La Tour des Anges

The second book of the His Dark Materials, and the one I like the best.

Lyra Belaqua meets Will Parry, a boy from our world. They meet by accident in a world new to both of them, that seems to be populated mostly by children, as the adults have all fled. Both Will and Lyra have a quest, though they are not sure where it leads. After some cultural negotiation they agree to help each other, and guided by the alethiometer, Lyra decides to pursue Will's quest to find his father.

Others from Lyra's world also come to this new world, some are well-disposed towards them and others are hostile, swo there are stalkings and pursuits and narrow escapes in plenty.

As with other books I've reread recently, some of the plot holes become more obvious. In the city where Will and Lyra meet, the adults have fled, and the children spend most of their time playing, when they are not torturing cats of pursuing Will and Lyra, but in spite of this the city is still neat and tidy, and the lights work, in spite of there being no adults around to trim the lawns or keep the generators running. And it seems remarkably tidy and well-organised for a place that has been tormented by spectres and had its trade disrupted for 3 centuries.

This instalment of His Dark Materials partly takes place in this world, introducing Will as a new main character. Where in Lyra’s world Dust was theological, here it is much more scientific, representing dark matter. I think it’s intriguing that religion and science are portrayed as seeking the same thing. Both want answers to the universe. One looks towards a divine power for the answers, the other looks for scientific proof.

Physicists believe dark matter exists as the mass of the universe just doesn’t add up, some there must be some other elementary particle making up the difference, we just don’t know what it is. That’s what the Large Hadron Collider is supposed to be for, looking into this conundrum… or looking for Dust! Interestingly, work started on the LHC the same year The Subtle Knife was first published.

It’s pretty impressive that a children’s book from the nineties has such big ideas but also manages to be an engaging and thrilling adventure at the same time.

The Church is still portrayed as the bad guys, though not necessarily so in Will’s (our) world, and so I can understand a lot of people will still object to these books. Brace yourselves for another round of outcry with the forthcoming The Book of Dust release. But let’s face it, the Church has been the bad guys through a lot of history, so it makes sense that they might be carrying on in another dimension.

Oh yeah, alternate realities are also a thing in this book. There’s Lyra’s worlds and ours, but also a third world both the children find themselves in. No one had daemons there either but there is something sinister plaguing the adults. Whilst no direct connection is made between the spectres and Dust, the fact that the children are immune seems to suggest that they are attracted to Dust, perhaps even feed off it. They leave the adults lifeless, like zombies, another hint that maybe Dust (or original sin) isn’t all bad for us.

Again, I got oodles more out of this on a second read, especially now I have more interest in physics than I did when I was younger. Now I have to go see if I still have my copy of The Amber Spyglass or if I have an excuse to buy another anniversary edition!