What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Thinlómien]

I think the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy is very good, but the second and the third one just didn't have the same magic and power. I got the feeling Pullman had used his best ideas in the first book and nothing but scraps was left to the later ones.

[Lathriel]

I really liked his Dark Materials. Did you know they made a movie of the Golden Compas. It's coming christmas 2007 and it has daniel Craig and nicole Kidman in it. So I'm curious

[Volo]

Oh no! Why're they spoilig all the great books? ...

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Lathriel

it has daniel Craig and nicole Kidman in it.

Well chosen actors, at least. If they're to play the persons I except them to play, it will be very interesting...

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

I think the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy is very good, but the second and the third one just didn't have the same magic and power. I got the feeling pullman had used his best ideas in the first book and nothing but scraps was left to the later ones.

I get the horrible feeling his publishers rushed him a bit for the second and third books. The chief problem for me with the third book is he had his main protagonist out of action for almost half of it, and he did not make his ending clear enough; the creatures that Mary lived with were also a bit weird, slightly contrived, and until you've read the book a few times, it's hard to grasp what he is really saying - it's not some Atheist polemic at all, quite the opposite. I always say that the last episode of the last series of Doctor Who dealt with similar concepts of loss (in the context of alternate universes) in a much more clear way.

Anyhow.

I'm excited about the films, but if anything, even more nervous about them than I was about the Lord of the Rings films! I saw the filming going on in Oxford last September, including spotting Nicole Kidman, and it was all very exciting. I'm quite confident in the actors they've chosen but am worried they will downplay the religious elements in the story too much - when in fact the films could serve to clarify Pullman's points if done correctly.

Funny how it's going to be called The Golden Compass though. The first book is called Northern Lights in the UK, and that's what Pullman wanted it called on the global market. What happened was that his US publishers had created a book jacket and had a 'compass' as the illustration rather than an alethiometer and one of the staff had assumed it was called The Golden Compass. Pullman said that at the time he didn't feel he had the power or the right to challenge or correct them!

[Lathriel]

I actually don't mind the title The Golden Compas since it goes well with the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass.
I already saw some pictures on the internet of the movie and I'm very curious. i also hope that they don't downplay the religion because that is one of the main topics in the trilogy.

[sallkid]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

I think the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy is very good, but the second and the third one just didn't have the same magic and power. I got the feeling Pullman had used his best ideas in the first book and nothing but scraps was left to the later ones.

Without intending any offence whatsoever I completely disagree.

The sequels were written from different perspectives than the first book, in which Lyra is a child, the book was written from a childs perspective making the world seem more magical by happenstance.
ALthough i agree that the themes of Lyra's world were much more condensed and deep than any of the other worlds in the series I do not believe that the subsequent works (the subtle knife and the Amber Spyglass) lacked imagination. The flaw was in having too many worlds to spread the fantasy elements of the story through.

As for what other Fantasy stories i read. I do read Feist, finding him a little Tolkien-Esque, but still high in imagination I have read the Riftwar Saga and the Lizardwar Saga and recently read Talon of the Silver Hawk (which i enjoyed immensely) i find the thing that attracts me most about his work is his characters, who are all both heroic and deeply flawed, although i find he uses the theme of "coming of age" to excess
I also read (and am not ashamed to admit) the discworld stories, Terry Pratchet writes characters with a realness that most other writers can only dream about, making the reader feel that these are real people and his satire (when done correctly) is very well placed. I will admit that not al his books are up to standard (what writer's truly are?) but when Pratchet gets it right he gets it right very very well.
Other writers i read include Eddings (although i haven't read an Eddings work for quite a few years) and Anne Mcaffery, for whom my fondness has waned of late, but may revive once i pick up dragonsdawn or decision at doona again.

I currently own a copy of Eragon but live in mortal dread of actually picking it up and reading it. The only favourible review i have found tend to be from people outside the fantasy "circle" and mainly centre around the theme of "it's really cool that someone this young wrote a WHOLE book!" I hope to be proven wrong.

[alatar]

This article, seen here, states that in 2006 that 1 in 4 polled Americans did not read a book that year, and that this seems to be an increasing trend. If only we can stop those other 3 (of the 4) to quit as well, we'd be on our way to complete illiteracy (save reading on the web).

It must be me.

[Thinlómien]

Ouch.

And just yesterday I was agonising over having only read twelve books this summer... Suddenly I feel a bit better.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by sallkid

Without intending any offence whatsoever I completely disagree.

The sequels were written from different perspectives than the first book, in which Lyra is a child, the book was written from a childs perspective making the world seem more magical by happenstance.
ALthough i agree that the themes of Lyra's world were much more condensed and deep than any of the other worlds in the series I do not believe that the subsequent works (the subtle knife and the Amber Spyglass) lacked imagination. The flaw was in having too many worlds to spread the fantasy elements of the story through.
.

Interesting way of looking at it, and a good one - as one of the 'points' to the story is that Lyra grows up during it, so of course, the perspective would change as the story developed. You see a similar thing in Lord of the Rings as the Hobbits get deeper into peril and they grow.

I sometimes think that Pullman's problem was that he had too many good ideas for the second and third books and rather than being strung out, they are too condensed!