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Summary: An Armored Talking Bear
Review: I too looked for something after Harry Potter # 4 and found through the Newsweek review "The Goden Compass" and proceeded to read the trilogy. The armored talking bear was my favorite character. For 12 and up! A fun fantasy ride.
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Summary: His Dark Materials: Not just for Children
Review: This trilogy is one of the most enjoyable stories I have read in a long time. Suspenseful. Scary. Complex. Sad. Interesting, multi-dimensional characters. Thought-provoking: Is organized religion inherently evil? What happens when we die? Are there other worlds out there? Does love and truth conquer all? Heavy stuff. Add to all this the fascinating journey of Lyra to meet her destiny. It's that good. I'm not exagerating.I am 39 years old. I realize these books are marketed for young adults, but readers aged 12 and up will enjoy them. (My daughter who is 12 read them with me and although I had to explain a few things to her, she loved them as much as I did.)
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Summary: Truely Amazing Novels
Review: These books are absolutely astounding. Pullman is truely a talented writer. His characters are developed so throughly and his themes have such depth that I think these should be classified as adult novels. There are many mature themes, not inapropriate at all, but deep and mature concepts, including religous conflicts and quantum physics. I would reccomend these books to older children, teens, and adults. I will note, .... I highly reccomend these books to anyone who has an open mind. Also, although I love them, I think these are even better than Harry Potter, and they'll tide you over till number five!
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Summary: Don't Let The Marketing Men Fool You!
Review: ...because this is not the next 'Harry Potter'. This is pretty bog-standard 'childrens' fantasy which is to say, mediocre. Please trust me on all I say about these books because I expected to really enjoy it. A children's book where children are not presented facts as if they were in black and white! Where they are not being patronised, which can consider the fundamental questions that have been asked since the dawn of time... The basic problem with the trilogy is this (read the blurb and the suspcion might have already dawned on you): Pullman has overreached himself. These books are trying to tackle some heavy topics and for 3/4 of the way new ideas are constantly being introduced and hints are made at coming themes. In the last 1/4 he is unable to pull these together satisfactorily. Some are discarded all together and there is a reliance upon deus ex machina and occurances which seem incoherent. Now I am actually an atheist but Pullmans anti-religious tub-thumping irritated even me. It is as reductionist and dogmatic as the most hateful religious screed. The work itself cannot fulfill the standards that it seems to be demanding of others. Also, I am 22 and I found the whole thing ludicrously hard to follow, how is a child or even an adolescent going to fully understand it? It may be that it doesn't really make that much sense or that I was to stupid to comprehend (I did find it quite tedious and was not reading quite as attentively as I might have been). I suspect the former but saying that it is more complex than it should be is still a valid complaint. Let's just say that the main story arc does not justify the compexity of the details. My main complaint I suppose is this: there is not one single likable character in there, I am tempted to say that Pullman couldn't create one if his life depended upon since he his only interested in pushing his propoganda. Lyra, stupid and selfish to the end. Will, stupid, stubborn and boring to the end. How could I care what happened to them? And all the other characters (save the angel sidekick) did nothing but wander around making ominous statements of great portent. How are you supposed to keep the reader on-side if you cannot even keep a shred of a connection to the real world? And since part of the story's big 'innovation' was that it was never quite clear who was good and who was evil the outcome of the battle between these thoroughly unpleasant characters is never a matter of great concern for the reader. It's also unbearably smug. It revells in its own ability to cover physics, religion and history in the style of Umberto Eco but with not 1/10th of the heart. (*SPOILER* this is an example of the kind of having it all your own way thing the book wants to do. Basically, organised religion is like 'this' i.e. exactly the way the books say it is. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel! But consider this Mr. Pullman, if those beings which the Church tells us are 'angels' are actually just grumpy, fallible dead people in your version than what gives you the right to call them 'angels'? Maybe the 'God' of your version- who is not all powerful as it turns out- is not the 'God' of the church? You cannot take theological terms but make up your own definitions I'm afraid. That's intellectually dishonest.) That being said, it kept me reading until I had completed all 3 books. It is only the anti-climax if the finale that makes you realise, in hindsight, that it wasn't very good. And lots of other people seem to like it. But I just want to say that before you get it: Unlike 'Harry Potter', these books are far from pressing the universal "It's good!" button. Don't believe the hype!
