The Golden Compass

Today’s post is on “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman. It is the first in His Dark Materials trilogy, is 399 pages long, and is published by Alfred A. Knopf. The cover is blue with the author’s name and title in a raised golden square, behind that is are constellations of the night sky. There is no language, no sex, but some of the violence is cruel and vividly described. So be warned before reading. It is told from third person close, mostly focused on Lyra but the narration does jump to others at different points in the story. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Lyra is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle- a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armored bears. And as she hurtles toward danger in the cold, far North, young Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she is destined to win, or to lose, this more-than-mortal battle.
Philip Pullman’s award-winning The Golden Compass is a masterwork of storytelling and suspense, critically acclaimed and hailed as a modern fantasy classic.

Review- This is an interesting, twisted, and good plot. The characters grow, are interesting, and they are why you read this story. Lyra is interesting and she grows so much over the course of the novel. Starting out she does not really do much thinking about anything but at the end she is willing to try and stop her very powerful father from doing something, that he think is good, but really does not know. Lyra is willing to face the unknown with just herself and her soul animal, her daemon Pantalaimon because they believe that they can. There is hope in the future, hope that children can make a better world than their parents have made. The mystery of what the Dust is, what Lyra is to do, and so much more. I enjoyed reading this book, I look forward to reading the second volume The Subtle Knife. I do not get why so many people get angry about this book. Yes I can see his religious dislike, I can see where some people do not want to read anything that is so religiously charged but it is just a book in the end. But it is no more than any other book where religion is the villain. To be honest, religions make good easy villains. It does not take much to make a religion, any religion, a villain. So read this book and enjoy the villain because the church in Lyra’s world and those who are hands for it that she encounters, make good, interesting, and evil enough villains.

I give this book Five out of Five Stars. I get nothing for this review and I bought my copy of this book with my little moneys.