Chatterbox: Blab About Books

Being a fan of the Golden Compass and Victorian England, I thought this would be pretty interesting. Pullman really has a knack for creating good characters, I must admit. I love Sally for her independence and Jim for his loyal roguishness and Fred for his serious yet artistic romantisicm. The end of the Shadow of the North was SO SAD and...and... That's the thing with Pullman. He manages to be so tragic and yet there are never any excesses of emotion that become maudlin. You just get that really knotted up feeling in your gut--I got that same feeling at the end of Amber Spyglass.

Phillip Pullman is evidently not a mystery writer (the reason I liked Shadow in the North more than Ruby in the Smoke was because of its undertones of fantasy), but he can surely craft a riveting plot and is also really good at creating mood. I'm currently in the middle of Tiger in the Well.

I guess I broke my vow not to read any teen fiction, but considering this was written twenty years ago when "teen fiction" didn't even exactly exist, it doesn't really count. :)

Have any of you read this? There was also a TV film made out of the first two novels with Matt Smith (a.k.a. the 11th Doctor).