Rating: 
Summary: A great read!! A great set-up for an adventure!!
Review: The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials-Book I by Phillip Pullman, was a book presented to our class College English class reward for a semester of literature that would be considered far from ordinary. I thought that because it was supposed to be so different from our other assignments this year (Geometric Regional Novel, No Saints or Angels, Search for M) that it would be a typical coming of age story about a girl in early 19th century England. A mildly disengaging novel, nothing but your average vacation book. However as with the theme of our class, it turned out to be anything but ordinary.
The main character Lyra, quickly hooks the reader with her quirky, tomboyish charms and shenanigans. The tales of her escapades told through the narration of a child are deliciously vivid and convincing. The idea that all humans have a life long, external companion in the form of an animal is wonderful. The daemons allow for the reader to see the feeling of the characters more vividly than if these "soul creatures" were internal.
The changing of the daemon when the human is a child and it's stabilization as the human reaches adulthood is a precise metaphor for adolescence. The situation where the daemon takes an active role in the activity was a brilliant way for the author to verbalize the conflict of conscience and inner dialogue for the reader.
The conflict with the authorities, of which there are many in the novel, is easily relatable to our own reality. The conflict with the church is central to the novel and the Lyra's spirituality. Her confusion concerning her own identity and the insights given to the audience as to the girl's destiny creates an exciting suspense that will drive many readers, including myself to read on in this saga. The ending of the story is a cliff hanger, but all will be well as soon as I can get a hold of Pullmans next book The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials -Book II .
Rating: 
Summary: Not just a book, but an experience!
Review: This is my first review of anything, ever, and I'm proud to write it about one of the most astounding fantasy books that I've ever read!The first thing that caught my attention about this book was the fact that it seemed so fresh. I avoided reading it for a long time, because I was afraid it would be a cheesy, run-of-the-mill fantasy. I couldn't have been further from the truth. To me, the most important thing about a fantasy book is it's ability to make the characters and world feel absolutely real, as if, perhaps, you were the one living in a fantasy world. Pullman's style plants you into his world as firmly as if you had been born in it. He doesn't fawn over his own creations, but gets down to the nitty-gritty, plunging right into the plot. You don't have time to worry about why humans have daemons, and how the heck bears can have armor. Ok, you do wonder, but it's written so beautifully, that you are swept away with it, allowing these mysteries to drift to the back of your mind, knowing that it will all be explained in good time. This, of course, only works if you are a patient person, like I am! Pullman's realism extends into character development as well. Emotions are placed openly on the table, available for you to gasp in fear along with the heroine as she is anticipating being separated from a cherished companion, or to holler with joy as she escapes another daunting situation. There are much more complex situations as well, leading to feelings of guilt and confusion. The reader will also feel angry or confused, and sometimes hate the author for what he is doing. I think that that is the most important part of the writer/reader relationship: the ability of the writer to transmit difficult emotions to the reader, without withhold anything, for fear of hurting his 'dear characters'. Of course, this brings up the question of the appropriateness of this book for children. This is the way that I look at it: children deal with difficult emotions and situations. Shielding them from those things will not help them grow up stronger. Letting them experience these through a book, which can then be discussed with thier parents, will help them gain mastery over their feelings, instead of being afraid of them. The heroine of the book, even with some shortcomings such as stubborness and 'roughness', is essentially a good, caring child, and a person willing to help the people she cares about, even if sacrificing her own safety. She can be a good role model. The second question of appropriateness is the heavy religious/spiritual influence on the story. This is more difficult for me to address. I would say that this is up to the parents of the child. If the parents themselves have some sort of religious preferences, and still want to allow thier child to read the book, they may want to discuss with him or her, how the book is just an example of one persons opinion, and also, since it is fiction, it would tend to stretch things out of proportion. If you feel that you have a strong case against the main themes of the book, then this would be the perfect opportunity to discuss with your child why you disagree with the author's ideas. Finally, I would like to wrap this up by saying that I am certainly lucky to have the chance to have read such a rich and complex tale, and would recommend it to anyone willing to leave our world, and get a taste of Phillip Pullman's complex universe!
Rating:
Summary: late to the party
Review: I'm coming late to this popular fantasy trilogy, of which THE GOLDEN COMPASS is the first part. The setting is a world very much like but not entirely our own. Lyra, a young girl raised in the halls of an Oxford college, is hurled into a massive effort by the Church to reverse original sin (called "Dust"). The plans involve kidnapping children and separating them from their daemons, the animal projections of their soul.
