<Tr> <Th> Published </Th> <Td> 1995--2000 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Media type </Th> <Td> Print (hardback & paperback) </Td> </Tr> <P> His Dark Materials is an epic trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of Northern Lights (1995, published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). It follows the coming of age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes . The novels have won a number of awards, including the Carnegie Medal in 1995 for Northern Lights and the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year for The Amber Spyglass . </P> <P> His Dark Materials has been marketed to young adults, though Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind . The fantasy elements include witches and armoured polar bears; the trilogy also alludes to concepts from physics, philosophy and theology . It functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin . The series has attracted controversy for its criticism of religion . </P>

When did the golden compass book come out