Complete Review of the His Dark Materials Series

I finished the third and final book of the His Dark Materials trilogy, of The Golden Compass notoreity. Now I can speak to the entire series.

First, let me reaffirm that there is absolutely nothing religiously amiss about The Golden Compass or its sequel The Subtle Knife. The real controversy begins with the third book.

First:

• This is not a series of books for young children. The themes are too dark, too grown-up. In a way the audience is probably self-regulating, because there are long, dull parts that no one younger than 14 would probably have the drive to read through anyway.
• This is not a series well-suited for Catholics. When religion is represented, it is very thinly-veiled as being the author's viewpoint of the Catholic church specifically. The majority of the books do not deal with religion, but when it is mentioned, it is not kindly.

For everyone else, for those who are very religious, insecure about their faith, or have no religion to defend, reading these books is akin to listening to John Lennon's song Imagine. It's not a series that will make you leave your faith. It probably won't even make you think of your own personal beliefs, whether you agree with one of the philosophies presented or not. You won't feel defensive about religion.

That said, I found myself to be quite annoyed by the presence of religion in the third book, for what it was. Anytime it was mentioned or represented, it felt like the author was departing from the story and stepping into the book to Saaaay Soooomething. It didn't feel like a natural part of the world he had built beginning with the first book. It was annoying. Not destructive, but certainly it was tiresome.

Parts of the book were astonishing. The creativity was exceptional. I did think the narrative voice was a bit detached, and that prevented me from becoming very emotionally involved with the progression of the story, and some of it just plain did not make sense, contradicted itself, and some content was too convoluted for even a fantasy, but overall, it was a good read.

All those who claim that HDM is superior to Harry Potter are smoking crack. Well, maybe that's a bit extreme. They're nutcases, at least. The HP books are so much richer and more complex, with much more sympathetic and fleshed-out characters; the plot is more vividly presented, the magic more accessible. The battle between good and evil has many gray areas, making it realistic and believable. Corruption is represented accurately, affecting both those with good and not so good intentions. The growth of the characters is more interesting to me in Potter. (And, of course, there's the tiny detail that the main character is not a chronic liar.)

So, be assured, your soul will not be corrupted by these mere books. Nor do they qualify as must-read-before-you-die books. I can only imagine the movie is the same way, unless they really played up and emphasized the anti-religiousness. But they'd be stupid to do so.