Rating: 
Summary: Great
Review: This book is the best book I've ever read. The whole series is great I was sad whene the series ended. I think they should tottally make another one, but they probably wont but at least we get the movie whitch should be coming out in 2004.
Rating:
Summary: This has everything
Review: I am 42 years old, and read this book because my 10 year old son got it as a present from his older cousin. I couldn't put it down. It has chase scenes, suspense, ghosts, parallel worlds, philosophical questions, religious intrigue, a tiny little bit of dangerous sexual inuendo, flying witches and armourmed bears! What more could you want from a book?It is a fantasy book in that it takes place in a fantastic world, with familiar places and peoples that have been tweaked just a bit. Tartars, the Republic of Texas, and gyptians are all familiar, but also strange. I instantly related to these peoples and places, because they were sort-of known; but they also gave me a thrill of new discovery. As opposed to some fanatasy books where the author can get too clever, inventing extravagantly complex worlds, then inventing protagonists for those worlds, and then coming up with impossibly unique problems for those protagonists to solve in those worlds, Pullman has accomplished a marvel. He has created a world both familiar and strange, one in which I am both comfortable as well as disturbed. Entertaining, thought-provoking, and heart wrentching, this book is a treasure, and I will treasure reading it out loud to my son.
Rating:
Summary: The Golden Compass
Review: This book, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, is a great book. I like it because it contains tons of action, adventure, and trust. It's about a girl named Lyra and her daemon going on a quest to find out if dust, a mythical creature is friendly, neutral, or hostile. At the same time, they are trying to get close up to dust. They get information by eavesdropping through restricted doors. One of the doors she eavesdropped was the counslers room. The door opens. Quickly she hide behind the other side of the door. That was close. They try to get as much information as they can. She saves her worst nightmare, her dad, she gets captured buy polar bears, and she has a tough life.
The book starts off with Lyra and her daemon inside a restricted room. She investigates to see why students of this academy or anybody cannot be in the room. All of the sudden, the doorknob turns. Oh no! Read the book to find out what happens next. After that she has to go to school. This book contains action and adventure. Lyra is extremely tough, not giving without a fight.
This book tells us in life that you have a choice, the regular path, or the new path only made by yourself. In the story, people make many assumptions that dust, a mythical creature, is evil. Lyra tries to prove this assumption wrong. On her quest she makes some friends too. If you read this book you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Fantasy
Review: This book will draw you in first because of its endearing main character, a spunky heroine named Lyra, and then because of its amazing story. Pullman is one of the few writers I know who has successfully created a series that appeals to both intelligent kids and intelligent adults, and it is often classified under both sections in bookstores. (Don't mistake this book as 'for kids', however, as the story progresses into the sequel it becomes very thought provoking and raises contraversial topics that most fantasy writers avoid.) I won't ruin the plot for anybody by revealing too much, but I will say that this is one of my all-time favorite books, and I would recommend it to anybody with an imagination. The Golden Compass is the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, a series about parallel worlds, magic, and theology.
Rating: 
Summary: Parents of children under 16, beware
Review: Pullman is a master of story telling and imagery. The subject matter, however, is not appropriate for children depsite the book's cover which recommends the book for ages 10 and up. My objections? The heroine, Lyra, sets off to rescue her dear friend who has been kidnapped and is horrified when she learns that he was kidnapped for a religious experiment in which children are surgically separated from their deamons (external manifestations of their souls) which either kills the children or leaves them in a perpetual zombie-like state. The exiperiment has been performed countless times under the direction of . . . Lyra's mother. Lyra views her father with a mixture of admiration and fear. Her father never marries her mother even though he kills the man Lyra's mother is married to at the time of Lyra's conception. Until the end of the book he is portrayed as noble. His interests are similar to those of Lyra's mother, but his interest is portrayed as pure and academic in nature. In the end Lyra and the friend she rescued bring her father a tool they think he needs. In the dead of night he kidnaps the friend, and Lyra witnesses her father sacrificing her friend by separating him from his daemon to further his own scientific pursuits. This is a book that will teach children to be fearful, not hopeful. It will teach them that they are alone, not part of a family or community. It will teach them to distrust the adults in their lives, not turn to them for advice or assistance. Because the imagery is fabulous, the lessons are more readily learned.
