Output of a curious mind

The first book of the trilogy "The golden Compass" mostly set the
background for the following books by exciting our curiosity with the
mysterious "dust" and introducing most of the characters. But the story in
itself is barely interesting enough to keep reading. I would have
probably put the book down if not for the warning of my friends that
the other books are much better.
I have to admit that my principal interest ended up being to "find the
10 differences" with the movie.

"The Subtle Knife" is in my opinion the stronger of the books by
pushing the story in new and interesting directions. The book opens a
few new subplots and deepens the mystery surrounding "dust."

"The Amber Spyglass" is in comparison very weak and honestly
disappointing. The narrative completely breaks down in the last third of
the book. Too many subplots are opened and they fail to nicely
converge. It seem that the author crushed the story to make it fit in
one book. Spoiler: The reenactment of the biblical scene of the
original sin was a very promising idea that failed at delivery. And
the moral tale instead of coming out of the blue at the end could
surely have been better integrated in the story.

I wish the author would have decide to properly exploit all the themes
he opened by better balancing the material between the books or having
one more volume.

I am probably being a bit too critical because a few of my friends
over-hyped the last book to me.


The controversial anti-religious theme did not resonate very much with
me mostly because I come from a very secular culture.


The author's main reproach against organized religion is their active
persecution against scientific knowledge that has the potential to weaken their
authority by invalidating their dogmas. The times of Galileo seem long past in Europe but I have to recognize that in the US even in the
absence on this continent of the once all powerful Roman Catholic Church there is still a strong push against science, most notably in the very
successful anti Darwinism movement but also against steam cell
research.



I am not going to talk about the state of affair of secularism in this
country but I do not think that Pullman pushing children "to have to be all those difficult things like
cheerful and kind and curious and patient ... to study and think and
work hard" and encourage them to build a better world for everybody
will destroy their moral value.

Also, sadly, even if at first the book focus on a very dynamic and empowered Lyra, the introduction in the second book of the very strong boy
character that ends up dominating the girl by his mental strength is
very disappointing because if someone has suffered greatly and is still
suffering of the oppression of the church well above science it is
without doubt women.

On a side note, it would be interesting to see if a movie adaptation of
the trilogy will be completed. Even if it was possible to avoid the religious theme in the
first book, it will be impossible for the next one without
completely altering the story and leaving only cute talking animals
fighting against pseudo-nazi fascists