These books are incredible stuff. So rich in detail, adventure and suspense, they reminded me why I fell in love with reading in the first place. Originally published between 1995 and 2000, this epic trilogy has been turned into a brilliant stage adaptation at the National Theatre, a radio drama and an eight-part BBC adaptation will follow soon. (And the least said about the film, the better).
After seventeen years, we'll finally get to read La Belle Sauvage (the first book of a follow-up trilogy, The Book of Dust) when it's published in October - but in the meantime, I can't recommend these highly enough.
Northern Lights Lyra Belacqua lives half-wild and carefree among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle – a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armoured bears.
The Subtle Knife Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.
On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.
The Amber Spyglass Will and Lyra, whose fates are bound together by powers beyond their own worlds, have been violently separated. But they must find each other, for ahead of them lies the greatest war that has ever been – and a journey to a dark place from which no one has ever returned . . .
Latest comments (35)
Hdhdh
15 Sep 17#14
Book 2 is awesome, book 3*is terrible especially the ending :rage: :poop:
kevcrawfy to Hdhdh
15 Sep 17#18
The books are all amazing, with an very satisfying ending! Thanks
OttovonPrimark to Hdhdh
15 Sep 17#26
^This. Though I don't agree that Book 3 is terrible, the ending certainly is. I thought it was too rushed and a massive let-down.
sebrichter to OttovonPrimark
16 Sep 17#35
Great username
jef33
16 Sep 17#34
Nice! Thanks for posting!
DevK
16 Sep 17#33
Brilliant trilogy!!
Robbo11
16 Sep 17#32
Excellent trilogy. Read them all on a chill-out holiday in Menorca back in 2004. 'The Subtle Knife' is my personal favourite.
driver8
16 Sep 17#31
Expired. Sad.
wackyraces
15 Sep 17#30
Excellent books. Bought the audio books version as well a few years back. Superb.
gemniz
15 Sep 17#29
Ooh, can I buy this as a gift?
I loved the series, didn't know there was a TV series coming!!
Bossworld
15 Sep 17#28
I got the first two when I was at primary school in the late 90s. I still pinpoint me falling out of love with reading to when the Amber Spyglass was repeatedly delayed. Bought it to complete the set but never got around to completing it.
Eventually got round to reading all three again, in sequence, in my early 20s and I couldn't put them down. I still think the Northern Lights is the strongest but the Amber Spyglass is still a good read.
adrianjowitt
15 Sep 17#27
I quite liked the film and was disappointed the financial crash came and they didn't make the rest. Hopefully one day they will reboot them and try again
chriscampbell10
15 Sep 17#25
...and if you can't wait for La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust Volume 1), Pullman published an extract (I think it may be Chapter 1 in its entirety) on The Guardian. All very exciting!
Thanks everybody for voting. I don't post often and this is the hottest one yet! :grin:
C.// Xxx.
PS: I do agree that The Amber Spyglass isn't as strong as the others. I felt that keenly before and I'm rereading it now and feel it again. BUT - I think patches of it are some of the best in the trilogy. No spoilers, now, but when Lyra, Will, Tialys and Salmakia visit that place - just heart rending!
Aldnoah
15 Sep 17#24
My favourite books ever. Also the first book from The Book of Dust is finally out next month!!
pedd
15 Sep 17#2
Great deal. The audible audiobooks can be had for £3.49 each too!
sebrichter to pedd
15 Sep 17#7
Did you manage to get The Subtle Knife audiobook?
alexus to sebrichter
15 Sep 17#9
I was surprised could not get the second and third book reduced after buying. I just wish listed as expect will come up reduced at some point.
sebrichter to alexus
15 Sep 17#10
I’ve contacted audible about it. So might be resolved sooner rather than later.
alexus to sebrichter
15 Sep 17#11
I use my non rush credit cuts the cost of my audio books so fingers crossed.
sebrichter to alexus
15 Sep 17#23
I got a reply. Doesn’t look promising.
I didn’t read it all, because wow :dizzy_face:
“Thank you for contacting Audible! We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.
We understand you would like to purchase the audio narration “The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials 2” on discounted price.
Unfortunately, the title “The Subtle Knilfe..” is not Whispersync for Voice enabled at this time. Your request to add The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 2 to our Whispersync for Voice library has been forwarded to our content team, who will take your request into consideration.
We hope to have all titles Whispersync for Voice and Immersion Reading compatible in the near future so that you can buy it with discounted price.
Further, audiobooks that are listed on the Amazon website may appear with different cover art than the same title on the Audible website. This may be due to one of the following reasons:
• The title is not Whispersync & Immersion Reading enabled • It is not available through Audible • You have downloaded two different versions of the title (Amazon e-book and Audible audiobook)
If you have already downloaded a copy of your title and it is the unpaired version, please reply to this email.
