The Elements of His Dark Materials - Laurie Frost

I had the good fortune to receive a copy of Laurie Frost's The Elements of His Dark Materials today. It's a 560-page encyclopedia-style guide to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The Elements of His Dark Materials will do away with the tedious hunt for passages relating to a particular character, thing, or place. It contains page references to both the British and American editions, and to the special 10th anniversary edition of HDM that Philip Pullman has produced. And the book comes with an endorsement from Philip himself: "I can't recommend it too highly to the reader who's found anything interesting or enjoyable in this story of mine. I know I've turned to it frequently during the writing of the book I'm doing now, and I know I'll continue to do so."

This is the table of contents:

Characters
Characters A to Z
Cross-Reference of Characters by World of Origin and Type

Places and Peoples
The Words of the Worlds
The Worlds
Cities, Countries, Regions, Continents, and Elements of Topography
Structures and Streets
The Oxfords
Peoples

Creatures, Beings, and Extraordinary Humans

The Alethiometer, the Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spyglass

Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology
Multiple worlds, Prophecy, Stories
Dust, Rusakov particles, Shadows/Shadow-particles, Sraf

Applied Metaphysics

Applied Sciences and Technology
Clothing and Accessories
Smokes and Medicinals
Food and Drink Information Technology
Transportation
Weapons
Other Crafted Goods and Materials

The Natural Sciences
Physical Sciences
Animals Animals Exclusive to His Dark Materials
Plants
Trees Exclusive to His Dark Materials
Scientific Studies

Social Structures of the Worlds
Ecclesiastical
Educational
Political, Military, and Others
Juvenile Alliances
Financial/Commerce

Languages and Diction

Allusions
Religious - Biblical and Others

Epigraphs
Book Epigraphs
Chapter Epigraphs

Reference
Philip Pullman Bibliography
HDM References
Works Cited and Information Sources

You can expect a review of this book in due course, but in the meantime, there are sample pages online here: Sample page 1, Sample page 2, Sample page 3. The Elements of His Dark Materials is available in the US as well.