The Golden Compass

Incredible. It was described to me by a co-worker, Laurence Campling, as something to read when you're ready to grow up from Harry Potter. He was underselling it.

His Dark Materials is an incredible exercise in physics, fantasy, philosophy, and above all, storytelling.

The alternate worlds are breathtaking in their specificity as if Mr. Pullman has been there. The thoughts and motivations of the characters are deep and real. The situations and decisions faced are never easy and never simple. There are no “happy endings” but not all endings are bad either, rather they are the real mix of good, sad and real that we experience in our lives, however still writ large enough and fantastical enough to be much more interesting to read than our own mundane daily diaries might be.

I highly recommend this series as a thought-provoking challenging and entertaining way to wile away the hours.