Mrs.Coulter in Phillip Pullmans "his dark materials"...

[Clintonista2]

wow, what a delightfully evil & devious character. I'm about halfway through "The Amber Spyglass," and I must say that it is one of the best books I've ever read.

[russian33]

1. she's one of my favorite fictional villains

that's funny, i'm re-reading the trilogy, and about half way thru amber spyglass also :)

[Mr.Fitzgibbons]

2. and one of mine too! I haven't seen the film yet but I am not sure

that I can imagine Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter...doesn't seem to work somehow.

[YankeyMCC]

3. I'm starting "Amber Spyglass" tomorrow

I know the books are written with young readers in mind, like my son who's 11, but I'm really enjoying them. Coulter is an excellent character as are pretty much all of the others and he paints such a vivid and interesting world. Just a good witter all around.

So unlike my experience when I read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" with my son a couple years back when the movie came out. I never read those books as a kid and I could barely stand to get through them as an adult.

As a side note, and I wish I had more time to expound on this, I had also started the Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos) at the same time my son and I started the "His Dark Materials" series so I was reading both at the same time. I read faster than he so I alternated books while he's reading straight through HDM. And it stuck me how there are similarities in theme and ideas in these two stories. Maybe it's just because I'm reading them at the same time but things like the "Void which Binds" in Hyperion and "Dust" in HDM, the "Nemes" soldiers in Hyperion and Severed soldiers used by Coulter in HDM and right down to the fundamental examination of humanity's relationship with the universe and "gods" made for an interesting juxtaposition of the two stories, one for children on for adults.