Philip Pullman - The Imagination Chamber: Cosmic Rays from Lyra's Universe

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe has been growing over the years. The initial trilogy, followed by two further books of a second trilogy, have been joined by a number of shorter works, several of these have been reviewed on this blog, and have impressed with the additional materials, and quality of production. The Imagination Chamber is less impressive. It is a collection of whimsical thoughts, that the author suggested are like the "little trails of vapour" that condense around a charged particle in a cloud chamber, though the particles in this metaphor, are charged with story.

Cloud chambers are useful for studying very small things, and these vapour trails are very small indeed, some of them barely a few sentences and stretching the material to fit the description of book is difficult. Fans of the books, particularly the first trilogy, will perhaps enjoy fitting the material into those narratives, but they offer little insight or extra information. They might flesh out things a little, but they are more designed to explore character, rather than plot.

Dedicated fans will probably find something here. But I struggled to. The Imagination Chamber offered little to me, and felt unnecessary. One for the completionists. 

Related Reviews

Pullman - La Belle Sauvage
Pullman - The Subtle Knife
Pullman - The Amber Spyglass
Pullman - Northern Lights
Pullman - The Ruby in the Smoke