His Dark Materials

I finished reading the trilogy by Phillip Pullman a couple weeks ago. They were great stories. I highly recommend them. I had to finish all three books at once; I just couldn't put it down once I started reading. Despite being written for children or young adults, the stories takes on a different layer of meanings if you are willing to look beyond. Pullman made many references to the Bible in the novels... but many of them were gnostic ideas. And he also took a rather opposing stance to the Church in the stories. However, that didn't bother me a whole lot.

The novels drew many ideas from science, mostly physics... quantum mechanics for example... the idea of parallel universes set up the background of the stories. That's another reason for me to like the novels.

The idea on dæmon was also very interesting. In the stories, the characters in one world (not ours, but an parallel world) have dæmon. A dæmon is kinda like one's soul or consciousness but takes on a form of animal, usually of opposite sex. When you are a kid, your dæmon can change form, from one animal to the next. But once you reach an adult age, your dæmon will change no more but settle on a particular animal. How interesting the world would be if each of us has a dæmon. This idea was in my head so much, I even daydreamed that I had my own dæmon.

I think this trilogy is perhaps a better read than Harry Potter. But then I only read one Harry Potter book.

Pullman is a very good story teller. You won't be disappointed if you find time to read one of his novels. I heard that they are turning the triology into movies. Think the movies will rival Lord of the Ring if they are made well.