His Dark Materials Bind-Up

(30/07/22) ‘Into this wild abyss, The womb of nature and perhaps her grave, Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire, But all these in their pregnant causes mixed Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight, Unless the almighty maker them ordain His dark materials to create more worlds, Into this wild abyss the wary fiend Stood on the brink of hell and looked a while, Pondering his voyage...' - John Milton, Paradise Lost

His Dark Materials is so enormously ambitious that even in some instances where Philip Pullman doesn't quite stick the landing, you have to give him credit for the attempt alone. Daemons are so deceptively simple but may be one of my favourite concepts in a novel ever. A retelling of The Fall/Paradise Lost weaving together threads of parallel universes, theology, philosophy and good old fashioned adventure. Magnificent