e621.net · 6195446

h5. Original Sin

[quote][i] "I told him I was going to betray you... betray everyone!... and he believed me because I am corrupt and full of wickedness. I wanted him to find no good in me, and he [/i] [i] [i] [b] didn't [/b] [/i] [/i] [i] . There is none. But this feeling... Where did this love come from? I don't know; it came to me like a thief in the night. All I could hope was that my crimes were so monstrous that my love was no bigger than a flowerseed in the shadow of them! I only wish I'd committed even greater ones to hide it more deeply still...” [/i]

What?! I'm secure enough in my masculinity to cross-play! X3

I noticed The Golden Compass in a Scholastic book order as back as elementary. The whole series gave off an interesting vibe - prestige fantasy, but for kids. I sorely wonder how I missed out on it, way back then!

I got to reading the books in college, when I realized my university had the kind of library I'd always wanted as a kid. They were and interesting, humanist fantasy that I can't help but recommend. A bit wordy, and the author has a tendency to pontificate, but once the plot gets going it is insane! I especially love Lyra's world - everyone gets their own magic pet familiar. XD

But perhaps the biggest draw of the book is not it's three main characters, but it's antagonist; Marisa Coulter. It would be no exaggeration to say that if you put her up against Darth Vader, unless she was bound and gagged, the Sith Lord would stand no chance against her. She's too intelligent, too charismatic, too resourceful to be stopped. Once she puts her mind to something, the laws or reality almost [b] bend [/b] to accommodate her. Despite all the witches and wraiths, the poison assassins and fantastic machines, this one person, this mere human, is a [i] force of nature [/i] .

In the books, there was a moment where she cripples one of the main characters and his fantastic, reality-shattering knife not with brute force or magic, but with empathy. The way that scene is written, it's implied to be intentional - she knows the knife needs total concentration, she reads that Will is a mama's boy and has some tragic node she can play off of. He's rescuing Lyra, and in that moment, [i] she hates him [/i] . Rage and sadness and motherly instinct - it's enough to make Will question himself to the core JUST as the blade of the knife moves... and shatters like brittle ice!

I am SO glad they adapted it into a prestige fantasy series. I've always wanted my mate (and the whole world) to know that Marisa Coulter is a
P R O B L E M!
XD [/quote]