The His Dark Materials Trilogy
With the 1996 release of The Golden Compass, author Philip Pullman unlocked the door to worlds parallel to our own: dæmons and winged creatures living side by side with humans, and a mysterious entity called Dust that just might have the power to unite the universes--if it isn't destroyed first. Followed by the acclaimed The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, the trilogy is a genre-transcending masterpiece that appeals to children and adults alike. With the December 2007 release of the major motion picture based on The Golden Compass, now is the perfect time to discover--or return to--the magic of His Dark Materials.
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| Book One: The Golden Compass |  
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called "Gobblers"—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
> Read an excerpt from The Golden Compass |
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| Book Two: The Subtle Knife |  
Here is the highly anticipated second installment of Philip Pullman's epic fantasy trilogy, begun with the critically acclaimed The Golden Compass. Lyra and Will, her newfound friend, tumble separately into the strange tropical otherworld of Cittàgazze, "the city of magpies," where adults are curiously absent and children run wild. Here their lives become inextricably entwined when Lyra's alethiometer gives her a simple command: find Will's father. Their search is plagued with obstacles--some familiar and some horribly new and unfathomable--but it eventually brings them closer to Will's father and to the Subtle Knife, a deadly, magical, ancient tool that cuts windows between worlds. Through it all, Will and Lyra find themselves hurtling toward the center of a fierce battle against a force so awesome that leagues of mortals, witches, beasts, and spirits from every world are uniting in fear and anger against it. This breathtaking sequel will leave readers eager for the third and final volume of His Dark Materials.
> Read an excerpt from The Subtle Knife |
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| Book Three: The Amber Spyglass |   The Amber Spyglass brings the intrigue of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife to a heart-stopping end, marking the final volume of His Dark Materials as the most powerful of the trilogy.
Along with the return of Lyra, Will, Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Dr. Mary Malone, and Iorek Byrnison the armored bear, come a host of new characters: the Mulefa, mysterious wheeled creatures with the power to see Dust; Gallivespian Lord Roke, a hand-high spymaster to Lord Asriel; and Metatron, a fierce and mighty angel. So, too, come startling revelations: the painful price Lyra must pay to walk through the land of the dead, the haunting power of Dr. Malone's amber spyglass, and the names of who will live--and who will die--for love. And all the while, war rages with the Kingdom of Heaven, a brutal battle that--in its shocking outcome--will uncover the secret of Dust. Philip Pullman deftly brings the cliff-hangers and mysteries of His Dark Materials to an earth-shattering conclusion--and confirms his fantasy trilogy as an undoubted and enduring classic.
> Read an excerpt from The Amber Spyglass |
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| | | | | | Meet Philip Pullman | 
"Stories are the most important thing in the world. Without stories, we wouldn't be human beings at all." So writes His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman. Learn all you'll ever need to know about him, including his love of Batman, his revolutionary views on exercise and healthy living, and his relative harmlessness.
> Read the entire Philip Pullman autobiography
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| Q&A with Philip Pullman |
Learn more about Philip Pullman, including the genesis of the His Dark Materials trilogy, a list of the books that made the biggest difference in the author's life, the origins of "dæmons," and more.
> Read more of the Philip Pullman Q&A
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| The Golden Compass on DVD and Blu-ray |  See armored bears come to life in the feature film The Golden Compass, available on DVD and Blu-ray.
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