Just as Donald Trump’s doubters across the pond are branded “unpatriotic” for daring to question their new president, so too critics of the Magisterium are quickly shut down. The Magisterium, as Pullman renames it, is an organisation in the ultimate position of power to criticise it is to blaspheme. Yes, the Potter books give us a dangerous fascist on the rise, but His Dark Materials gives us an enemy that is not only already the accepted authority, but happens to be the bloomin’ Catholic church. If you think Harry Potter is a great political allegory for today’s world, then you’ve obviously not read His Dark Materials. Pullman has ridden back on his agnostic/atheist steed to teach us lessons about rejecting corrupt authority, favouring facts over unfounded beliefs and being true and tolerant to yourself and others. Despite the first book having been published 22 years ago, the trilogy is a glowing antidote to the murky and unpleasant reality we’re currently living in. If we needed a reason to reread His Dark Materials, there are now two. So not only might we finally get the screen adaptation that the books deserve (let’s continue pretending that the sanitised monstrosity that was The Golden Compass never actually happened, agreed?), we also get to dive in to the world anew, meeting new characters and – more importantly – getting reacquainted with Lyra Silvertongue.
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