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Summary: A bad finish
Review: This could have been one of the great fantasy novels. Despite a great start with The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, the third book is a failure. The plot winds everywhere. The fantasy world Pullman creates makes less and less sense, as characters in what appeared to be a Victorian age in the first books are suddenly dealing with references to "atomic bombs." Armies try to war against high tech weapons with gas filled zepplins. The "solution" to freeing the ghosts from the world of the dead is totally unsatisfying. The story just doesn't work, despite Pullman's tremendous imagination, beautiful writing style and flair for characterization. For those who feel as I do, I recommend novels such as James Stoddard's "The High House," which hasn't received as much publicity, but is a far better read.
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Summary: Pullman Trilogy
Review: Mr. Pullman's trilogy is well-crafted, although his inventions fade rapidly after reading (unlike Lewis's Narnia, which remains mint-bright in the mind). The trilogy is also teeming with religious hatred, specifically of Christianity and Christians. As a parent, a college professor, and someone who respects all religions, I find this incomprehensible and unacceptable. I would strongly recommend that parents avoid buying these books for their children; if a child does read this trilogy, parents and educators should make every effort to point out to the child Mr. Pullman's bigotry, and perhaps discuss the dangers of all prejudice: religious, racial, ethnic, national, and so on.
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Summary: Best Science Fiction Book Ever Made
Review: John Forstbauer
10/25/01
English 9
Ms. Feild Title: The Golden Compass
Author: By Philip Pullmam The Golden Compass is a page turning science fiction book. It just kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I personally don't enjoy reading a lot but this book actually made me want to read longer and longer.
The book is about a little girl called Lyra who is about twelve years old. She lives at a collage called Jorden Collage with a lot of scholes. Then one night at the collage Lyra overheard a statement that would change her life forever. The talk was about an extradinary element, microscopic in size. Lyra heard that this partical called dust could unite whole universes, but it was only found in the vast parts of the northern artic. But some people were scared of dust and wanted to detroy it.
Lyra realised her destiny was to find the dust. When the Lord of the collage was arrested, he gave a golden compass to Lyra that was called a antiemeter. This compass possessed the power to answer any question that you asked it. It does this by pointing to three different pictures or symbols with three different hands. Only a few people knew how to read the compass so Lyra struggled to teach herself how to understand it. When Lyra set off for the north she was helped by Gyptions, which were people, Withes and giant armored bears, which were polar bears with special armor and great strength. Lyra was forced to fight many battles against an evil person called Ms. Coutler, who wants to take all of the dust for herself and use it to create a new universe.
The author also used some literary terms such as foreshadowing. He used this element when he said,"Isoric will become king of the bears again." That was foreshadowing because Isoric did become king of the armored bears later on when he killed the new king to gain the thrown.
The whole time Lyra hadn't the faintest clue that she alone was destined to win or lose a battle that would change the universe forever.
My personal opinion of this book is that it was an excellent book and that it was very exiting. I gave it two thumbs up. If you are looking for a great science fiction book, this is the one to read. I would have to say it is one of my favorite books ever.
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Summary: The 1st book I ever cried for..hoping not to read the ending
Review: My only comment for it is "The first book I ever cried for... hoping not to read the ending..." And for Philip Pullman. He was the best story-teller ever...
He pulled my dream out to the visibility of the truly best writer. And I owe British Council the greatest thanks of my timeless life. These 3 books would never have come to my hand if I didn't find the first book in this trilogy at the British Council's library. Please pass this on to anybody who love reading the story fulfilled with unlimited fantasy based on the quantum physics theory and the colorful fondness, and the perfect plot living by the trustfully strong, spiritual characters in the story ever written in the human history
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Summary: Enchanting Read
Review: This series is a cross between Paradise Lost and Chronicles of Narnia, and I think it is a wonderful read for adults as well as teens. His Dark Materials pulls you into another world entirely, and I was captivated from the beginning of the first book to the end of the third. The Golden Compass takes place in a world different from ours, The Subtle Knife shows us how many different worlds including ours are intertwined, and then The Amber Spyglass introduces the spiritual/ immortal worlds. The colorful worlds achieve an amazing dimension unlike most books- you feel as if you are reading something that creates a 4 or 5 dimensional feel and not just 3-D.
This series is much darker than many fantasy books, and I would not recommend it for children under the age of 12. I do, however, recommend it to all teens and adults alike.
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Summary: While good...a few thoughts
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this series, though I am certain I still don't completely grasps its intracies or the ultimate moral, if there is one. May I caution religious readers that this book may pass a few boundaries, and though it is for young adult readers, it may be troublesome to young readers, more so than Harry Potter. Some imagery left me thinking of nightmarish things, and I'm not religious or young. This said, however, like Milton, I feel that everyone should read this series, for all the parallels it draws, all the metaphors it makes and all the feelings it stirs. I'm very glad I read it, and I think that it will stick with me for some time.
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