Everyone who's met me knows I love to read. It is my number one passion in life, aside from eating of course. I have read around 350 books, give or take, and I'm not boasting; I'm just stating a fact. I've lived inside books more than I've lived anywhere else. Now, most of the books I've read have been fantasy. This genre allows me to not only escape my reality, but also find myself in these stories, worlds and characters. With time, most of these books and their characters have become friends, and part of me; I take a lot from what I read, and I've learned a lot of things from these books. Some characters, like Sansa Stark, have even shaped me in many amazing ways. But today, I come to write about the book that changed my life more than any other one; you could say it's my number one favorite of all. And that is "His Dark Materials", by Philip Pullman.
Published as a trilogy, the story itself represents one single book written in three parts: "Northern Lights" or "The Golden Compass" in America, "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass". The trilogy follows 12 year old Lyra Belacqua, a girl from another world who goes through a journey (as most kids in fantasy books do). But this journey is like no other I've ever read. It is not extensive or unnecessarily long like "Lord of the Rings" or "A Song of Ice and Fire". The adventure is as much about the events as it is about the characters' psychology and development. Let's go now a little bit deeper into this gem of a book.
To understand "His Dark Materials", we must understand its world; or rather worlds. The story takes place in the multiverse, with many of its characters traveling from world to world. Now, before you consider this another fantastical nonsense, let me assure you that the multiverse has been scientifically proven to be real, which makes you take this story from both a fantasy and scientific point of view at times. Nevertheless, most of the story and adventures take place in the world that Lyra Belacqua was born.
Lyra's world is very similar to ours in terms of geography, languages and technology. The differences lie in the names for certain countries, for example: Texas is a country, England is called Britain, Russia is called Moscow, and so on with other countries. Some countries and continents are a bit smaller than our own as well. The languages tend to be the same, except for some words. Electric light is called ambaric light, science is referred as theological experiments, chocolate is changed to chocolatl (which I believe is actually a real word), and so on. As for technology it's very similar to ours, but looking more antiquated. They have cars, trains, ships, phones (no cellphones), computers (but not televisions), and instead of airplanes they fly by zeppelin, which is their main form of transportation.
Their cultures are similar to ours, but not the same. The most distinct example is the Gyptians. They are inspired by the Gypsies of our world, hence the name. The Gyptians live in ships, always in the water. They rule the seas, oceans and rivers. They come to land to do their business, but their life is at sea. Gyptians are often discriminated, and are seen by many as less citizens, much like the Gypsies in our reality.
But perhaps the most important feature in this world are the daemons. Don't confuse them with the Christian demons, they are not the same. In Lyra's world, people's souls walk beside their bodies in the form of an animal that is born with them. If the person is straight, the daemon is likely to be from the person's opposite sex; if the person is homosexual, is very likely that their daemon will be of their same sex. These daemons have a name, and they can talk; they can also feel and experience what their human counterpart does. Daemons are not to be confused with pets: they are part of their person in heart and soul. When the person is still a child, their daemon can change forms from animal to animal, depending on how the human feels or needs. By the time they reach puberty, their daemons take a permanent animal form, which reflects the persons likes, personality, needs and psychology. It's important to explain that only the daemon's person may touch them; to touch another daemon is a terrible deed, a taboo, as bad and repulsive as rape.
Aside from daemons, there are the ice bears who live in the far north. They are sentient creatures, who can speak and have their own monarchical government. They do not have daemons, but build incredibly powerful armor that covers their bodies, as they are warriors and smiths at heart. Next we have the witches, who rule the air. They are the only ones who can separate from their daemons. They can live for thousands of years, and since witches in this world are only women, they take human lovers to procreate; if the baby is born a girl it's a witch, but if it's boy it's human, and must live with his father.
Surrounding this world and giving it life (and to the rest of the multiverse) is Dust, which you might possibly know as dark matter. Dust can be seen only with very special equipment, it is sentient, and it's responsible for the existence of daemons and other wondrous things. But the church fears Dust and wants to eradicate it, as they see it as the responsible for sin. The church in this world is called the Magisterium and god is known as The Authority. We could say that the Magisterium is the big villain of this story. Evil and corrupt, they stop at nothing to eliminate Dust, even if it means killing millions. They seek to control not only their world, but every single one in the multiverse, and The Authority shares these plans.
Now that I've talked about the world, let's talk about Lyra Belacqua. As I mentioned, she is 12 years old at the beginning of this story, an orphan who lives in Jordan College at Oxford University. There she is taken care of by her maid, the scholars and her ever-traveling uncle Lord Asriel. Lyra's daemon is Pantalaimon, who is the cautious part to her impulsive side. Lyra is wild, curious, feisty, sassy, mischievous and most of all, a compulsive liar. Since she doesn't know her own story, she makes it up, and lies flow from her as easily as water flows down a river. Her own name is an algorithm for liar. Lyra is gifted the Alethiometer, or Golden Compass, which allows the reader to know the truth to any question. In a world controlled by the church, knowing the truth is perhaps the most powerful weapon.
Lyra has a natural ability to read the Compass; it comes to her naturally whereas for others it takes hard work and study. Her role as a liar makes her the perfect truth reader, as she's the only one who really appreciates the truth for what it is. Not only that, but Lyra's role in the story is much bigger than just reading a Compass: she's the reincarnation of Eve and she is meant to save Dust (sin) for the multiverse, and ultimately kill god.
In a way, this book made me the atheist I am today. I am not ashamed to say it. This is a book that warns against religion, all of them, and the dangers it represents in the hands of the cruel and corrupt. Many people have even called the book "atheism for kids", and I couldn't be happier or prouder for that.
To conclude this post, why is this even important? Why is it relevant? Books are not only meant to entertain. The best ones teach us, and makes us look at things from different perspectives. They open our eyes to new ways of thinking, and that is what "His Dark Materials" did for me. It saved from religion and its lies, made me develop a more critical thinking, taught me to look at science with more respect and admiration, helped me look at my inner self more than before, and most important: it opened my eyes.
Someday I will go back to this world. I will fall back into its pages, I'll run and lie with Lyra again, I'll fly with the witches, travel with the Gyptians, and visit the ice bears. I am forever grateful to Philip Pullman for creating this story and for saving me in a moment when I really needed it. I hope that you, dear reader, will someday dive into this world (or rather worlds) and fall in love with it as I did.
Yours ever,
Ema.
P.S. Check out the HBO series of the same name. The books are way better (obviously) but the series did an amazing job.
