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His Dark Materials Boxed set (His Dark Materials)

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Scholastic
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

46 reviews
Sales Rank: 348

Format: Box Set
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 600
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 3.7

ISBN: 1407104160
EAN: 9781407104164
ASIN: 1407104160

Publication Date: April 2, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new copies, with fast U.K.delivery. Delivering to Europe in 3-7 workings days. Delivering to U.S.A. in 7-12 working days.

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 46

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Fantastic books but the film ruins the 1st book February 23, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

There is only one way to describe the adaption of the book into the film they have murdered it!! I saw the film then thought I would read the books. I found the Northern Lights hard to get into and to concentrate on it due to the way the film massacred it by completely ultering the storyline, I continued to read the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass and they were absouletly amazing I was absorbed into the books within seconds and couldn't put them down. Phillip Pullman transports you into a world only accessable through good literature. My only regret about these books is that I saw the film first! Read the books then if you want to see the film do it that way round otherwise the books will be spoilt for you!

5 out of 5 stars

A Modern Classic January 29, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

I bought the three books long before the hype started or the film was released. Being listed as the whitbread book of the year in 2001, I picked the book up from the "young adult's" section with a little trepidation not being a teenager myself.

Although for the first few pages I was a little confused about Lyra and her relationship with her daemon, I soon found myself lost in the complicated (alternative) world of Oxford, dust, and Lyra's mysterious family and friends.

Speak to five people, and you'll get five different answers as to their opinion of the books, personally I love all three. I realised that I was reading something special when I found out how Pullman was willing to draw you in and learn to love so many of the characters, and his equal willingness to surprise you and either kill them off, or evolve them in to a much stronger character halfway through books two or three when you thought they were just a bit part!

The story is refreshingly original, yet does have many familiar aspects; some ideas are simply awesome, some a little predictable, and there are a couple of story elements that when reading the books for the first time just blew me away.

If you've seen the film and thought it was "ok, but nothing special", then I would ask you to forget the film and read the books, for they are far more detailed and involving.

Although I enjoyed the film, I was left unrewarded. I think today we have been spoilt with too many fantasy and special effect ridden films that have diluted and cheapened the genre. This book will entertain, warm the heart, and hopefully encourage you to read more.

Unless you have a heart of stone, these books will live long in the memory.

1 out of 5 stars

Hyped-up . Waste of time and money January 20, 2008
6 out of 43 found this review helpful

I bought the box set as I am an Oxford person, and was interested to read references to places well known to me.
This was the best part of the very limited Philip Pullman that I have read as I have visited all the Oxford landmarks, and was actually born less that half a mile from the canal in Wolvercote.
I have read Lyras Oxford, but have now given up, half way through Northern Lights.
Never have I read such an excruciatingly slow, disjointed, boring twelve chapters in my life.
It is almost as if each chapter is a new book.
Why can he not use the English language, instead of all these annoying misspellings, of demon, retiring, and many more?
What right does he have to apparently re-invent Electricity ? Anbaric ??!!
Imagination is one thing, but change just for the sake of change is totally unnecessary.
I am not surprised that the Golden Compass appears to have lost its direction, and bombed out.
I think I have said enough, other than to say my 'Dark Materials' set is now on ebay.

3 out of 5 stars

The golden set square January 19, 2008
1 out of 30 found this review helpful

Right listen up people heres the rub. Don't buy this buy Small Mercy by Tom Dawes instead. Its got Ben Elton lookalikes and Pirates in it. And it'll make you laugh until tea comes out of your nose

5 out of 5 stars

Put Your Imagination to Work January 19, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

In a visual world it is all too easy to let others take over your imagination. You accept other peoples' visions as your own. It is convenient, easy, saves your effort but in effect makes your creative abilities go first numb and then dead. This is a book which may help re-awaken what you might have forgotten ever having. Or what you never had, brought up in front of a TV screen.
It would be a spoiler to give out any hints about the content - anyway, it is too complex to be summed up in a review in any but a ridiculous way. The important part is that Pullman creates a whole new world in his book, a world at an angle to ours and he gives you a chance to join him in the trip this book is, imagining the world he describes. If the book had nothing more to offer (and it is hardly the case) this alone would make it a perfect choice.
I could never understand why Harry Potter became a world bestseller and Pullman lagged behind. Let's hope that the movie and general interest that follows will give Pullman the place he has always deserved.