His Dark Materials is a very good fantasy series.
SPOILERS!!!! You have been warned.
In the last book, The Amber Spyglass, it turns out that this figure they call God is a fake. He was simply an angel who told the other angels that he created them. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a God (though maybe the author intended to indicate that), but that these people were swayed into believing the wrong being.
I'm not an atheist but I still love the books. I think a common theme we have to remember when considering religion with certain fantasy novels is this: THEY'RE FANTASY! Fiction is fiction, it doesn't assume itself to be true. It's a story for entertainment purposes.
It's getting a little frustrating to hear of so many cases of people banning their children from reading certain books or seeing certain movies. I wouldn't want to have such a narrow view of the world, and I definitely like to try/read/see new things. Last semester I attended a controversial play called The Laramie Project. If you have the chance, go see it. It's amazing, but it was controversial because it talks about "the gay issue" as one character puts it.
My rant continues to the book The DaVinci Code. Now, I wasn't going to read it because I'm a dork who doesn't often try to follow popular trends, but I got the chance to read it and found it was a very good book. Before reading it....before even deciding to read it, I remember being in a hair salon where another customer was talking to her stylist about the book and the controversy surrounding it and whether it could be real. But I already knew it was fiction. When I read it, it assumed to be nothing more, nothing less. It's even a sequel to another book, Angels and Demons, but nobody seems to rant about that book.
Of course there's also Harry Potter. There are some disillusioned parents who think their children will begin to practice witchcraft if they see the movies or read the books. How sad...
Well, we can only hope that others will wise up and realize that the threat is not from fiction, but from crime or substandard education or politics in general.
I totally agree! I read "His Dark Materials" long before all this controversy about the movie etc. etc. etc. came up. I really enjoyed the books. and even read the series again before seeing the movie when it came out. Same thing with Harry Potter. My parents didn't let me read them when I was in middle school and "everyone" was reading them. But when I got older, I did my research about J.K. Rowling and convinced my parents that there is nothing evil about these books.
Seriously, people need to get a grip and realize that, like you said, fiction is fiction and should be treated as such. If someone isn't able to distinguish between fiction and reality, perhaps it might be wise to keep them from reading books like these. But seriously, by the time a person is 10-13 years old, they should know the difference.
grace and peace,
rAch
"Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up. "
-Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
-Gandhi
"He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep in order to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot
Thanks for the comment.
I'll add that if someone is 10-13 yrs old and DOESN"T know the difference between fantasy and reality, serious therapy may be needed.... I hope all kids don't get to be that naiive.
I have a friend whose parents didn't let her or her brother read the books till they were older. At least they didn't "ban" them, and they were old enough to understand by that point. Still, books --believe it or not--have age ratings. It's written in hard to decipher code sometimes on a copyright page or the back of the book. This needs to be more apparent to the consumer. I seriously don't think children up to 9 years old are the right age for the books. It's better to start when 10 or 11, because then you can age as the characters do.
~ *~
Visit my blog! I'll even provide a link for ya:
Comments are always appreciated! :)
I wrote about this in my other blog before the movie came out, if you'd like to read it. :-)
I didn't like The Davinci Code or Angels and Demons, but it was because I thought they were poorly written, not because of the content.
I loved the His Dark Materials trilogy. Even if they are kids books, who cares? They're fun to read. :-)
read my blogs!
My ProU Blog
My Other Blog
Life is a moderately good play with a badly written 3rd act.~Truman Capote
I just read that other blog. I left a comment as "anonymous" cuz I'm not a LiveJournal user. I won't repeat what I said there because I don't like to be repetitive!
~ *~
This is a signature, an automated thingy that pops up when I comment, not a demand to see my blog!
Mind Control is Easier Than You Think