Philip Pullman
(Scholastic Children’s Books)
Christmas is the perfect time to give classic books as gifts, whether they are old or modern. With its Arctic setting, Northern Lights is most perfectly fitted for this purpose, and His Dark Materials, the classic award-winning trilogy it is part of, is now available as a single volume in this stunning new bind-up edition, with the most gorgeous icy blue shiny cover.
The story of Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon, who become embroiled in a plot which threatens all children, has engrossed teenagers and adults alike.
Though His Dark Materials has had plenty of publicity for its strong critical references to the Church and its anti-Narnia hints, this trilogy is first and foremost an intelligent and spectacularly well written fantasy, and deserves a place on every bookshelf.
It might be worth mentioning that this lovely edition is well over 1000 pages long, which is why it might not be a suitable present from slightly reluctant readers, or readers who simply get easily put off by the length of books. In this case, it might be wiser to buy the trilogy as three separate volumes, which have also had a make-over:
In a survey to celebrate the tenth anniversary of World Book Day, His Dark Materials was chosen by the public as one of ‘the ten books the nation can’t live without’. Northern Lights also won “Carnegie of Carnegies” in 2007.
Source: review copy from publisher
