The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 2 – Philip Pullman (Audiobook). Narrated by: Philip Pullman, cast – 15.08.24
The Amber Spyglass: His Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 3 – Philip Pullman (Audiobook). Narrated by: Philip Pullman, cast – 18.08.24
I have read/watched/listened to Philip Pullman’s magnificent trilogy several times and it never ceases to delight me. An advantage to my terrible memory (always bad, even worse now as I creep nearer to old age) is that I get to be gripped each time – while I remembered the big things that happened, there were many subtle things (subtle knife things, lol!) that I had forgotten and so enjoyed all over again. Now I’m even more desperate for the release of the final instalment in The Book of Dust trilogy (the first of which is a prequel to His Dark Materials, and a good romp, but for me, the middle book, which follows a grown up Lyra and her troubled soul/troubled relationship with her daemon Panteleimon is by far the more engrossing read which ended on such a cliffhanger!) I do hope the final book becomes available soon.
This BBC recording with full cast is very good, except for my one tiny bugbear (as a side note – I googled bugbear, to make sure I was spelling it correctly, and was surprised when the first couple of definitions came up with it meaning a kind of terrifying bogey monster type thing – I had only previously heard this expression to mean, as I intended in this case, something that is a enduring irritant, like: people smoking in public is a bugbear of mine. It seems that the current American English meaning, and possibly the original medieval English is the monster and not the much more usual to me, irritant. Hmmm.)
Anyway, the slightly irritating bugbear to me was how every member of the cast was so freaking posh! It was like something from the BBC archives where everyone spoke like they were having tea with the Queen. I think there was one minor character who sounded a bit northern, and they sounded like a posh person trying to put on a weird kind of northern accent. Ah well, that aside it was brilliant!
Pullman’s writing manages to delve into depths of philosophical thought while still having full and relatable characters, emotional heft and a cracking exciting storyline. Amazing.
Sarah Wray Writer 