The first book of His Dark Materials (Northern Lights) won the 1995 Carnegie Medal in Literature from the Library Association. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal, it was named one of the top ten winning works by a panel, composing the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Northern Lights won the public vote from that shortlist and was thus named the all-time "Carnegie of Carnegies" on 21 June 2007.
His Dark Materials is a trilogy (coming together to form an epic) consisting of Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. It follows the coming-of-age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes against a backdrop of epic events.
The Amber Spyglass was awarded the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in January 2002. The series won popular acclaim in late 2003, taking third place in the BBC's Big Read poll.
The story involves fantasy elements such as witches and armoured polar bears, and alludes to a broad range of ideas from such fields as physics, philosophy, and theology. The trilogy functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost; with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing. The series has drawn criticism for its negative portrayal of Christianity and religion in general.
Pullman's publishers have primarily marketed the series to young adults, but Pullman also intended to speak to adults. North American printings of The Amber Spyglass have censored passages describing Lyra's incipient sexuality.
The London Royal National Theatre staged a major, two-part adaptation of the series in 2003–2004, and New Line Cinema released a film based on Northern Lights, titled The Golden Compass, in 2007.
The title of the series, His Dark Materials, comes from seventeenth century poet John Milton's Paradise Lost, Book 2:
Into this wilde Abyss,The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,But all these in their pregnant causes mixtConfus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordainHis dark materials to create more Worlds,Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiendStood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,
Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith
He had to cross.
— Book 2, lines 910–920
Pullman earlier proposed to name the series The Golden Compasses, also a reference to Paradise Lost, where they denote God's circle-drawing instrument used to establish and set the bounds of all creation:
Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centered, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure
— Book 7, lines 224–229
Due to confusion with the other common meaning of compass (the navigational instrument) this phrase in the singular became the title of the American edition of Northern Lights (the book prominently features a device that one might label a "golden compass"). In The Subtle Knife, Pullman rationalizes the first book's American title, The Golden Compass, by having Mary twice refer to Lyra's alethiometer as a "compass" or "compass thing."
The High School LRC had just acquired the first and the third books, The Golden Compass and The Amber Spyglass in the trilogy sometime during June - September this year while the second book, The Subtle Knife was already acquired previously, sometime last school year, thus finally completing the fantasy trilogy.
All of the three novels are currently on display at the fREADom hub at the High School LRC!
