The Magical Worlds of Philip Pullman: A Treasury of Fascinating Facts

by David Colbert

After exploring the worlds of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Narnia, Colbert turns his eye to the His Dark Materials trilogy, revealing the complex origins and controversial themes of Pullman's modern literary marvel.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425207900
• ISBN13: 9780425207901
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great as an overview, as a reference...eh.

I'm writing a college thesis on Pullman's His Dark Materials, so I was excited to find this book. However, I was slightly disappointed when it arrived. It's well written and a great overview, but if you've already started doing some looking and thinking on your own it doesn't give you much that's new. This book is a great starting point, and great for a fun read. I don't so much reccomend it as a primary reference, but as a helpful guide it's very well done.

Wonderfully informative without being overwhelming

Philip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ trilogy is so full of references and allusions to subjects and works of literature that the average adult, never mind the average teenager, knows nothing about, that I was afraid this book would be either absurdly simplified or overwhelming in its scope. Happily, David Colbert seems to strike a near-perfect balance between making his subject matter understandable and doing justice to it at least in an introductory way, which is no more than he aims to do. I'm sure that the fact that Colbert had access to Pullman and was able to discuss his ideas with him also helped immeasurably. Where did Pullman get the idea of daemons, and how did it change as he wrote? What other author wrote about the impossibility of winning a sparring match with a bear? Is Lord Asriel "on the side of" good or evil? These are only a few of the questions that are answered (or not, in the case of the last one), in this illustrated guide to the background of _His Dark Materials_, with the added bonus of some direct peeks into the mind that created this brilliantl work.