by Philip Pullman

I loved His Dark Materials when I read them with the children. There were moments when I had to stop because the power of the writing took my breath away.

This book is simpler. It’s a myth, or a myth-debunk, and the characters are merely ciphers for the ideas. The exploration of how stories and myths are made, and what belief requires of its mythology is interesting. I don’t know my gospels all that well, so I learned something about the stories of Jesus (and this twin he had, apparently, called Christ).

A good anti church rant, but I had fiction expectations that just weren’t met. My fault.