Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #656089 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1040 pages

Synopsis
A luxury edition of all three books in the His Dark Materials trilogy in one volume. Contains 'Northern Lights', 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'.

Customer Reviews

Best books ever!
I first read the trilogy when I was about 13 but I still love all three books now I'm 18 and have them with me a uni. I have never read such a wonderfully imaginative and beautiful set of books. Great for when you're worried about something and need to escape. It is hard to pick the best out of the three as the quality is so consistant. I probably enjoyed 'The Amber Spyglass' the most, purely because I was so enchanted by the utopian world that the mulefa lived in. The idea of being able to converse with your soul in the form of a daemon is also surely captivating to anyone with an imagination. Claims that the books are childish, over-rated, use limited vocabulary etc are false. Yes they don't have you reaching for the dictionary but they are meant to be accessable for children, and surely a book doesn't have to be hard to understand in order to be good. A book should be about enjoyment, not sitting there being smug that you understand it when other people might not. I saw the trilogy as dealing with some relatively complex themes, but in a way that the vast majority could appreciate. Everybody should read these books before they die, they are all modern classics and in my humble opinion knock 'Lord of the Rings' into a cocked hat! 10 stars and takes the top spot of my favourite book chart.

Absoulutly wonderful
This trilogy is one of the best more intellectual than Harry Potter but still with the magical wonders. Adult or child you will fall in love with Lara and Will and their adventures. A cleverly written book about religion and the streets of oxford. also check out Lara's Oxford.

sadly over-rated
I read this because I'd heard the rave reviews and because it came third in the BBC's Big Read. And I was disappointed with it. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad book, it's just not that good. There are moments of brilliance, and some cracking ideas, but they are overshadowed by the pages and pages of "get on with it" and over-contrived hammerings of the story to get it back to the plot.

People have commented on its anti-church themes. Whatever - if anything they start grating after a while, and you start thinking that the author is struggling with one huge chip on his shoulder.

The biggest indictment of the book I have is that with about 80 pages of it left, I picked up Holes by Louis Sachar, because I couldn't face His Dark Materials any more. I did eventually finish it, but more with a sense of relief than excitement.

In summary: OK, nothing special, not as good as Sachar's Holes - get that instead.