Philip Pullman

The Shadow in the North: A Sally Lockhart Mystery
$7.99
`One morning in the spring of 1878 a steamship, the pride of the Anglo-Baltic shipping line, vanished in the Baltic Sea.' Sally Lockhart, financial advisor, now in her own business (we've met her in book one of the Sally Lockhart Mysteries), investigates the situation when one of her clients loses a pension investment due to the subsequent collapse of the shipping firm. What a concept, a financial advisor who diligently and personally investigates possible fraud concerning a client's money! This story like it's predecessor is overdone with modern conventionalism, particularly with regard to this 20th Century feminist heroine, who is still not really likeable. She disdains the romantic advances of her companion Fred, for no reason at all except her own selfishness. Again, there's a mindboggling panoply of Holmesian mystery revealed in Dickensian style. Maybe Pullman uses this effect to characterize Victorian London, but it takes modern readers on a tedious trudge through the story's enfoldment. Returning readers are glad to have further kinship with former favorite characters. New cast members of potential enduring interest are introduced. Too bad for them; an appallingly sad ending is perhaps meant to make the reader grab book three ASAP to gain some closure.

The Tiger in the Well: A Sally Lockhart Mystery
$7.99
What a disappointment. Sally goes from being the hard-as-nails bad girl of the first book to the fluttery, distracted, doting mother of a worthless brat of a little girl. I was baffled by page after page of people treating Sally's baby like she was the swellest thing since canned peaches, when, frankly, one of Neal Stephenson's Rat Things (Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book)) is more cuddly and personable. Reading the first book had all the guilty pleasure of a true penny dreadful-- this one had merely dread. Instead of eagerness to see what would happen next, there was just a sort of irritated anxiety. How WILL Sally forcibly blind herself to the truth staring her in this face this time? What terrible foes will she face next-- her own lack of spunkiness, or (dun dun dunnn!) UNAIRED BEDDING?

I'm sure this book had one or two redeeming qualities... but I'm hard pressed to think of them just now.

What really peeves me is that Pullman would waste time writing a fourth book in this series instead of getting down to business writing something as mind-blowing as (or perhaps even a continuation of!) the His Dark Materials trilogy.

The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2)
$7.50
I liked this book for the most part. It's extremely imaginative. Not only did the author create worlds separate from our own, but he makes them seem entirely believable. My issue is the confusion. This story is so complex at times, I have no idea what is going on. I reread passages, and hope for the best. If I have a hard time understanding (and I consider myself an educated adult), what in the world does the targets audience think? Do they just skim over the passages that are trying to explain dust, or angels, or spectors (for example). I applaud Philip Pullman for what he is trying to accomplish with this story, but it just feels like to much.

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3)
$7.50
I recently finished the Dark Material Trilogy and, quite frankly, I'm not sure if I really understand what finally happened,

Think of a rocket taking off from the earth and speeding through the sky. The first book, The Golden Compass" takes off with a tremendous burst of energy with our protagonist, Lyra, driving the story forward with grace and power. Overcoming challenges of all types, she makes the right moves, meets the right people and befriends those who become stout allies.

The Subtle Knife is the second stage of our rocket. Aided by the energy of the first stage, the addition of the character Will starts to send the rocket off course. Our dear Lyra becomes unsure, subservient and servile. Will suddenly becomes the "star" of the second book and Lyra becomes a secondary character. Unfortunately Will just doesn't work in the role of leader. At this point the story is starting to lose its way. Stories and subplots start to multiply and many questions are never resolved leaving numerous plot holes. Did we really need homosexual angels?

Finally we finish with "The Amber Spyglass". Running here, running there, cutting holes in one world and out the other. Angels, the Authority in a box, Ariel and Coulter over the edge with Metatron, the wonderful "Intention Machine" that drops from the plot. The simple coming of age story is lost in rediculous details that detract from, rather than reinforce the story. Lyra is floundering badly, Will is clueless and the story grinds to an embarrassing end sadly lamenting lost puppy love.

I missed something here, but I don't know what. How was Mary Malone the temptress? What was accomplished by Lyra and Will? What was the result of Ariel and Coulter's actions? Father Gomez??

I know that this series is considered a modern classic, and I'll grant that status to The Golden Compass. But with the introduction of Will, the series just lost focus and perhaps that's why we'll never see either "The Subtle Knife" or "The Amber Spyglass" on the silver screen.