La Belle Sauvage (Volume One of The Book of Dust) by Philip Pullman Readers of His Dark Materials will recall that the story resolved satisfactorily at the end of The Amber Spyglass. It may not have been the ending many readers wanted, but there was a certain logic to it, one that left open the …
Category: Science fiction and fantasy
When the moon was made …
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 'I just looked up at her, all grown-up and blonde, in her grey and pink dress, and I was scared.' This is only the second of Gaiman's novels that I've read. The first was Stardust (see review here). I'm really enjoying his writing; it's …
Little Star
by John Ajvide Lindqvist A Review (trans. Marlaine Delargy) 'The child screamed and screamed, and its crying sounded like nothing Lennart had ever heard before..... Lennart had a good ear, and he didn't need a tuning fork to tell him that it was an E' Little Star is a delicious, satirical horror story by the …
How to Love a Vampire
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (trans. by Ebba Sederberg) 'Hakan lay down in the leaves, close to the dead man, pressed his forehead against the ice-cold stone. Why? Why do this ... with the head? The risk of infection. You could not allow it to reach the nervous system. The body …
Catch a falling star ….
Stardust by Neil Gaiman 'She was one of the folk from Beyond the Wall, he could tell at once from her eyes, and her ears which were visible beneath her curly black hair. Her eyes were a deep violet, while her ears were the ears of a cat, perhaps gently curved, and dusted with a …
Not all universes are the same (3)
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman "While the beasts of prey, Come from caverns deep, View'd the maid asleep." These three lines by William Blake from his poem The Little Girl Lost preface the first chapter of The Amber Spyglass, the final volume of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Aficiandos of Blake will know …
Not all universes are the same (2)
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman The Subtle Knife is the second book of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. At the end of Northern Lights, we left Lyra on the bridge from her universe to another. Now the author leaves us in suspense to introduce a new protagonist. Will Parry is a twelve-year-old boy …
Not all universes are the same (1)
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman ‘Lyra looked, and there was no mistake. Pantalaimon clutched at her, became a wildcat, hissed in hatred, because looking out with curiosity was the beautiful dark-haired head of Mrs Coulter, with her golden daemon on her lap.’ The main protagonist in Northern Lights is Lyra, a twelve-year-old girl who lives …
All About Dust
Browsing in the local Waterstone's bookstore today [which I often do on Friday afternoons], I was delighted to see they are already promoting Philip Pullman's new work, to be published on October 19th. Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials, was a sensation when it was originally published in the late nineties. Its controversial subject matter raised …
The Dispossessed
by Ursula Le Guin A Review 'Kimoe stared at him, shocked out of politeness. "But the loss of -- of everything feminine -- of delicacy -- and the loss of masculine self-respect -- You can't pretend, surely, in your work, that women are your equals? In physics, in mathematics, in the intellect? You can't pretend …
Magda Green Books 