Rating: 
Summary: Okay, a little uncomfortable though
Review: When I first read this book, I liked it a lot. So a lot of you may like it too. The book tells of a girl named Lyra and her daemon, her animal companion who shares adventures with her in the Arctic. However, Some parts of it made me feel uncomfortable, because I am a Christian. The book seems to hint that the Church is evil, and it re-words the Bible. It also has stuff about witches and ghosts. Otherwise it seems fine. However, I don't recomend that you read it. Although it seems okay, it leaves you wondering what happens and wanting to read the next book. And I was majorly disapointed with the Subtle Knife. It trashes God and says he is evil, and it encourages rebellion. It says that God can be destroyed with a knife. If you are a Christian, or any other person for that matter, I would say stay away of the other books. This one isn't so bad, but be on your guard.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Wow! I must admitt, this is probably the best book I've ever read in my entire life. Philip Pullman isn't afraid to make this book completely not sappy. It is dificult to read and he makes it seem like the characters are alive. This book is origional or how ever you spell that. Sorry I'm pretty young so I don't spell things too well. The Golden Compass and the rest of the triliogy is probably 9th grade level. This book leads you to the shocking end conclusion that will leave you hanging for the rest of your life. So please just for me, read this triliogy, you wont regret you did. This book is probably a close tie with the Harry Potter books and all who like the Genre of Adventure or Fantacy must read this. I loved it and I belive I could go on and on about it so please get reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Not that great...
Review: I fully expect to be hanged, drawn, quartered for this, and possibly stoned too, but nevertheless, I'm going to grit my teeth and say it- I didn't care very much for this book.Yep, I can see it now, the legions of devoted Pullman fans racing down to tar and feather me. But please, before you begin, hear me out. This was not a bad book. It certainly was not the worst I have ever read, but it was by no means the best. I have read worse fantasy, but I have also read much, much better books from the same genre. What didn't I like? Well, first off, the alternate universe thing confused me. Lyra, the heroine, lives in this weird sort of other universe, which is very similar to our own, except that everyone in it has a daemon, a sort of "visible soul." The result of this is that Oxford, London, and zeppelins will be mentioned almost in the same sentence as daemons and anbaric lights. This creates a strange, surreal universe, that contains no depth, reality, or believability. There is no sense of an actual living, breathing world, with the result that the characters cease to be real, concrete people, and their adventures become silly and improbable. Now granted, this is fantasy we're talking about here, so the events in the story are not going to be typical things that could happen to anybody anytime. But compare this world with the wonderful Middle Earth of Tolkien's books. Middle Earth is real, it is concrete. It is replete with different cultures, each with their own language, history, mythology, and customs. It is belivable, so that its characters and their adventures are also belivable. When reading Tolkien, I have no problem beliving that the hobbit Frodo is being pursued by evil black horsemen to the house of wise and beautiful elves. When reading Pullman, I cannot bring myself to believe that Lyra is floating in a hot air balloon above a country full of talking bears. It doesn't ring true. Another thing I didn't like was the characters. Lyra started out all right, as a fun loving, spunky tomboy. But she quickly lost her sparkle and faded to an unremarkable character. I ceased to care that much about what happened to her. That was the problem I had with most of the characters. They all had some defining traits, yes, but were not nearly as varied and diverse as in other books. And as for Lord Asriel- he's consistently portrayed as being noble and honorable, with pure and academic motives. yet he conceives a child with a married woman he never weds, murders her husband, conducts hideous experiments on children, betrays his daughter, and kidnaps her friend. What's wrong with this picture? This book was all right. The beginning was very good, and it did hold my interest enough so that I finished it. But even then, by the time I got to the end I was starting to grow bored with the whole thing, read the last pages hurriedly. It gave me a little enjoyment, but I don't feel any pressing need, or really any need at all, to read the sequels. The flatness and unreality of the world and its characters don't encourage me to continue reading this series. My advice to prospective readers? It's all right, but you're much better off with the far superior "Lord of the Rings."
