Don't fly off the handle just yet
Since this is pure speculation and all, but this Washington Post article says that Ian McShane is doing quite a bit of voiceover work in the future, including a voice for The Golden Compass. It doesn't say which character, but c'mon. Who would YOU cast him as?
I've been reading the books again, thus explaining my current His Dark Materials fever.
I've been reading the books again, thus explaining my current His Dark Materials fever.
posted by Jeff at 10:29 AM
5 Comments:
um, yeah, you were right, the end of the second one is worse. [rolls eyes]
and it could just be suffering from "middle book in a trilogy slump," but i have to say that compared to the first one, the writing and the plot devices just aren't up to snuff. seriously, it's downright sloppy in places.
i think what i took the most issue with was the utter impossibility of suspending disbelief with respect to the whole "murderer" sub-thread---which, unfortunately, persisted through and underlaid nearly the entire book. MI6 operative or not, accidentally killing a hostile intruder in one's own home in self defense IS NOT MURDER.
unfortunate? yes.
traumatizing? definitely.
murder? not a snowman's chance in hell.
i can see how the kid might have been confused for a bit, but the 'angel-dust' would certainly have had to know better.
and just one last musing: the knife is purported to open "windows" to any number of infinite alternate realities, and indeed must have for lord boreal to have made it from "bizarro demonland" into "the real england," but there isn't any mention of how one controls where they cut to, and will seems only able to bounce between england and spectre-infested italy...
oh, and the voicing for will in the recorded book i'm listening to is so sickeningly cute you can't help but want to strangle the life right out of him. i'm not necessarily sure that's a fault, though. ha.
I feel your comments are not valid because you are not actually READING the book.
boo.
P.S. I want Ian McShane to be the new Liam Neeson
I can picture it now, the alethiometer calmly explaining to Lyra and the kids at home the differences between first and second-degree murder and manslaughter, as well as the clause that says when it's a guy who has invaded your home it's just called "snuffing" a bloke.
I don't mean to be sarcastic (yes I do), but if one line derails the whole book for you, there's really not much I can do to respond. Maybe on Lyra's world killing someone is murder no matter the circumstances? I can't remember the exact details of Lord Asriel's killing.
They explain more of how the knife works at the beginning of book 3. Oh, and Will kills again.
Yeah, poor audio can reall derail dramatic momentum, especially if the voice isn't appropriate. I mean, the last thing Will should be is "cute."
sorry guys, it seems while i meant to be slightly critical, i came off as negative---not my intention at all.
at the risk of philosophising, i was really just expressing a sense of uneasiness at the fact that what was essentially an accident suddenly became the single most defining characteristic of his life, according to a purportedly omniscient and infallible source.
i guess i get stereotyped enough for various reasons that i prefer to see people given a bit more leeway than that.
and the recording isn't so bad, it's just that i can't help giggling at their adorable british accents (pullman himself does most of the naration).
now, if you'll excuse me, i'm going to go home and start the third one, since i'm excited to see what happens next. [smirk]
No worries. Put in those terms, it's an interesting criticism. Perhaps the alethiometer simply presented to Lyra how Will viewed himself, or maybe it provided Lyra with the truth that would allow her to relax and trust Will. Certainly Lyra does not pass negative judgement on him due to this information. But I see what you're saying.
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