The Not a Book Club Club discussion

Section 3

Chapter 27 to the End; and/or the book as a whole.

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Please do not discuss events from later books. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.

Man. What a depressing ending. How is this a kid's book?

OK. I get it that the world is a hard place, and too many things talk down to kids and try to gloss it over..but I took so little enjoyment from this series.

The middle of this book was great. I was leaning towards 3.5/4 stars. Then end though I'm more like 2.5/3.

I'm glad Will has Mary. And Lyra has a bunch of people, but in a world of magic..how about their being some way they can stay together. Ugh.

And wasn't Mary supposed to tempt Lyra? Did they just have it wrong? The temptation was obviously Will, or maybe leaving a portal between their worlds instead of the one for the dead. I'm not really sure what Mary had to do with anything really..

And sorry if I've been a downer this whole read. I try not to hate on books, I've just been so let down by this whole series.

It seems like the two of you have been enjoying it more than me at least, so that's good!

I had that same question - that was my big question at the end - How did Mary tempt Lyra?? She was never the serpent other than they stated that she was. I was thinking maybe because I was listening, I just missed something.

I think my end rating was about 3.5, but I rounded up because I enjoyed listening. But yes the ending was depressing. And really seems like there SHOULD have been a way for them to see each other - boo!

I guess you just hate kids Rob =P .

My biggest note was the Mary temptation????

Other notes: I felt like the romance was maybe a little too big of a shift - from friendship into this deep eternal passion. But ok......

Pickup line in Lyra's world "Hey - want to touch my daemon?"

I'm not sure why I hate kids..but I dont have any, and probably won't ever have any..so

yeah I agree. They've always liked each other, but suddenly it was the most anyone's every been loved? or something like that. I rolled my eyes a bit.

And I'm a pretty sure that's a pickup line in our world. Albeit probably not very successful..

I think the temptation that Mary was suppose to bring was the the whole passionate love thing from her story. When Lyra was listening to the story there was some part about something unlocking inside of her and after that she feeds the red fruit to Will and they are in love. And after that she had to choose whether or not to let the world (or the dead) suffer so she could continue to be with her true love.

I agree that the friendship to love thing felt sudden. But i guess that was Mary's role to make it happen when it did.

Overall I enjoyed them. Though the ending didn't make me happy. I understand why that was the ending but i wanted something happier.

I am curious to read Paradise Lost and see how it influenced this work.

Lol Suzanne. That reminds me of the monkey daemon with the snake daemon. I guess if i read this as a kid those things would go over my head.

Oh yes. I forgot about the love story Mary told. That must be it!