In order to find out if the title you are trying to download is Whispersync & Immersion Reading capable, please follow these steps:
1. Go to Amazon.co.uk 2. In the search bar, type “(name of title)” + “audiobook” 3. Locate the result that has “Audible Audiobook Edition” under the title 4. Click the result 5. On this page, locate the words “Whispersync for Voice” 6. This audiobook is Whispersync & Immersion Reading enabled
For more information about which titles are Whispersync and Immersion Reading enabled, please visit our Help Centre: audible-uk.custhelp.com/app…54/
Thank you again for contacting Audible. If you would like additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
AstroGibbon
15 Sep 17#22
Thank you :smile:
Amanda.Honeywell
15 Sep 17#21
I loved the stories but hated the film. Great reads for teens too.
AmyGraves
15 Sep 17#20
Amazing books!! Still have them refuse to take them to charity shop
TJR
15 Sep 17#19
Good chance you'll find these books at a charity shop for about the same price
chezybezy
15 Sep 17#12
Are these the ones that the movie,, the golden compass is loosely based on?
debmum0302 to chezybezy
15 Sep 17#13
Yes but much better than the film
codnan to chezybezy
15 Sep 17#15
Don't mention that terrible movie , we need to forget that exsisted . great books , although they do get worse as the trilogy goe
abigsmurf to chezybezy
15 Sep 17#17
The movie had amazing casting (aside from the lead who's constantly slipping accent really annoyed me) but just... wasn't good.
It was like someone had given them the bullet points of the first book and that's it. The movie was just a series of events lookely linked together, it failed to provide a cohesive narrative. Also fairly criminal was the changes to the ending, and ending which in the book completely turns the story on its head.
There's a BBC series coming soon that will hopefully be better.
little_green
15 Sep 17#16
Sorry accidentally voted cold :disappointed: super hot deal. I have just discovered these books (no idea where I was when they came out, I'm mid 20's) just finished reading the second one, need to get my hands on the 3rd prior to release of new one
raheelium88
15 Sep 17#8
Hot!! Gonna read book 3 before La Belle Sauvage comes out in October.
Opening post
After seventeen years, we'll finally get to read La Belle Sauvage (the first book of a follow-up trilogy, The Book of Dust) when it's published in October - but in the meantime, I can't recommend these highly enough.
Northern Lights
Lyra Belacqua lives half-wild and carefree among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle – a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armoured bears.
The Subtle Knife
Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.
On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.
The Amber Spyglass
Will and Lyra, whose fates are bound together by powers beyond their own worlds, have been violently separated. But they must find each other, for ahead of them lies the greatest war that has ever been – and a journey to a dark place from which no one has ever returned . . .
Latest comments (35)
I loved the series, didn't know there was a TV series coming!!
Eventually got round to reading all three again, in sequence, in my early 20s and I couldn't put them down. I still think the Northern Lights is the strongest but the Amber Spyglass is still a good read.
Thanks everybody for voting. I don't post often and this is the hottest one yet! :grin:
C.//
Xxx.
PS: I do agree that The Amber Spyglass isn't as strong as the others. I felt that keenly before and I'm rereading it now and feel it again. BUT - I think patches of it are some of the best in the trilogy. No spoilers, now, but when Lyra, Will, Tialys and Salmakia visit that place - just heart rending!
I didn’t read it all, because wow :dizzy_face:
“Thank you for contacting Audible! We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.
We understand you would like to purchase the audio narration “The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials 2” on discounted price.
Unfortunately, the title “The Subtle Knilfe..” is not Whispersync for Voice enabled at this time. Your request to add The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 2 to our Whispersync for Voice library has been forwarded to our content team, who will take your request into consideration.
We hope to have all titles Whispersync for Voice and Immersion Reading compatible in the near future so that you can buy it with discounted price.
Further, audiobooks that are listed on the Amazon website may appear with different cover art than the same title on the Audible website. This may be due to one of the following reasons:
• The title is not Whispersync & Immersion Reading enabled
• It is not available through Audible
• You have downloaded two different versions of the title (Amazon e-book and Audible audiobook)
If you have already downloaded a copy of your title and it is the unpaired version, please reply to this email.
In order to find out if the title you are trying to download is Whispersync & Immersion Reading capable, please follow these steps:
1. Go to Amazon.co.uk
2. In the search bar, type “(name of title)” + “audiobook”
3. Locate the result that has “Audible Audiobook Edition” under the title
4. Click the result
5. On this page, locate the words “Whispersync for Voice”
6. This audiobook is Whispersync & Immersion Reading enabled
For more information about which titles are Whispersync and Immersion Reading enabled, please visit our Help Centre: audible-uk.custhelp.com/app…54/
Thank you again for contacting Audible. If you would like additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
great books , although they do get worse as the trilogy goe
It was like someone had given them the bullet points of the first book and that's it. The movie was just a series of events lookely linked together, it failed to provide a cohesive narrative. Also fairly criminal was the changes to the ending, and ending which in the book completely turns the story on its head.
There's a BBC series coming soon that will hopefully be better.
Thanks OP :grin: