I will start this article by telling you I have never read the His Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman. They’ve been on my radar for many years, but I haven’t gotten round to them. Perhaps, by the end of this, you’ll think I should.
My second admission is that I’ve only watched one and a half seasons of the three-season television show on HBO. I also never saw the Golden Compass movie based on the first book. As such, it’s perhaps disingenuous of me to try and write an article about it, but I shall try anyway.
So, to my review. I don’t like it. Perhaps better put, I don’t understand it. After a season and a half of the show I was so confused about what was going on that I had to stop. I didn’t get the point of it, I didn’t understand who half the characters were, and I wasn’t sure what their goals and intentions were.
That’s all probably on me, because I know so many people have enjoyed both book and show. Maybe I need to go read the books (which always helps in understanding deeper plot points), but I’m not quite sure I will. Once bitten, twice shy, I guess.
I’m also not so much of a steampunk fan, and that was largely the vibe of the show. There are certainly aspects of it which I enjoy, but I don’t know how much I like. Thinking through my fantasy history, I don’t remember even having read much of the steampunk subgenre. Interesting, because I do love science fiction and fantasy both, and steampunk seems to fit nicely in the middle.
As for the title I used, it’s obviously a riff on the Marvel movies. HDM seems to have multiverses which don’t make sense to me, and that’s another part of the problem I have with it. Never quite sure if I’m coming or going. Similar situation in the Marvel multiverse, getting lost in people going left and right. Perhaps it’s part of why I think that series has peaked, and is slowly slipping back to irrelevance.
What is the series about?
I can’t really tell you. A young girl, Lyra, is involved in some kind of problem. There’s a bunch of parallel universes where different things are happening. There’s a whole thing about Dust, which appears to be dark matter (?), and the church is trying to stop something. I think Lyra is looking for her friend who disappeared and stumbles into a hidden world, but I don’t even know that much.
It’s all very confusing to me.
The Themes of His Dark Materials
It’s a bit disingenuous to write this when I’m not sure what’s going on, isn’t it? These are my guesses though.
Religious Authority
This is one part I’m sure of. The books are well-known for attacking the idea of religion and what it stands for. Obviously the religious people are the bad guys, and you shouldn’t just blindly accept what they say. I only wish I knew what they were trying to say.
Identity
In these books a daemon is an animal companion which reflects the person’s nature. It seems to be more fluid as a child and fixed as an adult (I think the animal goes away as they grow up). I think it’s a commentary on how we lose a lot of who we are when we become adults.
Morality and choice
I feel like Lyra is given lots of choices throughout the show, and always chooses the right one. By that I mean it’s not too difficult to tell from the start what she’s going to do. Perhaps it’s the way things are presented in the show, but I think I prefer the ambiguity of choices being good or bad.
A Character of Great Interest
You’d probably expect me to talk about Lyra here, since she’s the only character name I’ve mentioned. I’m not a big fan of her though (or the actor who plays her). Just a little too perfect, too written to fix everything.
Instead I’ll talk about Lee Scoresby. The only reason I watched the show in the first place was because Lin-Manuel Miranda is in it, and I’m a big Hamilton fan.
Having said that, Lee is really a caricature of a person. Wild personality, Lin-Manuel plays him in a manic sense, and he pops up here and there without rhyme nor reason. I guess I don’t understand his role, other than to come to the rescue whenever the other characters need him to. And, like the eagles in Lord of the Rings, why doesn’t he just carry them everywhere in his balloon?
I do like to compare a character to someone in one of my books, but frankly I can’t find a comparison here. Lee Scoresby is charismatic and quick-witted, which I don’t think applies to anyone in my books. They are mostly dour and beaten down, kind of tired of the life their society has pushed them into (in some small ways this is a spoiler!).
Lee does have loyalty and skill going for him, but that can apply to most characters in my books. I suppose his strong sense of morality could apply, but several of my characters have that, even if it is a little selective (how moral can you be if you don’t take slaves, but you’re fine with others doing it?).
I guess ultimately I simply don’t have a character to fill the role Lee Scoresby does. He’s the guide and the moral compass and the person who will get the others out of any fix they might find themselves in. He’s almost a deus ex machina as he goes about solving the seemingly impossible problems Lyra runs into.
Other Series to Read
I perhaps should call this other series to watch, since I haven’t read the books. Still, I’d rather be reading, wouldn’t you?
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis is a series I haven’t read in a long time, but it seems to me to be quite similar in terms of themes. Stepping into different worlds to examine your faith and morality is an ongoing role for fantasy, I think.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson is another in a similar vein. I wonder what it is about calling books Chronicles?
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Just throwing this one in for the name, right? Yes, but there’s more to it than that. I think the storytelling is as strong here as it is in His Dark Materials.
In Conclusion
I should probably conclude by promising to finish watching the series and to reading the books. The themes are interesting, the story seems to be there, but I just can’t find myself getting into it. Perhaps it’s just going to stay as one of those rare fantasy stories I haven’t been able to get ahold of and enjoy.
That’s not a bad thing, because it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same things. There have probably been books I’ve loved which you haven’t enjoyed, and vice versa. I am of course happy to hear when that happens, because it helps make us each individuals who don’t conform to one path, as it seems the church in His Dark Materials wants us to do.