Rating:
Summary: Golden Compass
Review: This book was great. At first it is a little hard to follow, you need to pay very close attention. The next two books in the series (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) are the same way. Awesome books, but if you miss something you are better off going back and starting over. I ended up reading the first book 3 times.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaing read
Review: A good book, both for adults and children. Not one of my favorites, however, it was good enough that I bought the other 2 books in the series. Well written, interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Not kiddy stuff but really kicks
Review: read it read it read it i tell you now. this triology is one of the best i have ever read. i'm an 8th grader and even though this is a book for young adults, you have to be more on the adult side to be able to read it and like it. While this book may have many controversial issues in it according to your religion, it never affected what i believe in. pullman has woven a web of a story so unique, that no ever spider will ever come close to this story. what more can i say?
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars All The Way
Review: It has been over a year since the last Harry Potter book, and disappointed fans are only reminded of this distressing fact by the recent media about the second Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. JK Rowling, the author, has made it clear that it will be at least another six months before we see Book 5 of the famous series. What is an impatient Potter aficionado to do? Don't worry folks, Philip Pullman's critically acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy contains more than enough magic and grandeur for the Harry Potter drought. Pullman is an amazing writer; the language is not childishly simple yet still describes each event in a breathtaking and lucid manner. Pullman richly deserves the Booker Prize he won recently (the first ever 'children's book' to win the main award) for the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass. The series as a whole cannot be labeled as 'children's books' because of their surface, for its allegorical nature lends itself to all generations.
The series starts with the book The Golden Compass, picks up momentum throughout the second installment The Subtle Knife, and comes to such a startling and exhilarating conclusion in The Amber Spyglass that the reader will be left breathless and aching for more. The Golden Compass begins with the introduction of the main character, 11-year-old orphan Lyra, eavesdropping on a meeting given by her uncle, Lord Asriel. He is giving a lecture to a group of scholars at Jordan College (Lyra's adopted home and part of Oxford) about a mystical entity known as "Dust." Though the substance is not completely understood, recent studies show that it gravitates towards adults and avoids children, almost as if it were conscious. Shortly after this odd meeting, children start disappearing all over the world. When Lyra's best friend Roger goes missing, Lyra resolves to find him. Sounds like a typical child adventure, right? Girl goes off, saves her friend, and they live happily ever after? Answer: You couldn't be farther from the truth. Part of the puzzle is that a rather odd friend accompanies Lyra on her journey. Her fuzzy friend, known as a daemon, is the physical embodiment of her soul. Everyone in Lyra's world has a daemon. They take the form of an animal, which can change when the owner is child, but will stay fixed as an adult. For example, a servant's may be a dog, as a sign of obedience. Lyra's world is a parallel universe, one strikingly similar but not identical to our own. Lyra has another "companion" with her on her quest: an alethiometer given to her by the president of Jordan College. This "golden compass" will answer any question asked of it through a series of symbols. For some puzzling reason, only Lyra can interpret the ancient device. And so Lyra embarks on this quest, unaware of the prophesy she is fulfilling, the worlds that rest on her shoulders, or the timeless battle she will help to fight. The characters she meets along the way advance the storyline. Pullman constantly adds new dimensions to these individuals, which keeps the reader's interest. There is the evil Mrs. Coulter, whose true character is never accurately understood until the trilogy's final chapters. The seemingly honest and open Uncle Asriel is developed further and leaves the reader intrigued until the end. Most importantly there is Will Parry, the 12-year-old boy introduced in The Subtle Knife whose fate is mysteriously intertwined with Lyra's. Even Lyra's friend Roger has a crucial part in this tale of heaven and earth, right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate, and hope and despair. Though I would hate to shock the JK Rowling fans out there, this book is a must-read and in many respects greater even than the famous Harry Potter series. Don't think you'll agree? Read the His Dark Materials trilogy and see for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: Action Packed and Perfect for Young Adults
Review: Anyone could read these books and like them! They're action packed, exciting, and you fall in love with the characters. Lyra, half wild-child, lives at Jordan College, not knowing who her parents are. She's wild, she's free, and she does what she wants with an edge of authority. One day, she and her dæmon Pan go into a room that allows no females. Pan thinks it's a bad idea but Lyra is curious... then they get caught by Lord Asriel. Lyra finds out interesting things which starts her on her journey of finding out about mysterious Gobblers that take young children...
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