Jessica, Sean is right. Trust me, you won't even remember it's fantasy by the time you read a few pages. It reads more like historical fiction or political intrigue in many ways, and boy is it brutal. I love that series, too.

Not here.

vw, I loved The Golden Compass. Loved loved loved. And I didn't find it antithetical to theism either, actually. The direction he takes the subsequent books is more agressively atheist,

Also more aggressively didactic, simplistic, tell-don't-show...

Sorry. Just read it last week and was not pleased. The transformation of [whitefonting in case others are reading the books now with the movie out] Lyra in particular bothered me. I'm not sure it was intended, and for a while I tried to convince myself he was trying to make a point, but jeez. "Now I must put aside my own goals and stifle my own talents to devote myself to the dreams of this boy I've met, and his angry tirades just prove that this is the way it should be." WTF ever.

That said, I really did enjoy the first book, and agree that on its own I don't think it's very agenda-driven.

I attempted to read those, but I didn't get it.

Hec and I were talking about that series the other day -- neither of us has read them, but we've both heard numerous people say that they loved The Golden Compass but felt like Pullman trainwrecked the series somewhere from the middle of the second book to pretty much anywhere in the third. And then we wandered to Laurell K. Hamilton's books and the Kushiel books and the Ender books and all the various series in our different TBR piles, and how someone really should compile a big master list of Exactly How Far You Should Read In Each Series, Because After Book [Whatever] The Author Drives It Right Over A Cliff.

I'm ready to come out too!

My name is Trudy and my eyes glazed over reading Tolkien.

Now that the thread is a touch quieter - is anyone available to look at my resume?

Oh, shit. I'm an idiot.

PCP gave me two new meds today (well, one is actually a higher dose of something I already take). Well, I took them about an hour ago, forgetting that one of them isn't supposed to be taken within five hours of my night meds, because they don't play well together. And I was going to try to go to sleep earlier tonight so I could actually get some writing done tomorrow. Grrrrrrr...

Would whoever stole my brain please return it? You really don't want it. Trust me.

My name is Trudy and my eyes glazed over reading Tolkien.

W00t! I'm in the corner with Trudy! I knew I couldn't be the only one.

is anyone available to look at my resume?

Send it on over! Sorry! And yay for the interest!

Love the first two and a half His Dark Materials books (also, how cool is that title????). I didn't care for the ultimate end.

JZ, FWIW I don't think the Kushiel series has jumped the shark yet, though the first book of the second trilogy is the weakest to date.

As for Laurel K. Hamilton, I gave up on her ages ago, but I'm always amused by the regular sputtering indignation of those who wish they could quit her, but can't quite bring themselves to do so.