Mini Reviews: His Dark Materials Novellas

As December was winding to a close I realized that including rereads I was four books away from my reach goal of reading 150 books in 2015. Now I'm a pretty competitive person and so I suddenly became determined to meet that goal. So when it looked like I wasn't going to finish the book I was reading I spent a day reading some novellas to meet that goal.

So after doing the His Dark Materials reread with Britt from Please Feed the Bookworm I decided the perfect novellas were the His Dark Materials novellas which I have never read. I am so glad I did because they were really fantastic. So here you go, my Mini Reviews of the His Dark Materials novellas.

Title: Lyra's Oxford Series: His Dark Materials #3.5 Author: Philip Pullman Published: October 28, 2003 by Knopf (Amazon / Goodreads)                                                                                           Synopsis: Lyra's Oxford begins with Lyra and Pantalaimon spotting a witch's daemon. Lyra shelters the daemon from the pursuit of a frenzied pack of birds, and then attempts to help by guiding the daemon to the home of an alchemist living in a part of Oxford known as Jericho. The journey through Oxford reveals more dangers than Lyra had anticipated.

My Thoughts:

Well now I want a full length sequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy. There's a reason I don't usually read novellas, they're such a tease. But I don't regret reading this one at all. It was a fantastic addition to the His Dark Materials series.

Lyra's Oxford is just the tiniest taste of life for Lyra after the events of the main trilogy. She's back at Oxford, this time as a student which is fun to see. But things haven't totally slowed down for her if this brief story is any indications. There's a lot of mystery and a little action in such a short period of time. In addition, Lyra's importance within this world has not gone away as well.

It's the same old Lyra just a few years later. It was so great to catch up with Lyra and see her slightly older but I want more. I want more from her, I want to see Will and all the other favorites from the trilogy. Even if it's not a full length novel, maybe a collection of novellas, one from each different world perhaps.

On the whole this was a great little story that had cute woodcut illustrations and extra details to expand the story including a map of Oxford and some info about one of the colleges. Fans of the trilogy should check it out for sure.

Title: Once Upon A Time in the North Series: His Dark Materials #0.5 Author: Philip Pullman Published:  by Knopf (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible) Synopsis: In this prequel episode from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe, Lee Scoresby -- Texan aeronaut and future friend to Lyra Belacqua -- is 24 years old. The story reveals the origins of Scoresby's friendship with Iorek Byrnison as well as Scoresby's aeronautical career.   After winning his hot-air balloon in a poker game, Scoresby finds himself floating north. On the Arctic island of Novy Odense, Scoresby and his dæmon Hester become involved in a deadly plot involving an oil magnate, a corrupt mayoral candidate, and a hired killer who is Lee's longtime nemesis from the Dakota Country. Forming an alliance with one of the island's reviled armored bears, Scoresby fights to break up the conspiracy.  This clothbound volume features the illustrations of John Lawrence, a removable board game on the inside back cover, and the story that offers a glimpse into the origins of the friendship of two beloved characters in the His Dark Materials trilogy

My Thoughts:

There's nothing like an origin story for how two of your favorite characters in a series met and became friends. That's what Once Upon a Time in the North was, a one-shot meeting for characters that we meet in The Golden Compass.

I absolutely adore Iorek Byrnison so I really enjoyed seeing him again was fantastic. He has such an interesting backstory so it was great learning more about that as well. I also really like Lee Scorsby. He sometimes seems out of place in this world so I liked being able to see how he first joined the world. It was also nice seeing how the two met and became fun.

The book is told from Scorsby's perspective and is full of action and adventure that you would expect from the aeronaut and armored bear so even though it was short, it wasn't dull at all. A short and sweet novella that fans of the His Dark Materials trilogy should read.

I also listened to the audiobook for his one and it was a full cast just like the other books in the His Dark Materials trilogy. It was totally fantastic and I'm so glad I listened.

