This was my warm-up for starting the new His Dark Materials series, The Book of Dust. Ominous and foreboding. A 32 minute Christmas gift to its members from Audible, this prequel to a series of books by Pullman benefits from being read by the excellent Bill Nighy. I'm sure it would have been helpful if I'd had some knowledge of the series (I don't) as I did struggle to know quite where the story was leading. However, it's all very engaging and well executed and is quite powerful in and of itself. At the beginning of The Amber Spyglass, Lyra has been kidnapped by her mother, Mrs Coulter, an agent of the Magisterium who has learned of the prophecy identifying Lyra as the next Eve. A pair of angels, Balthamos and Baruch, tell Will that he must travel with them to give the Subtle Knife to Lyra's father, Lord Asriel, as a weapon against The Authority. Will ignores the angels; with the help of a local girl named Ama, the Bear King Iorek Byrnison, and Lord Asriel's Gallivespian spies, the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, he rescues Lyra from the cave where her mother has hidden her from the Magisterium, which has become determined to kill her before she yields to temptation and sin like the original Eve. Previously released in e-book and audiobook forms, The Collectors is now available in print for the first time, making it a must for die-hard Pullman fans (who will have immediately recognized the young woman as Mrs. Coulter). It was originally published in 2015 – so don’t expect any hints about the content of The Book of Dust Book 3. But it’s nonetheless a bit of good fun, well-timed for spooky season and a welcome addition to any Pullman shelf. Serafina Pekkala is the beautiful queen of a clan of Northern witches. Her snow-goose dæmon Kaisa, like all witches' dæmons, can travel much farther apart from her than the dæmons of humans, without feeling the pain of separation.

The Collectors” by Philip Pullman - MuggleNet Book Review: “The Collectors” by Philip Pullman - MuggleNet

A glimpse of the His Dark Materials world. This short story doesn't include characters from the novels. The Collectors is about two art collectors discussing two recently acquired pieces and the dark and mysterious history associated with those pieces. In this darkly delicious tale, internationally acclaimed author Philip Pullman invites readers to meet the mysterious girl who will one day become the sinister Mrs. Coulter. Byers, David (27 November 2007). "Philip Pullman: Catholic boycotters are 'nitwits' ". The Times . Retrieved 28 November 2007.

Freitas, Donna; King, Jason Edward (2007). Killing the imposter God: Philip Pullman's spiritual imagination in His Dark Materials. San Francisco, CA: Wiley. pp.68–9. ISBN 978-0-7879-8237-9. In Jordan College, Oxford, 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon Pantalaimon witness the Master attempt to poison Lord Asriel, Lyra's rebellious and adventuring uncle. She warns Asriel, then spies on his lecture about Dust, mysterious elementary particles. Lyra's friend Roger is kidnapped by child abductors known as Gobblers. Lyra is adopted by a charming socialite, Mrs Coulter. The Master secretly entrusts Lyra with an alethiometer, a truth-telling device. Lyra discovers that Mrs Coulter is the leader of the Gobblers, and that it is a project secretly funded by the Church. Lyra flees to the Gyptians, canal-faring nomads, whose children have also been abducted. They reveal to Lyra that Asriel and Mrs Coulter are actually her parents. The dominant religion has parallels with Christianity. [6] The Church (governed by the "Magisterium", the same name as the authority of the Catholic Church) exerts a strong control over society and has some of the appearance and organisation of the Catholic Church, but one in which the centre of power had moved from Rome to Geneva, moved there by Pullman's fictional "Pope John Calvin" ( Geneva was the home of the historical John Calvin). [7] Serpentine – Short story. Lyra and Pan return to the town of Trollesund in the North in search of answers to a most urgent question. Oborne, Peter (17 March 2004). "The Dark Materials debate: life, God, the universe...". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 . Retrieved 1 April 2008.

The Collectors by Philip Pullman, Tom Duxbury | Waterstones

Although His Dark Materials has been marketed as young adult fiction, and the central characters are children, Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind. The fantasy elements include witches and armoured polar bears; the trilogy also alludes to concepts from physics, philosophy, and theology. It functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, [2] with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin. [3] The trilogy has attracted controversy for its criticism of religion. Dawtrey, Adam (13 March 2008). " 'Compass' spins foreign frenzy". Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved 13 March 2008. This is the first time that I have read/listened to anything that Philip Pullman has written. And I only got this, as it was a 'Members' freebie from Audible.co.uk. A little short story involving the mystery of a painting of Mrs Coulter, and a statue of her monkey daemon.When Horley takes Grinstead to see the portrait, Grinstead recognises the subject of the painting as an eighteen-year-old Marisa van Zee, a woman who was once his lover. This astounds Horley, as the painting is almost eighty years old and Grinstead is less than fifty. Grinstead explains that she was from another world and that time passes differently in different universes. As a passionate believer in the democracy of reading, I don't think it's the task of the author of a book to tell the reader what it means. The 2003 novella Lyra's Oxford takes place two years after the timeline of The Amber Spyglass. A witch who seeks revenge for her son's death in the war against the Authority draws Lyra, now 15, into a trap. Birds mysteriously rescue her and Pan, and she makes the acquaintance of an alchemist, formerly the witch's lover.