The Subtle Knife finished; The Amber Spyglass started

Having finished The Subtle Knife, I hardly know what to say about it. It's extremely good. Just like The Golden Compass, I read it fast and enjoyed it a lot. Just like The Golden Compass, it's a young adult novel that respects its audience rather than talking down to them.

Just like The Golden Compass, there are definitely elements in which the Church is challenged. I feel reluctant to mention that, because it's the kind of thing that may turn people off to the book (of course it's easy to forget, especially for those of us that live in Alabama, that many people are turned off by books that promote the church). I still think it's a very good story that I would recommend to people whether or not they are Christian, because 1. good storytelling should be available to everyone, and 2. you can take it. Seriously. The challenges to the Church are not that bad, and if they cause you to question things that people have done in the name of God, things people still do in the name of God, would that be such a terrible thing?

Of course, I also want to reserve judgment until I finish book 3, because the books leave you wondering what the outcome will be.

But this isn't why I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say about it because discussing the plot gives away so many elements of The Golden Compass, and the moments of revelation in this series are so stunning, it would be a shame to spoil any of them.

So, what's safe to say is - Lyra learns more about Dust. She travels between worlds, but the reasons for the different worlds are supported by current theories of physics (which makes it a lot nicer for me than, say, popping through paintings). She meets a boy named Will, and before long he's just as important as Lyra. There are more witches, which is a good thing. Someone dies, and it's heartbreaking.

Overall, small questions are answered and big questions remain, and it's sometimes difficult to tell which adults are good or evil, although I suspect that anyone who is decidedly for Lyra is good, and anyone who is against her is evil. There is one adult whose loyalty to Lyra is not clear, and everyone keeps trying to guide her to him, but I'm just guessing that based on his past action, he's no better than the adults that are clearly against her.

See what I mean? I can't tell you anything specific about these books without spoilers. Read the books! Don't watch the movie! They are page turners, and they are exceptionally well written. You won't regret it.

His Dark Materials trilogy started

I've started The Golden Compass, first in the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman.

I've never seen the movie version of this book, and I don't know much about it. When the movie came out there was a minor media fury over whether the story contains "hidden" messages against the Catholic church. I've never really believed in hidden messages corrupting people - if you have a message to get across, you'll most likely just say it, not hide it. Also, Pullman's feelings about organized religion aren't exactly a secret.

At any rate, I'm not the kind of person who thinks that criticizing religion is a bad thing, nor do I think it's inappropriate for kids. I'm a little interested to see if these religious themes stand out to me.

I'm also seeing some reflections of Narnia in the story so far. Not just the talking animals - that sort of thing shows up in a lot of stories, and is certainly not particular to C.S. Lewis. I was just discussing The Chronicles of Narnia with a friend of mine, and how Susan was not allowed to go back to Narnia because she discovered makeup and boys. Basically, puberty, womanhood, and an interest in sex exclude her from the kingdom of heaven. This has been criticized quite a lot, by such notables as J.K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman (no link for Neil because I couldn't find this online: if you want to know more just read his story The Problem of Susan, which you can find in Fragile Things).

The hero Lyra in The Golden Compass is a tough, somewhat tomboyish girl, but is beginning to show an interest in makeup and clothes at the part that I'm reading right now. It kind of reminds me of Narnia by contrast - in the book that happens last chronologically, Susan has basically become too interested in womanly things - this is presented as something that happened because she's no longer a child. Lyra is still very young and it's very early in the story, but she's showing an interest in womanly things. This is certainly the way I remember things happening when I was young. Girls like to look womanly. It's pretty normal for girls to want to wear makeup and have nice clothes, even at an early age.

I'm not sure I want to make an anti-Narnia argument for The Golden Compass just yet. Instead, I'll just say it's been pretty good so far, and I think that in this children's story it might actually be ok for a girl to wear makeup. The storytelling is engaging and I've been reading through pretty fast. More news when I'm done!