I recently reread The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. It’s the first book of a trilogy called His Dark Materials. Although it’s a young adult book, with a preteen protagonist, the themes are mature and deep enough to interest adult readers – especially those of us who enjoy fantasies. The protagonist is Lyra, a young girl who is being alternately raised and ignored by the scholars of Oxford University. This England and this Oxford are different than ours in many ways. The technology is different. Magic and religion are closely related, and religion organizations control the universities and political positions. … Continue reading →