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worlds. Will then breaks the knife. Lyra returns to her home at Jordan College where she is to be taught to learn the skill of reading the alethiometer and she makes a vow to build the Republic of Heaven.

REVIEW

I had a mixed reaction to His Dark Materials with both positive and negative feelings. I felt that the series was well written. Although I have not read anything else by the author Phillip Pullman I would be interested to in the future. It takes an accomplished writer to effectively write about multiple protagonists and weave in and out of different worlds without creating a complex tangle of imperceptible storylines. However I personally felt that the end came too quickly. The final book was by no means short, however I felt that the climax of the war, and the death of Metatron and the Authority happened almost in passing. This was probably due to the focus on Lyra and Will. Pullman obviously wanted to direct the audience's attention predominantly towards the young couple whereas my interest lay particularly in the complex fantastical religious history of the universe he created.

The relationship between Will and Lyra was one I enjoyed. The characters worked for me better together than apart and Pullman skilfully balanced sentiment with reality. By this I mean that he did not fall into the Hollywood' ending trap. While Lyra and Will did fall in love, they also had to be separated which I believe was a braver ending than simple and they lived happily ever after'. Pullman worked to bring the duo closer together throughout the final two books, and perhaps dropped a few too many hints in The Amber Spyglass. By the time you get to the realization of their love I had lost some of my anticipation. I also felt that Lyra particularly was very young and although her bond with Will was strong I felt that puberty may change her feelings eventually.

One of the most interesting aspects of fantasy fiction is of course imagining the differing worlds proposed by the author. Although writing about a universe with an infinite number of worlds, each one Pullman described was easy to imagine, a sign of good fantasy writing. The world of the mulefa was particularly intriguing. More often than not fantasy creatures who are a civilised people are in the varied form of a human, such as witches and the tiny Gallivespians, or of an existing animal such as the armoured bears. The mulefa however were completely different from humans or animals as we know them, for example they do

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