The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass
Author: Philip Pullman
Series: His Dark Materials (#1)
Publisher: Knopf Books
How Received: school library

The protagonist of this complex fantasy is young Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Oxford University. But it quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own--nor is her world. For one thing, people there each have a personal dæmon, the manifestation of their soul in animal form. For another, hers is a universe in which science, theology, and magic are closely allied:

"As for what experimental theology was, Lyra had no more idea than the urchins. She had formed the notion that it was concerned with magic, with the movements of the stars and planets, with tiny particles of matter, but that was guesswork, really. Probably the stars had dæmons just as humans did, and experimental theology involved talking to them."

Not that Lyra spends much time worrying about it; what she likes best is "clambering over the College roofs with Roger the kitchen boy who was her particular friend, to spit plum stones on the heads of passing Scholars or to hoot like owls outside a window where a tutorial was going on, or racing through the narrow streets, or stealing apples from the market, or waging war." But Lyra's carefree existence changes forever when she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, first prevent an assassination attempt against her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust. Soon she and Pan are swept up in a dangerous game involving disappearing children, a beautiful woman with a golden monkey dæmon, a trip to the far north, and a set of allies ranging from "gyptians" to witches to an armor-clad polar bear.

I read The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman a while back and really didn't like it. Seeing as the movie came out, I decided to give it one more shot.

I really liked it this time around, especially the part about dæmons. I love the idea of having something so close to you it's a part of your soul. ^^

I had no problem with the 'religious problems' in the book - it's just the way it's written and, in my opinion, didn't impact the book or the storyline much.

Reading it the second time around, I was able to appreciate it much more, and I love Lyra and Pan. [SPOILER ALERT] The only thing that really bothered me was that at the end of the book, the two people embracing had been enemies throughout the rest of the book, and it seemed really random to have them together again. [/SPOILER ALERT]

I haven't seen the movie yet, though I'm really looking forward to it.

Overall Rating & Final Comments: 8 out of 10. It could have been better, and the ending, as I mentioned in the Spoiler Alert above, really bugged me. All in all, though, it was a good book.
The Golden Compass or A Wrinkle In Time: It depends on how realistic you want to get. Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is a phenomenal book, and is much more realistic than The Golden Compass. Right now, I prefer The Golden Compass.

Well, happy reading!

~Nicole B.