Title: The Collectors Series: His Dark Materials #0.6 Author: Philip Pullman Published: September, 2015 by Knopf (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible)                                                                                           Synopsis: "But the thing is," said Horley, "they didn't know each other at all. Never heard of each other. It wasn't about the makers. Only about the works."  On a dark winter's night in 1970, Horley and Grinstead huddle for warmth in the Senior Common Room of a college in Oxford. Conversation turns to the two impressive works of art that Horley has recently added to his collection. What the two men don't know is that these pieces are connected in mysterious and improbable ways; and they are about to be caught in the cross-fire of a story which has travelled time and worlds.  The Collectors is narrated by Bill Nighy, the Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning actor whose work on stage, screen, and radio has included Love Actually, the Pirates of the Caribbean series and a multitude of TV, stage, and radio appearances

My Thoughts:

This is the shortest of the three novella at a 19 page e-book and 30 minute audiobook, but it may honestly have been my favorite of the three. Ir was fantastic despite being super short.

How something so short can have this much mystery I will never know but it definitely did. It was atmospheric and interesting with so many of the complex themes from the His Dark Materials trilogy that make the series so interesting. It included things like the multi-verse and even references to some of this characters that you love to hate.

What may have also made it so good was the audiobook. Bill Nighy did a great job narrating. He gave it a real atmosphere and depth despite it's lack of length.

This is definitely worth a read for fans of the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Final Thoughts on The Novellas:

Taking all three of these books into consideration, I'm kind of glad that I needed some novellas to read at the end of the year and that I could take the time to read these. As a fan of the His Dark Materials trilogy, they added to the overall enjoyment of the series for me. They add a lot of color to the series, offering some backstory on a few favorite characters, make a villainous character seem even more devious, and let us catch up with our heroine after the series. If you are a fan of the series I would definitely recommend you check these out.

Have you read any of the His Dark Materials novels? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading.

Audiobook Reviews: Legion and Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Legion Series: Legion #1 Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: September 11, 2012 by Tor (Macmillan) (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible) Synopsis: A novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Legion is a fast-paced, witty, and supremely fun thriller with a psychological bent.  Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It’s his hallucinations who are mad.  A genius of unrivaled aptitude, Stephen can learn any new skill, vocation, or art in a matter of hours. However, to contain all of this, his mind creates hallucinatory people—Stephen calls them aspects—to hold and manifest the information. Wherever he goes, he is joined by a team of imaginary experts to give advice, interpretation, and explanation. He uses them to solve problems…for a price.  His brain is getting a little crowded, however, and the aspects have a tendency of taking on lives of their own. When a company hires him to recover stolen property—a camera that can allegedly take pictures of the past—Stephen finds himself in an adventure crossing oceans and fighting terrorists. What he discovers may upend the foundation of three major world religions—and, perhaps, give him a vital clue into the true nature of his aspects.

I'm not usually a fan of short stories, I always feel like just when I'm starting to connect with the characters it ends, or the plot just doesn't have time to develop in a way that is creative and interesting. But those are two of the things that Brandon Sanderson does extremely well so I definitely had high hopes for this novella. And while I wasn't blown away by Legion in the way that I have been from his novels, it was a fantastic and interesting read.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this one was the plot. It was an exciting mystery with an action-packed globetrotting adventure. I'm a sucker for those kinds of books. I hate travel monologues but if your search for clues takes you to exotic locales, I'm all for it. And the mystery in this one was pretty amazing. I've become used to the "Sanderson ending" where even though there are clues along the way I'm still completely shocked by the big reveal or twist, and that is exactly what happened with Legion. It is the kind of book that I love in an audio format. It's full of action and adventure making it exciting and fun.

But part of that exciting plot was also an interesting and unique world. I'm not sure how to categorize Legion. I've heard it called Science Fiction but it's more like Low Fantasy to me, but it also has great elements of Mystery novels. It's the kind of book that I could see as a fantastic television show. Like a police procedural with a supernatural element. And that supernatural element was so unique. A man who isn't technically crazy who has different people who only he can see help him solve mysteries. It sounds confusing but Brandon Sanderson portrays this "magical system" with expert handling that makes it seem both unique and natural.

