RIck Riordan's Website

Rick Riordan is one of my favourite authors. He wrote the popular Percy Jackson series as well as some adult books. The adress of his website is www.rickriordan.com. My first impression of the website was: wow, this is better than mine... It is very well decorated and has a Greek Mythology theme in the background. The website is very well designed and has many tabs on the side where I could easily navigate. He has a lot of extra information on the books such as the layout of Camp Half Blood, exploring greek mythology... He also has a link to his blog on the website (www.rickriordan.blogspot.com). His blog is also very, very good. It has tons of extra information and udates on his books and he even puts posts about how the movie for The Lightning Thief is going. He also talks a bit about his personal experiences. In conclusion, Rick Riordan's website is as good as his books.

"The Land of the Dead"

The land of the dead in the Amber Soyglass shares some characteristics with the underworld in Greek mythology. The biggest similarity is that there is an old man who ferries the dead across a body of water to the land of the dead. In Greek mythology this man's name is Charon (I think) but he is unamed in the Amber Spyglass. Another similarity is that both concepts of the world of the dead are underground.

What I've Read

I'm a bit tired so I will just summarize it briefly. I might edit it and make it longer later.





So right now Lyra, Will and these 2 spies managed to get into the land of the dead. Lyra was forced to leave her daemon behind. To get to the land of the dead they must go in a boat which is rowed by an ancient man (sounds familiar). When they arrive at the gates of the land of the dead they encounter a harpy and Lyra is attacked by it when she lies to it. They manage to get in and they discover that the ghost are imprisoned there. All the dead people just stand they and do nothing for eternity. After a while they find Roger (the person Lyra was looking for). The group offer the harpies a job that they can't resist in exchange for the harpies to guide them to the highest point of the land of the dead so that Will can cut a window through into another world and set the dead free.

My Rating:

Why?

Because it is very interesting to hear what Pullman thinks that the world of the dead is like.

Back From Ney York City

If you were wondering why there haven't been any posts in a while, it is because I have been in Ney York City. Now I'm back...

Some Other People's Views on His Dark Materials

Peter Hitchens, a British journalist, views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. Pullman has criticized the Narnia books as religious propaganda. Both Pullman's and Lewis's books contain religious allegory that features talking animals, parallel worlds, and children who face adult moral choices that determine the ultimate fate of those worlds.

What I've read now

I'm at the part where Lyra, Will, and the 2 spies enter the world of the dead. Here they meet dead people and the way Pullman wrote it is really very interesting. After they enter the world of the dead, it looks exactly the same as the previous world except there were only dead people and their bodies in it. They meet one dead man first and then they discover a group of dead people all walking together in the same direction. They don't know where they are going but there is some strange instinct telling them to walk down the road. They all still look like people, they all can talk, its just that they're dead. After walking with the group, they see a "town of the dead" in the distance. They also see many other groups of dead people poeple walking towards it. The town is basically a slum, all the buildings are ruined, people live in poor homes etc... They continue to follow the group of dead people but or denied access to the world of the dead and are told to go to the holding room to wait until they die. In the holding room they find out that everyone has their own death that brings them to the world of the dead when the time is right...

Mr Rating is:

Good News

I think I'm coming to a climatic point soon (not the main climax, just a point of excitement). Will and Lyra are about to venture into the world of the dead. This has got to have something exciting. Also, it has building up to this scene for a long time. Another climatic point is coming for Dr. Malone. She is about to try and save the entire Mulefa people from destruction!

MULEFA!!!!

I've always wondered what they looked like...

The mulefa are a race in the amber spylgass. They are a civilized people and can see dust or zraf in their language. A group of them becomes friends with one of the main protagonists, Marry Malone. The have a diamond shaped skeleton frame and ride on seedpods. Interestingly, they came into existence 30,000 years ago and were tempted to leave a paradise type place by a serpent. Sound familiar?

Seal Meat

I know that this doens't take place in the Amber Spyglass but I just want to talk about it. In the Golden Compass, Lyra and Roger ate some seal meat and the description of it makes me want to try some. The book describes it as warm and soft and delicious beyond imagining, and described the blubber as tasting like cream with hazlenuts. :) YUM!!!

Vodka Answer

I did some research and according to Yahoo Answers, the best vodka is actually quite tasteless. There is simply a strong ethanol flavor and burning sensation when you drink it. There is also a nice warm feeling in your tummy and in a minute a sense of relaxation. This doesn't really explain how its oily though...

Vodka?

When WIll is forced to drink vodka by some priest, he describes it as a fiery, oily liquid. My question is: Vodka is oily? From what I know, vodka is a mix of water and alcohol so how can i be oily?

Pullman Hates the Church

I already no that Philip Pullman is against religion and the church but here is solid evidence. In chapter 6, it talks about different sections of the Church competing agaisnt each other. This is Pullman saying that the Church is corrupt.

Intention Craft

I was reading chapter 16 when I came across the strangest thing ever. The intention craft. According to the book, it has six legs, looks like a bug, can fly, can turn invisible, can shoot artillery shells out of the air and has other advanced weaponary. What I don't get is, why would a flying machine need 6 legs? I doesn't even use the legs when it flies so what's the point? Maybe I'll find out later...

What I've read so far of the Amber Spyglass

Rating:

After reading the first 2 books which were really good, I was looking forward to this one. The storyline in this book has gotten very complex and to tell you the truth, I'm getting a bit annoyed. Since there are so many things going on, every chapter is in a different location with different people (One chapter its Will and Lyra, another chapter its Asriel, Dr. Malone...) and I don't like this!!! I like to read something everyday and get a complete meaning but with this book, I have to read like 10 chapters before I can get some meaning of what they are doing! I guess that Pullman was very clever by doing this because it makes the reader want to read further. Aside from the fact that it jumps from seen to seen, this book is pretty good.

Technical Stuff

I'm guesing that I am only one third of the way through the rising action because it sounds like this book is going to take a long time to reach its climax. The main protagonists in this book are Lyra, Will, and Dr. Malone. There are many other protagonists they are not mentioned that often. The antagonist in this book is god. Yes, that's right god. Unlike many other books, the main antagonist in this book doesn't have many scenes. So far in the book he hasn't been in any scene! Another main antagonist is Lord Regent. Lord Regent is sort of like a "vice-god" but has currently taken over most of god's power. Lord Regent has also not appeared many times although is his talked about by other characters. The main conflict in this book is tricky to identify. I would say that it is man vs. man because it is a conflict between good people and bad people. One could argue that it is also man vs. self because of the many times where Will keeps having to keep his thoughts away from his mother. Will also has to argue with himself to make tough choices. Lyra is also an example of man vs. self because she argues ad discussed with her daemon a lot and here daemon is basically herself. This book is written from a third person point of view because it always refers to characters as him, her or they.

My Rating System!!!

In my opinion, the human race started when we discovered a way to produce light, fire!!! So as my rating system I did different ways that we have used to produce light. It goes from a candle, to an oil lamp, to a light bulb, to a fluorescent light bulb and finally a laser beam!

Bad...

Ok...

Good...

Very Good...

OH MY GOD ITS AMAZING!!!

Welcome To My BLOG!!!

Hello and welcome to my blog about the Philip Pullman series.

My Manifesto:

This blog is here to discuss everything about Pullman's books and to convince you to read them! Enjoy!

What am I Reading?

I am currently reading the Philip Pullman series and I am on the third book: The Amber Spyglass. In this blog I will work backwards because I am reading the last book right now. This means that I will first discuss the Amber Spygalss and then the Subtle Knife and finally the Golden Compass.