His Dark Materials
A great book. First published AD 1995, written in English
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). It follows the coming of age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes. The novels have won a number of awards, including the Carnegie Medal in 1995 for Northern Lights and the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year for The Amber Spyglass. In 2003, the trilogy was ranked third on the BBC's The Big Read poll.
Your reading
Sign in to add this book to your map.
What it draws on
Paradise LostGreat book
John Milton, AD 1667
Pullman takes his title from Book 2 of Paradise Lost, 'his dark materials to create more worlds', and tells Milton's story of the Fall in reverse: Lyra, a new Eve, is right to choose knowledge, and the rebellion against the Authority is the side to be on.
Source: Wikipedia, His Dark Materials
“It functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, in which Pullman commends humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin.” Read it there
The author’s life
On these lists
- BBC The Big Read, number 3