Roy wrote another great summary, this time one of His Dark Materials. Click below to read it!
Book 1: Northern Lights / The Golden Compass. 1995
Lyra Belacqua is 11 years of old; she has a visible soul in the form of an animal, until she reaches puberty her ‘dæmon’ can alter shape at will. Lyra doesn’t know it yet but she is about to save the man she knows as her uncle from being poisoned by the man who has cared for her since she was an infant. Lord Asriel has returned from the Arctic with news that will change Lyra’s life and, all the worlds forever. Children are being kidnapped from all over England and rumours of the Gobblers are rife. Mrs. Coulter, a beautiful young woman arrives in Oxford and lures Lyra away with tales of exploration of the North. She takes with her, a truth reader, one of only six Alethiometers ever made.
Lyra’s adventure starts here, as she travels to the Fens with the Gyptians, a water-born community of travelers, and then on to the North as her guardians set out to rescue the ‘Gobbled’ children from Bolvangar. With the aid of Iorek Byrnison, an armored polar bear and Lee Scoresby, the Texan aëronaut, Lyra and the Gyptians battle their way to the experimental station where children are severed! Lyra then uses her ‘silver tongue’ to trick the king of the bears off of his throne and re-instate Iorek as rightful King of Svalbard.
Unbeknownst to Lyra, she is taking something of great value to Lord Asriel, and with it, he will open a gateway to another world that dwells within the Northern Lights.
Book 2: The Subtle Knife. 1997
Will Parry is 12 years old; he lives in our world, and has a terrified mother. His one aim is to protect her. He hides her and returns home to find intruders looking for evidence of his missing father. Will accidentally kills one of the men and escapes to Oxford where he finds a mysterious ‘window in the air’ which opens to the world where Lyra has already spent a couple days. It is the city of Cittàgazzi, a place inhabited only by children and haunted by specters. Will and Lyra choose the same café to use as temporary shelter, Will to hide from the Police, and Lyra to start her quest to find Dust, the consciousness that powers the Alethiometer. The unlikely pair return to Will’s Oxford where Lyra meets Mary Malone, a scientist who is researching Dark Matter, Dust! Will finds out about his father, John Parry, a Marine who accompanied expeditions all over the world. Lyra later loses the Alethiometer to Sir Charles Latrom, who uses it as a bargaining chip to get the children to steal the Subtle Knife from Cittàgazzi. In the Tower of the Angels Will becomes the ‘bearer.’ Giacomo Paradisi, the outgoing bearer teaches Will how to use the knife and tells him never to give the knife to Sir Charles. So Lyra and Will steal the Alethiometer back and return to Cittàgazzi. Where they are rescued by Witches.
Meanwhile, Lee Scoresby travels to find ‘Jopari’, the Shaman who knows the whereabouts of an artifact that will protect Lyra from all harm. Lee doesn’t know, but the object already protects Lyra and is now in the injured hands of Will. Jopari and the bearer are finally re-united, for the two have not met since Will was a baby, and the ailing man gives Will a quest to deliver the Subtle Knife to Lord Asriel, for only the knife can bring about the end of the Authority, and restore the Kingdom of Heaven.
Book 3: The Amber Spyglass. 2000
Lyra is missing and the angels want Will to take the knife straight to Lord Asriel. Will has a power all his own, the witches know it. He cannot abandon Lyra, so ignores the angles pleas. His quest to the Himalayas crosses his path with that of Iorek Byrnison and inevitably to that of Mrs. Coulter. She holds Lyra in a permanent state of sleep in a cave, high in the mountains. In a desperate attempt to rescue Lyra before the opposing forces of Asriel and the Authority find her, Will shatters the Subtle Knife. Fortunately, Iorek is able to repair it. Aided by two Gallivespians, Tialys and Salmakia, Will and Lyra travel to the World of the Dead, where Lyra is to carry out the prophecy she has been destined to perform since before her birth.
In another world Mary Malone is continuing her research on Dust. She is living with a herd of Mulefa, intelligent, practical, wheel-riding creatures similar to Antelope. The two children leave the World of the Dead and go into Asriel’s world, where they battle the Cliff-Ghasts and Discover the Authority. Mrs. Coulter and Asriel come into deadly combat with the Angel Metatron, the agent of the Authority. Will good overcome evil? Who is good, who is evil?
What other sacrifices await our two heroes and the dæmons, is it for the good of everyone?
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