Grrr. Yes! Horrific violence for children? Entirely ok! Moral ambiguity, shades of gray or god forbid, mentions of sexuality? Right out! (I had bits of this rant after seeing OotP this summer.)
Oxford worked perfectly for me: I have been *once*, for a day...but have been obsessed with it since I was a Tolkein booknerd as a child. I think it worked well as both symbol of free thinking academics, plus that version of pastoral English countryside that always seems to stand in for innocence. (cf. The Shire.) (Um. Also it makes my inner architecture geek happy. A lot.)
I am also very afraid of what else they will do to "fix" things. I still need to read the next two books, so I shall refrain from getting terribly worked up about it until then.
Also, Alternate London in DW put me in mind of The Difference Engine and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, although I hadn't read any Pullman at that point. But it's definitely an "everyone's playing in the same sandbox" moment.
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Oxford worked perfectly for me: I have been *once*, for a day...but have been obsessed with it since I was a Tolkein booknerd as a child. I think it worked well as both symbol of free thinking academics, plus that version of pastoral English countryside that always seems to stand in for innocence. (cf. The Shire.) (Um. Also it makes my inner architecture geek happy. A lot.)
I am also very afraid of what else they will do to "fix" things. I still need to read the next two books, so I shall refrain from getting terribly worked up about it until then.
Also, Alternate London in DW put me in mind of The Difference Engine and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, although I hadn't read any Pullman at that point. But it's definitely an "everyone's playing in the same sandbox" moment.