Funny..

by MEH, Thursday, May 28, 2026, 13:06 (56 days ago) @ Chris
edited by MEH, Thursday, May 28, 2026, 13:09

I'm actually 2.5 books into the His Dark Materials first trilogy based on a podcast recommendation.

I read many of the books listed below including consuming most of the popular fantasy and scifi of the mid 1980s to 1990s.

I have enjoyed the books but have found the material unexpectedly mature. I have a 1st and 4th grader so I can't really remember what 7th graders can process but I have been surprised with how mature some of the themes are (organized religion as the villain, loss of innocence, complex family dynamics including child negelct, violence against, torture, and murder of children). I even found myself unable to stomach some of the action scenes that sometimes read like a Tarantino scene (bears ripping off jaws and such). I'm anxious to finish up and dive into the formal literary critiques but I wonder if anyone else has been similarly captivated by this series.