Years and years ago I read Philip Pullman’s trilogy ‘His Dark Materials’ and thought it was wonderful. I particularly liked the concept of daemons, the plain-dwelling animals that use tree nuts as wheels and the description of death which comes, I think, in the third book. I have always wanted to re-read the books but with so many other works to get through it seems like a missed opportunity to use reading time for a repeat reading rather than of something new. I have also listened to audiobook versions of at least some of the books (I can’t remember whether I got all the way through) but lost those versions. So, recently, I decided to try the audiobooks again and bought the first volume, Northern Lights, via the Audible platform.
It has taken me a while, listening as I walk to and from work most days, but today I completed Northern Lights. I have to say that whilst I think the story is tremendous, I think I would prefer to have read the book myself. I liked the general narration by Philip Pullman himself but I found some of the character voices, particularly those of the children and Lyra, to be rather annoying. However, I know that listening to these books is probably the only way that I can get through them in a reasonable timespan so this minor annoyance is just something I will have to put up with. I can’t decide whether to crack straight on with the second book, The Subtle Knife, or to give myself a break. It probably makes sense to go straight on with the series to get continuity in the story. I can sort of remember what happens next but I found many elements of Northern Lights that I had forgotten about so hopefully things will continue in that vein. One thing I felt from this listening was that I was surprised how much the finer points of the story are explained as it goes along. My recollection of reading the books was that a lot of things remain a bit puzzling, but that didn’t seem to be the case although my recollection may relate more to the final parts of the final book which I remember being all a bit complex and difficult to fully grasp. It will be interesting to see if that remains the case.
Tim O'Hare 