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Originally Posted by AerostarMonk
Here, I come again warning about the third book. My goodness if you have any wish to keep your mind intact just stay away. Talk about abysmal. The first two books were a delight to read, full of wonder and adventure and many themes that would've had people questioning authority for ages. Unfortunately by the time The Amber Spyglass gets through I wondered if the first two books were really worth it. It's as if Pullman decided that every character should stop engaging in actual story and turn to the reader and explain his viewpoints on religion and authority. The rest included a sluggish read about wheeled cattle fighting creatures that resembled Donald Duck and a creative writing term paper written by a college student that just finished reading Paradise Lost and a handful of Gaiman and Moore comics.
I guess maybe you should read it for yourself. I just made it sound a lot more interesting than it actually is. Plus seeing something through to its conclusion afflicts more than just this reader.
As for The Northern Lights things, there is some dispute over the title. Pullman has hemmed and hawed over the issue saying in some interviews that he originally wanted the title to be Golden Compass and that he preferred it as well. In others he said the opposite. But The Golden Compass fits the trilogy better than The Northen Lights ever could. It fits the theme of significant objects or in other words "His Dark Materials." That's just this reader's opinion.
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Personally, I prefer "Northern Lights" myself, although I do agree that, in light of the rest of the series, "The Golden Compass" is certainly a more consistent title. It just strikes me as being a slightly blander and more run-of-the-mill title than does Northern Lights, which to me conveys a little extra magic and enigma, but that's just my own opinion.
Anyhow, I'll bear your remarks on the Amber Spyglass in mind, though in all honesty I very much doubt that I'll be able to resist reading it, if only for the sake of completism. I couldn't go that far and not go further, after all, even if it does wind up going the way of Douglas Adams' "Mostly Harmless", in bringing a top-notch series to a pretty abysmal conclusion. In all fairness, it has been a while since I read "Mostly Harmless", and if I took the trouble to leaf through it again there's a chance that I might form a slightly better impression of it, but as it currently stands, if I were able to erase all personal knowledge of any concluding novel to any series, it would have to be the one.
Adams' "The Salmon of Doubt" (published posthumously), does apparently contain the remnants for a sixth novel in the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (albeit under the guise of a new instalment for his lesser-known Dirk Gently series), as well as a short story featuring Zaphod Beeblebrox. I do have that book lying around here somewhere, I just haven't yet found the time to read it.