I just finished reading The Northern Lights, or The Golden Compass(U.S. Release name), the first book from the His dark materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. It is a fascinating read, reminiscent of the LOTR trilogy, Starwars, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, etc. A few years back, the trilogy ranked 3rd in the UK in the BBC competition the Big read . Also, film rights have been bought by New Line Cinema , same people behind LOTR trilogy, so I expect a movie series to be out soon.

The Northern lights starts slow as many books do, but as you near the end, you begin to get pulled in the story. My favorite sections were the silver guillotine, the battle and escape from the wretched kids castle and also the battle of the bears. It ends leaving you hanging wanting to read the second book. I am midway now in the second book and should be done with it soon.

The first book is a fantastical journey of the girl at the center of the story while the second begins to get into theological subjects and connections to the universe, sort of a debate that was going on during the transition from church to renaissance to the Age of reason in Europe a few centuries ago, but on a more advanced and complex level.

If you have never read this series, I suggest you start now before the movies come out (Tooomz, this is for you.)

On another topic, I have next to me volumes of HST books that must be read, so I think 2006/2007 will be spent reading what I have missed from his books.