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Summary: For Lover's of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter...
Review: Seldom has any novel been able to capture your heart, and take you on the ride of your life like Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Those of us who are in love with Harry Potter and his world of magic, as well as Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings, will quickly identify with the child protagonstic of this book, Lyra Belaqua. Set in a world somewhat different from our own, the story follows Lyra as she goes in search of her missing friend (and other missing children) and encounters all sorts of adventures. Pullman does a tremendous job with this book, taking lovable characters and piting them against the forces of evil in a story that will leave you breathless. Don't consult your Alethiometer, just read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Epic Tale - Nothing Short of Amazing!
Review: I stared reading The Golden Compass on the recommendation of my thirteen-year-old daughter, and I must say, the book is absolutely wonderful!! The ending of book one just has you grabbing for book two right away!! I was a big fan of Tolkein and CS Lewis growing up, and to this day, I still enjoy those books, and this series will be taking their place alongside those classics. I find that this book will not only appeal to the young adults, but more so to adults, who still have room in their lives for the mystery, magic and fantasy of life. I do believe that adults will far more appreciate the subtle contrasts to mythology and theology. As far as the negative reviews I have read, my opinion is to disregard them and read this book for what it is - pure imagination, creativity and fantasy as an absolutely wonderful tale, which just pulls you in deeper with each chapter. Lyra, the protagonist, is an all-encompassing character, which has the reader cheering for her bravery, her ingenuity, her courage, and her love. Pullman portrays a very strong female heroine, which will appeal to all of the young female readers. Just when you think Lyra cannot do it, she pulls it off with all of her strength mustered to do it. The aspect of everyone having their own "daemon" is fascinating and makes me think of the Native American shamans with their "power animals", along with shape shifting as well. The shamans and their power animals together heal and bring healing to those who seek his or her counsel. Pullman's world in The Golden Compass can be compared to Milton's Paradise Lost or even to themes in Christianity, but to go and tear apart this book, based on the Christianity premise, is to miss the beauty and genius of this book. The themes of good vs. evil, can be seen throughout the book in numerous instances - the witches, the armored bears, Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel. Pullman's theme is older than time, and just relevant today as it was in Lyra's world. It has been a long time in which I have read an "epic" novel, which transported me to another world, which was so believable. Pullman's characters are believable, as are the personalities of their daemons and the world in which they all live. I highly recommend this book for those adults who still believe in fantasy and of course the young teens will find this book highly charged, adventurous and an amazing adventure which will have them reading the other books in the series! As for my daughter, she is now reading all of Pullman's books, which has now lead her to Tolkein. I am onto book two! Bravo Pullman!!!
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Series
Review: After having read all 3 books of the series, I would rate the Golden Compass as the best, not necessarily that it is better written or more exciting than the others. But the story line is clearest here at the beginning.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip this book
Review: Decent writing but the authors anti-Christian bias shows through too much. Our family was not looking for a religious book, but we didn't want one hostile to our faith. Get into the REDWALL series instead. It is far better!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: Interesting recycled cosmologies are found here and mixed up into a penny dreadful soup. More character development would be nice, and it's a trifle gloomy, but this first book will engage ones' interest before it crashes and burns in the next two installments. I was led to these books by the "Potter" thing but found myself awash in a pulp swamp here with no comic relief and zero redemption in the end except some vague adolescent yawnings. If your life is a purgatory you might get some escape out of this, but there's more fun things one could dig up to read.
Rating:
Summary: wow!
Review: It certainly was an ambitious idea: a reworking of Paradise Lost, aimed at young adults, with children as its heroes. Not that it's evident in this, the first book of the trilogy, that that's what it is, but there are unmistakeable signs of *something* tremendous coming in the sequels.
This book did not grab hold of me right from the first page, but rather reeled me in slowly as Pullman's wonderfully imaginative world was revealed. A few chapters in, I was hooked.
A lot of reviewers have made remarks about this book's treatment of religion. I'm going to stay away from that topic, except to say that if you think the real Christian Church was never oppressive, you've got an awfully idealized view of history.
What is really worth mentioning is the whole concept of the daemon: an animal companion that is the physical manifestation of the soul, able to shape-shift during childhood, but taking a fixed form, reflecting the person's character, when they grow up. What an enchanting idea! Makes me wonder what form my daemon would take, if I had one. They're interesting, too, but more so in the second book, when characters from our own, daemon-less world are introduced into the story.