Both of Lyra's parents are involved in the effort to understand Dust, and indeed Lyra's father may have discovered a portal to another world. THE GOLDEN COMPASS is often marketed to young adults, but the concerns are really adult. At what moment do we "grow up", how do we change? What is it that separates adults from children? There's high adventure but also a philosophical journey, and I look forward to reading the second & third volumes. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Quality writing, but not for children
Review: I give Pullman 4 stars for the literary quality of this work and the fantastic imagination that produced it. But this product is not appropriately marketed; the story is often sadistically gory and suffused with a spirit of rank bitterness that is highly inappropriate for its stated tween target audience. I'm no prude - I love the Lemony Snicket books and I'm a big fan of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton. But there's nothing fun or ironic about the violence and grisliness of this book. One section of the book, for instance, talks about ripping out a person's lungs and replacing them with a manual pump so the person lives in constant fatigue and agony. Parents who care about the moral lessons their children learn from their books should also take note that the main child hero is a rebellious tart who encourages getting drunk, and the main adult hero is a violent, wrathful man prone to beating children. (Anger seems to be listed among his virtues.) I've heard that this series later nosedives into anti-Christian propaganda, and while that theme is muted in the first book, there is clearly a worldview based on animism and occult spirituality. Given the overall grisly and serious tone of the book, I take that vision seriously, unlike similar criticisms some have leveled at the Harry Potter books. In short, this is quality writing that seems to stem from a philosophically and emotionally troubled mind. Its proper appeal is for adults who like dark-themed literature. For that audience, I give it 4 stars. But this book is absolutely not for children. There is absolutely no benefit to putting this type of material into developing minds.
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Summary: BEST SERIES EVER
Review: i LOVED this series. Even though i'm still on the second book [The Subtle Knife] i still absolutely love it and i know the Amber spyglass will be just as awesome as well. The book sequences everything very well just so that you can even picture it yourself and a lot of the stuff is just very clever like you would never have known that would happen. It's sort of like a movie [I WISH THEY MADE A MOVIE OF THIS]. I swear you can't even put this book down. I read this book whenever i had the chance because it was just that good. I know it might be a surprise but i think this series is better than the Harry POtter series because it was more advanced. I mean Harry Potter was awesome too but i dunno just different. But either way, i recommend this book to anyone who wants a really good fantasy book that will keep them coming for more!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, haunting, and exciting
Review: The Golden Compass is a story abot Lyra, a young girl who lives in a world similar to ours but different in many ways. She is content to live free among of the scholars of Jordon College in Oxford. However, she gets caught up in a journey filled with ice and snow in the frigid Northern reaches of Svalbard. With the golden compass quiding her the way, she meets witches, armoured bears, severed children, the King, and even finds the mystery to a special paricle called Dust. This all leads to it's wonderful climax and the setup for the next two books The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. This book was an absolute rollar coaster to read and has many twists and turns. However, what bothers me is not the book itself but what the publishers advertise it for. This is NOT a children's book. The plot can be extremely dark and often very violent. (The battle between Iorek and Iofur made my jaw drop) I'm 15 and I was thinking to myself, "Wow, a 8-10 year old kid couldn't handle this. This is waaaaay above their heads." I'm behind this book 100%. If you love the books, hold on to your hats because the His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass THE MOVIE will be out in 2005. Buy this book. You won't regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Uninspired.
Review: "Start with a character, and you'll find you've got a type. Start with a type, and you'll find you've got nothing." In "The Golden Compass" Philip Pullman writes 'types', not characters. I struggled through hundreds of pages wondering why in the world I was supposed to like Lyra. I didn't, and I still don't. Why? She's a type, not a character. She's an icon of childhood ideals of sorts. A spritely, lively, free-spirited, exuberant thing. ie.) Moderately uninteresting caricature of childlike innocence. Pullman writes children like somebody who's studied them in psychology texts in order to write for them, but has never spoken to one. The writing otherwise is solid, and locales are nicely rendered, but I got bored fast with the use of his characters as nothing but wooden puppets to hang his pseudo-spiritual/metaphysical ideas and gadgets on. His personal philosophies are the real star of these stories, and it quickly becomes tiresome. Good essay material, yes. Compelling storytelling? Not really. Too much is arbitrary or unexplained besides. Why are there talking bears in a world otherwise grounded in realism, when other animals are just that? What IS dust anyway? You'll be three hundred pages in before you realize not a compelling word of explanation has been offered yet. String a reader along long enough, and he'll just stop caring. I was waist-deep in this story when I just stopped caring. The longer it got, the more acutely, annoyingly aware I became that this story was subdivided to cover three books for commercial reasons. The Golden Compass is, putting it simply, chock full of filler meant to spread the narrative thin enough to sell two more episodes. What ARE daemons? What about Iorek and the bears? Dust? Mrs Coulter? Ultimately, a lot more questions are raised than answered, but I simply stopped caring about the outcome. I don't think I'll be purchasing the next two books. Pullman is popular because his themes appeal to the present social/philosophical prejudices of the literary establishment. But that really doesn't change the fact that it's all pretty hamfisted, archetypical, and just plain uninteresting as a story. Neat ideas (though admittedly, blatant propaganda) marred by very average storytelling and one-dimensional characters. Stick to Rowling, Tolkien, and Lewis, not necessarily in that order.
