The Golden Compass

[GwenneZ]

I've heard this book is an atheist book, but I've also heard its pretty good. I'm confused if I should read it or not. I don't want to read it if it clearly goes against my relationship with God, yet should I read it to prepare myself for when people ask questions about it? Owww... My head hurts. I'm confused. Someone please help me! ^.-

[rocklobster]

it's boring. And no good at all. The rest of the trilogy is okay, but you're better off with Narnia or Harry Potter.

[Anystazya]

I myself have never read it, but who did you hear that it was good from??? Were they Christians or non-Christians? If they were non-Christians, well, then of course they wouldn't have much of a problem with the book. I know my sister read the books to see what they were really like (she read them when she was a lot younger, so she didn't understand all of the things it said in contradiction to Christianity, I think). So...pray about it, and I'm sure that if you do choose to read them, then you'll be doing it with your Christian perspective and you'll probably be able to know where to draw the line with some of the things. And hey, if you start reading it and don't like it or something, you can always stop reading it.

[Cap'n Nick]

I asked my resident book expert to weigh in it. Her verdict: the writing itself is okay but the naked antagonism toward Christianity really soured it for her. Also, the arguments it presents against Christianity aren't particularly novel or complex. If you're worried about answering questions, a summary would suffice.

[Tancos]

Pullman is a skillful writer. His trilogy could have been very good, but it's spoiled by his dogmatic atheism. I can recommend the first two volumes only with serious reservations, and the final volume is a botch.

Here are a couple of assessments of His Dark Materials: a surprisingly sympathetic — but still critical — essay from First Things; and, a much more sarcastic evaluation from John C. Wright.

[GwenneZ]

I started reading the Narnia series, but then became side-tracked, and the same happened to the Harry Potter series. The person who told me it was good was...I'm not sure what to call her. She believes in God, buuuuuut she's not really a follower. I can always stop, but I don't like to. It makes me feel like I'm doing the author an injustice. I know, I know. I'm a dork. ^.- A summary is a good idea. Do you know where I could get one? Isn't it sad when people have so much talent, but then don't use it for God's purpose? It's even worse when they use it to go directly against Him. Thank you for the assessments.

[goldenspines]

I started reading the Narnia series, but then became side-tracked, and the same happened to the Harry Potter series. The person who told me it was good was...I'm not sure what to call her. She believes in God, buuuuuut she's not really a follower. I can always stop, but I don't like to. It makes me feel like I'm doing the author an injustice. I know, I know. I'm a dork. ^.- A summary is a good idea. Do you know where I could get one? Isn't it sad when people have so much talent, but then don't use it for God's purpose? It's even worse when they use it to go directly against Him. Thank you for the assessments.

Searching Google is always a nice place to start in finding a book summary.
Specifically though, Sparknotes is usually the best place to look for book summaries: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/hisdarkmaterials/section1.html

That link has the summaries (and analysis) of all three books in the trilogy.
Hope this helped.

[ClosetOtaku]

I have read all three books.

I think The Golden Compass is excellent. I liked The Subtle Knife a little less, but still enjoyed it.

For me, the wheels fell off with the third book, The Amber Spyglass. It was here the author (Phillip Pullman) revealed himself to be a staunchly anti-religious bigot. I knew nothing of his reputation before I read the books; afterwards, mystified by how such a good story suddenly hit the wall at full speed, I learned more about his philosophies, and everything came into focus.

So...no harm in reading them, in my opinion, and maybe you can discern "what could have been" had Pullman been a little more sympathetic to the concept of religion/Christianity. Some very good passages, especially in the first book, but by the third book you'll be saying, "Oh, come on!"

[Lady Kenshin]

Pullman is a skillful writer. His trilogy could have been very good, but it's spoiled by his dogmatic atheism. I can recommend the first two volumes only with serious reservations, and the final volume is a botch.

Here are a couple of assessments of His Dark Materials: a surprisingly sympathetic — but still critical — essay from First Things]a much more sarcastic evaluation from John C. Wright[/URL].

Wow. I no longer wish to read those books. Sounds depressing.

[Maokun]

I usually have nothing against reading books by staunch and outloud atheists and others as long as the writing is good and the tone not too preachy. As such, when I first heard about the trilogy and his author I though about reading it. However, researaching a bit, I learned that this series was born in an attempt to imitate and counter the Chronicles of Narnia. Reading some of the thoughts of the author is a dreadful thing as he's filled with so much hatred and poison against them that I can only imagine he loved them when he was a kid and got badly disillusioned when he learnt that not only Narnia doesn't exist but it is also a metaphore for Christian life and now he's lashing furiously against it all. Seriously, you need a strong estomach to read some of the comments of the author on Narnia. That was what finally motivated me to definitely not give the books a chance.

Why? Because they were no born of imagination and creativity and then used to promote an agenda; that, I would have been ok with. They were created, as an engineered monstrosity with the sole purpose of channeling his rage and his desire of shoving his anti-christian and anti-narnia views, in the very same language Narnia employed. It was a mockery born of hate. That's a kind of art I'm not really interested in asociating with even if his penmanship was brilliant. Im truly glad that his trilogy never reached half the popularity of Narnia's (one of his goals.)

[chibiphonebooth]

i only read the first book, and i remember liking it. i haven't read any of the other ones though. and from what i remember, the first book is more focused on the story line then the underlying propaganda. XD

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

First book - great, second book - good, third book - atheist hate propaganda.