The society of the armoured bears, too, is wonderfully imaginative. Tough, honest warrior-types, the bears' souls are in their armour, which they make themselves. They never lie, never break oath, and cannot be fooled. But what happens when their king tires of being a bear?
And still, all of this is but background to the actual story, about a girl out to rescue her lost friend, on her way to a destiny she knows nothing of, armed only with an alethiometer (an instrument of divination), and her own spunk.
Pullman's writing style is absolutely captivating. Lyra is a complex, believable little girl, sometimes selfish and sometimes noble, a touchingly innocent little hell-raiser. I actually found myself re-reading some passages, because they were so well-written, so perfectly capturing the different facets of Lyra and the other characters.
"Lyra, intrigued and eager to fly, held [the cloud-pine] above her head and jumped, and ran about in the snow trying to be a witch."
It really was as though I was actually there with Lyra. I was awed by the witches, relieved to have Iorek Byrnison's protection, heartbroken at the end... and that golden monkey really did give me the creeps.
A great book, and the sequels only get bigger, broader, and better.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant.
Review: The fact that a book's protagonist is a child doesn't necessarily mean that the book is for children, and this book is wonderfully complex and intriguing for any adult with a taste for fantasy. The caveat is that it's terribly frustrating to get to the end and not have the next book at hand; the frustration is even more intense with "The Subtle Knife," the second book of the trilogy. Certainly, the final book, "The Amber Spyglass," isn't for kids (unless they're remarkably mature), dealing as it does with the war against God (the "Authority") by humans, angels, and beings from other dimensions. This can be an extremely confusing concept for anyone with a conventional religious upbringing--even some adults. (Comparisons with "Harry Potter" are beside the point--this is an entirely different kind of story, with more violence and a wider span of time and space.)
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Summary: Excellent trilogy, but closed-minded Christians beware...
Review: This is one of the most fascinating and compelling books I have ever read. I was also 18 years old when I first read it. The controversy over His Dark Materials being marketed as children's books is a fair one: I simply do not believe that they are. Many of the reviews on this site written by children younger than 14 or so speak of their fascination with the world that Pullman has created: daemons, magic, etc, a seeming paradise for any child. While these are all prominent themes in the books, the true story goes much, much deeper than that into a complex battle against the cruelty of "God" and his followers - a story based on Milton's "Paradise Lost", with a great deal of references that will simply soar over the heads of young readers. This book doesn't quite make it clear, but as many passionate Christians have pointed out, this is not a book to read if you are extremely closed-minded about Christianity and God. You will most likely find the Church of Lyra's world offensive and the portrayal of its followers "blasphemous," and truly, this book is far too excellent to be unappreciated. If you're over the age of 12 (though gifted readers may enjoy it), have a love of fantasy, an open mind toward different interpretations of Christianity and the Book of Genesis, and can recognize an excellent story when you find it, His Dark Materials is definitely for you. Otherwise, turn back to your Narnia books and pretend you never saw this one, though it may give you the shaking up you need. :)
Rating:
Summary: Quite good.
Review: The Golden Compass is a very enjoyable read with engaging characters, an interesting alternate world, and some fascinating ideas. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wept through a couple of scenes--Pullman writes well and unflinchingly without mincing details or prettying things up, and the result is poignant and beautiful writing that rings true in the mind of the reader. That said, this wonderfully-written book still feels somehow incomplete, with too many things begun and too few resolved. It begins rather than ends, making it feel like Part 1 rather than Book 1. Perhaps my opinion will change once I acquire the other two books, as The Golden Compass is evidently a book that needs to be taken as part of a whole. In this aspect it's more comparable to the Amber series by Roger Zelazny than to, say, the Harry Potter books.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: I have never read anything quite like it. From the very beginning you're hooked. I could barely peel my eyes away from it. I found it amazing, full of gut-renching phrases, characters to die for(especially Lyra and her daemon, Pantilimon)-all out spectacular! I recommend this to all, young and old. It was a bit mature in some parts, but don't get discouraged if you're a young reader! If I could, I'd give 10000000 ect. stars.
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