Rating:
Summary: Deamons armored bears and more
Review: Philip Pullman's Golden compass is one of the best books I have ever read. The golden compass is extremly detailed. You can feel he charicters emotions. Lyra starts out in a humble beging one desision starts of the whole book. The Golden Compass is slow in the [begining] but it realy gets going in a little bit.
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Summary: the first of the fantastic fantasy series
Review: The Golden Compass is a book that is meant for young readers, and with good reason. The moment I started reading the book I was enwrapped in the talk of war, a mysterious death plot, and the barbarian-like nature of the main character Lyra Belacqua. Lyra finds herself climbing about the rooftops and meandering down into the streets of Oxford with her friend Roger, in a parallel world that is not unlike our own. After being orphaned, she is brought up among the scholars in the prestigious corridors of Jordan College.
Lyra always has a taste for adventure and can easily lie her way out of any trouble she could possibly get into. This does not mean however that she is a morally corrupt and dishonest person. With the help of Pantalaimon her dæmon( small creatures who take the form of various animals and are physical embodiments of their human owners soul), Lyra is guided through every moment of her life with his close consent.
Lyra's complex adventure starts with the very simple act of going into a room that is forbidden to her. She overhears her powerful uncle, Lord Asriel, talking among the scholars about things that completely bewilder her. Among the mystifying talk of armored bears, cities in the sky and severed children, are the magical elementary particles found in the North known as Dust. Lyra has truly never been to school in the eleven years of her life, but passing scholars would agree to teach her the basics along with their current area of work. This led to her having large gaps of knowledge, but she came to learn a great deal about experimental theology and physics.
However, Lyra does not completely depend on the scholars for information. All throughout Oxford is the talk of a mysterious group who capture children, never to bring them back. The Gobblers or General Oblation Board, perform terrible experiments that involve the children, their dæmons and Dust. A sudden halt in Lyra's fun and games comes about when Roger is taken away by the Gobblers. Lyra embarks on her journey with the intoxicating Mrs. Coulter who adopts her into her busy lifestyle, promising to take her North so she can find her friend.
Before Mrs. Coulter brings Lyra to her new home, the Master of Jordan College gives Lyra a strange object that must be kept secret and safe from all others. The alethiometer ( which means truth measurer ), or golden compass, is a mysteriously powered trinket that takes years and years to master and requires the use of complicated books in order to understand how it works. But in fact, Lyra learns very quickly that the instrument tells you the truth to any question that you ask it and she begins to use it with flawless ease. Lyra begins to love her new ladylike lifestyle with Mrs. Coulter, but there is always a threatening undertone that comes along with it.
As Lyra realizes this, she breaks away on her grand adventure into the vast expanses of the North with the aid of witches, gyptians, and the powerful armored bears. In the end, all of the worlds' fates are in the hands of Lyra and the question becomes whether or not she will betray the one she set out to save. Philip Pullman gives an astounding performance in writing this book and leaves you with a cliffhanger at the end which makes you want to go straight into the next book of the series. He really hooks his readers in with his enticing blend of science, magic and religion.
I would recommend this book and the rest of the His Dark Materials series to fantasy lovers of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Better than harry potter!
Review: A rare gem in the science fiction/fantasy genre, this series has a female heroine, Lyra. We follow Lyra throughout the series as she encounters intense mysteries and drama. Although this is a fantasy book series, it is superbly written and is excellent in making the reader become so engrossed that they nearly forget where they are. I would use these books with high school, reluctant reader girls, since it's an excellent story about a girl who saves the world. They would learn from this book that girls are also craft, witty, and brilliant. Another group that I would recommend this series to are advanced high school readers as I believe these books have direct references to Paradise Lost and also make general remarks on religion. In fact by the final book, your idea of religion is completely obscured. I think it would be interesting for them to do a compare/contrast with Paradise lost of perhaps how the series develops a theme of religion.
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