Rating: 
Summary: The beginning
Review: The Golden Compass is a book that is a cliffhanger, but you will be able to find out what happens in the other two books (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass). The book?s main character is a girl named Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantamalion. When the book begins, they are in the study that the scholars go into after dinner. They watch the head master of Jordon College put a type of poison in the wine of Lyra?s uncle, Lord Asriel. When Lyra saves her uncle?s life, she is entrusted to watch the master of the college. After that, the next major event is that Lyra acquires an alethiometer, a device that tells the truth when you ask it a question. Then she meets Mrs. Colter, who is Lyra?s role model at first. At one off her parties, Mrs. Colter shows her true self to Lyra. There are many other well-developed characters in this book, but you are going to have to read the book to find out. The Golden Compass is the most suspenseful out of the three books, so read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Great fantasy elements, great story, over all a good read
Review: I'd like to start off saying this is a great read, Phillip Pullman is a master story teller. His wolrd is colorful and the story itself is gripping and enthralling, it'll be hard for any reader to put it down. The fantasy elements are one of two things that should be highlighted in this book, the witches, the armored bears, and most of all the daemons are all unique and imaginative creations, not to mention you'll find yourself wondering what kind of deamon you'd have.
The second highlight isa bit different. For all those readers who don't want to trouble with a kids book, I recommend it anyway. Though it may seem a simple story, it underlines a profound outlook on the idea of the 'authority,' the higher being that rules our destiny, does it control us utterly? in the end can we truthfully escape destiny? There are a couple of other ideas present in the book, yet better than my telling you what these are would be that you read this book and find them yourself ;)
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: This is one of my all time favorites. I love fantasy books, and this is one that will really keep you interested. I enjoyed Pullmans vision of a world like ours but so fundamentally different. The whole idea really appealed to my curiousity. I read this whole series before I read Harry Potter, and while they have a lot in common, The Golden Compass and the rest of the triology are really for more mature readers. Pullman's views on religion really don't come out so much in this book, but once you read this one, you will definately want to continue, so beware. I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone under 13. All in all, a thought provoking and entertaining book.
Rating:
Summary: It's been two days and I'm still thinking about the ending.
Review: ... The first 200 pages things seemed kind of slow and being a boy I wasn't so much into the tomboy character of Lra. There's a lot of time spent on describing the suroundings that I think can be boring. ... But I will say that when Golden picks up, you can't put it down. And the ending of this book is brilliant. It leaves you with such wonder and excitment that you'll want to dive right into the next book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best......
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. A great plot, and great detail. If you liked the Harry Potter series, you are going to like this. As Phillip Pullman leads you and Lyra, one of the main characters, you will really undersatnd what he is writing and can imagaine what is happening looks like. From the start of her adventure, to the end that leaves you coming back for more, this is a wonderfully imaginable book. You can really see what thier world looks like and everything tat happenes. Some books leave out parts, for instance, one page they are in the US next, Antartica. Here though, there is never a detail left out. Lyra is a young girl. She has a deamon like everyone else. But she is different. From here wanting to go to the north to when she getts there, you reaqlize why the fate of the world may hang on her.
Rating:
Summary: Best Series Ever!
Review: WOW! This book was incredable. It is fast, easy reading. It is a great plot with great characters. It gets you hooked from the begining. You'll want to read it again and again. When my sister tried to read it, I stole it from her so I could read it again. The sequals are just as good, too. This book should be on everyone's must read list.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific sf-fantasy for young readers *OR* adults . . .
Review: Partly because I'm a librarian, I've been reading children's literature and young adult books all my life, and the mark of a successful YA story is that it's just as enjoyable and satisfying for an adult as for a kid. In this first volume of a trilogy, Pullman definitely meets that standard. It's described as a "fantasy," but it's actually an alternate universe tale, and that becomes explicit late in the book. Lyra Belacqua is an eleven-year-old terror living in Jordan College in her world's version of Oxford University, lording it over the servant-class kids, staging mud battles with the "gyptian" kids who work the narrowboats on the river, and generally having a good old time. Then (by being where she shouldn't be) she overhears her uncle, Lord Asriel, an extremely dominating character, tell the Jordan Scholars about the Aurora in the far north, and the origin of Dust, and the possibility of building a bridge to the other world that's visible through the Aurora. And Lyra's life suddenly becomes much more interesting and dangerous (and cold). She's marked out by her special abilities with the alethiometer, which always tells the truth, and by her ability to get around anyone. Pullman has created some terrific characters here, especially Iorek Byrnison, the king of the armored bears, and the viciously evil Mrs. Coulter, and Serafina Pekkala, the witch queen. The evil forces in this book come from the Church, which I don't find at all difficult to accept. (Pullman has been condemned by numerous established religious groups for his opinions and viewpoints.) Most fascinating of all, though, is the concept of the daemon, a sort of human soul outside the person, which takes the shape of an animal and which is intimately connected with its human in a way that's difficult for the daemon-less to fully understand. But having a daemon is what defines a human being and it's the most fundamental difference between Lyra's world and ours.
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