And with these "aspects" there are some interesting and likable characters to get to know. Leeds himself is a great protagonist. He's smart and resourceful but he is also far from perfect. He has his quirks and weakness that makes him fleshed-out in a short period of time. The handful of aspects that we got to know in this book were also really interesting. They all have their individual skills that help him figure things out and many of them are great comic relief, mentors, and even the voice of reason sometimes. The narrator of the audiobook did a great job of establishing who they were through their varying voices.

 I give Legion by Brandon Sanderson an 8.5 out of 10

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy! For a short story, Legion was an exciting and interesting ride. If you are a Sanderson fan or are just a fan of mysteries then check this one out. I would also definitely recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of shows like Sleepy Hollow, Grimm, maybe even Supernatural. For me it wasn't quite long enough but thankfully... THERE'S MORE!

Title: Legion: Skin Deep Series: Legion #2 Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: November 24, 2014 by Tor (Macmillan) (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible) Synopsis: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Stephen Leeds is back in a new, double-length novella that Library Journal says has "the pulse of a thriller and the hook of a fascinating hero balancing on the edge of psychosis."  It's not his own genius that Stephen Leeds gets hired for. Clients want to tap into the imaginary experts that populate his mind—and it's getting a bit crowded in there.  Now Stephen and his internal team of "aspects" have been hired to track down a stolen corpse—but it's not the corpse that's important, it's what the corpse knows. The biotechnology company he worked for believes he encoded top-secret information in his DNA before he died, and if it falls into the wrong hands, that will mean disaster.  Meanwhile, Stephen's uneasy peace with his own hallucinations is beginning to fray at the edges, as he strives to understand how one of them could possibly have used Stephen's hand to shoot a real gun during the previous case. And some of those hallucinations think they know better than Stephen just how many aspects his mind should make room for. How long will he be able to hold himself together?

More is the watchword in this one. Like I said, I'm not usually a fan of short stories but if you put these two books together it definitely makes one good story. Just like the first novella, it was full of an interesting plot with a great mystery, complex characters, and an interesting world. It just had more of that!

Like the first book Legion: Skin Deep had an amazing and thrilling plot. This one kept things a little more centrally located, but it turned up the action. It felt much more like a thriller this time. Between the contract killer looking for Leeds and the hunt to find a missing body before they do, it felt much more exciting to read (well listen to). So much more exciting that I lost focus on everything else and ended up missing my exit on the highway. But maybe that was less about the action and more about the mystery. It was another slow build up of clues with a crazy mind-blowing reveal and twist and another great book to have experiences in the audio format.

The other great thing about Sanderson and this book in particular was the further exploration of this world. While I found the world that was created in the first book interesting and creative, here we got to explore it even more, making it completely fascinating. We get to meet more of the aspects, see how they work together, and even see how this affect Leeds. There were even some moments where we got to potentially learn who this people are and how they got there. It seemed much more like a Science Fiction novel this time. Plus as the synopsis says, things are fraying and Leeds is struggling to understand and hang on to things. It's definitely much more psychological this time.

Speaking of those aspects, the characters were amazing, just like the last book. We got to spend more time getting to know some of the favorites from the first book and even got to know a new character or two. And getting to know them better, we were able to see them in a more fleshed-out way making them more multi-faceted. Characters that seemed more like tropes in the first book become more complex. But Leeds was still a great main character for this story. I loved getting to know him better and be along for the ride while he solved yet another mystery.

I give Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson 9 out of 10

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy! Legion:Skin Deep is another fast and fun adventure. The sequel is twice as long an three times as mysterious. Just like the first book this is definitely worth it for Sanderson fans and mystery fans. Plus right now, it's free on audible. So go check it out!