Search - The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Bk 1)

I have learned long ago that I enjoy books for the quality of the material and that I shouldn't discriminate based on the intended audience of the book. His Dark Materials
Book One-The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman is an excellent example of a fantasy novel created for young adults that transcends that category. In my opinion this Young Adult category, in its best sense, means that foul language and sexual content have been eliminated from the story. Although I enjoy a little foul language every once in a while I notice no lack in a novel when it is absent.
This novel follows a young scamp of a girl through a world that is very similar to our nineteenth century world. Lyra resides, as an orphan, at Oxford and is thrust, through her own intense curiosity, into a religious and metaphysical maze of treachery. Gradually she is able to piece together answers to a number of strange occurrences that include disappearing children and a beautiful woman with a golden monkey. You see, there is at least one big difference in this world. People have physical representations of their souls, called deamons. While children have deamons that are able to change form at their whim, adults have deamons in a fixed form. This is at the heart the novel and allows Lyra to finally begin to uncover what a mysterious substance, called Dust, really is.
Philip Pullman pulls the reader into this piece through a fantastic portrayal and adventure of a young girl that one can easily relate to amidst the strange world that she lives. I was enthralled throughout the whole book as I could never begin to guess what would happen next. The flaws in each character give this story something to sink your teeth into and allow you to truly engross yourself in this tantalizing world. One thing that intrigued me was the idea of a physical soul. Each character seems to have a deep and affectionate bond with their deamons, but I can't help but wonder what would happen to a person filled with self-loathing.

I purchased this book prior to all the controversy about it in the media. My husband read it and enjoyed it, and I was planning to read it as well. I debated about reading it when I heard about the author. After much debate, I decided to go ahead and read it. I read this book partly as a teacher and partly as a parent. Knowing I would have students who would read or wish to read the book, I wanted to be able to give them an honest perspective. Many of my students' parents have neither the time nor the inclination to preview a book before allowing their child to read it. That being said, this is not a children's book. It lists the reading level as 5.6 (grade level), but I would not give it to someone younger than 15 or 16. It deals with some very adult themes, including the killing of children. I did not sense huge atheistic undertones in this book, but my husband says they are much stronger in the 2nd and 3rd books. I did enjoy the story and am curious as to how it continues. I will most likely eventually finish the trilogy. If you are confidant about what you believe in and decide to read this book just for the sake of entertainment, then you will probably not have a problem with it, but it is much too mature for children.

Probably one of the best young adult series novels I have ever read, this is much better writing than that of Frank (Wizard of Oz) Baum or JK (Harry Potter) Rowling. Get it now and read it before the film comes out. Like LOTR, I fear this may be a scenario where the book series outshines any film presentation. This is great reading for adults --- our teenagers today are much too busy at the mall, but if ever we could pull them into this series, our poor shopkeeps may be sitting idle for quite a while. The concept of having a live animal that talks as your 'conscience' is fascinating --- what would your "daemon" be?

I actually read this book after I had seen the movie and wound up enjoying the book SOOOO much more (as is usually the case). I loved all the action. It was a great start to the series.

What an action packed adventure! Lyra is the daughter of two highly ambitious and ruthless parents who are consumed with the mystery of "dust". Believing that she is an orphan watched over by her uncle and scholars, Lyra discovers the truth as her mother seeks to control her while kidnapping children and separating them from their daemons which usually kills both of them. Spawning efforts to rescue the children she makes many friends, all of whom she leaves behind when she follows her father into a parallel world to save "dust", which her father believes is harmful to humans. Lyra has a different idea. She thinks that it is essential to human life and hopes to preserve it, thereby setting the reader up for the sequel. A good read indeed for young and old.

A very interesting book - with all the controversy surrounding it, I suppose I expected it to be a little more up-front with the themes that so many accused it of endorsing, most especially the anti-religion front.

But I didn't really get that feel from reading it - it is a very well-crafted book for young adults, beautifully written and descriptive and overall a good, engrossing read. Lyra is a strong young female character, which is so nice to see, and the story is full of action. The alternate world where Lyra lives is full of parallels to ours, but intriguing and different. This is truly a well-written fantasy that I really enjoyed reading.