the third book “confirms Pullman’s inclusion in the company of C. S. Lewis and Tolkien.” Obviously, I agree. And actually, I would LOVE to see this turned into a movie series, but one in the likes of the Lord Of The Rings – I don’t want a lot of creative liberties taken with it. It’s a strong enough story to stand on its own without Hollywood’s influence.

The books are just so riveting that you don’t want to put them down. The other night, I stayed up until 3am to finish the second in the series and today I didn’t leave the couch except to get food and use the bathroom. I had to finish the last book! The story involves a young girl named Lyra Belaqua who doesn’t have any family left except for her uncle, Lord Asriel, who is a very important man and who only visits occasionally. Things called “Gobblers” are stealing children from her city and eventually, Lyra’s best friend Roger gets stolen. She then begins a quest to save him. That’s basically the gist of the first book; I can’t say too much about the second or the third because I think I’d give some of it away, but they are SO EXCITING.

The books are technically science fiction, I think, or possibly fantasy. They remind me of the Harry Potter series only in the sense that great care has been taken to create entire worlds with customs and mannerisms and creatures and foods different from our own. The books are incredibly detailed and the characters are so well-developed you can’t help but care for them.

I’m gushing, I know, but they really are fantastic. I’m so glad I got the first one for the train, and so thankful that Daniel saved the day by getting me the last two for Christmas.

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