His Dark Materials is written for older children and has won several awards. It's a satisfying read for adults as well, as the story is well told and not sentimental. In Northern Lights we meet Lyra. She lives on what seems to be a parallel universe Earth where humans have daemons, witches ride cloud-pine branches and armoured bears rule the North. Lyra's cozy life in Jordan College Oxford is disrupted when her friend Roger goes missing. Armed with a mysterious aelithometer she sets off with her daemon Pantaliamon to find him. She picks up Gyptian leader Lord Faa, Farda Coram and the outcast bear Iorak Byrnison among others, on her way up to where the Aurora lights the skies and human scientists are conducting truely horrific experiments...And why does her uncle Asriel seem to be involved?The Subtle Knife turns our attentions to a young boy called Will who lives in our own reality. A secret that his mother has been keeping about his father means that people are snooping around his home in the middle of the night... so he runs. The Knife has a powerful secret that only Will is able to find out after he wanders into an alternate reality and meets up with Lyra.
The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 2001, which is rare for a book that is a) for children, and b) a Fantasy book. It answers many questions, not the least 'What is Dust?' Together, Will and Lyra jorney through many realities looking for Roger, while Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter battle it out for control of the secret of Dust.
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BibliographyHis Dark Materials
Northern Lights The Golden Compass in the U.S.
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
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