Any readers of His Dark Materials out there? I finished the series a few weeks ago, and I think many of the forumites here would of also read it, due to its glorious story and well, anti-Christianity-ness.
In light of the movie being released, we might as well discuss a few things here (you can break up items of discussion of your own as well):
1. Do you like the movie or the book better? (I haven't seen the movie, though Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars so it must be crap. And they took at the major themes) If the movie, why?
2. This is the reason for starting the thread. At the end of The Amber Spyglass, are Mrs Coulter, Lord Asriel and Metatron doomed to fall eternally in the abyss? If so, Pullman was able to ruin a spectacular series with a horrible ending. It just seems bad, y'know? Sacrificing your life, I don't mind, but just falling and falling? Not only is it the most cruel of punishments, it's also boring! I can imagine in a thousand years Mrs Coulter saying "shouldn't of done this, shouldn't of done this etc.".
3. What is your favourite book in the series? I liked The Subtle Knife the best, as it struck a nice balance between preaching a message and delivering a fantastic tale. Golden Compass was too early in the series for it to explore some of the wonderful themes, and Amber Spyglass really wasn't subtle at all (no pun intended), and Pullman seemed to force his anti-religion messages into it, rather than let it flow. For example, The Authority being retarded, the Church being made into the most cruel organization (I wouldn't of minded this if Pullman had putten a better motive behind them than "destroying original sin"
) and of course Mary's heartwarming tale. That said, still a very good series.
4. Will you read The Book of Dust?
