Rating: 
Summary: Boring...
Review: Yet another linear, mediocre fantasy book. Add it to the others of its kind from David Eddings and the like. Definitely not in the same league as Tolkien, C.S.Lewis or a few others. The plot is like a Sydney Sheldon novel for "kids". The Church is the evil empire (!) in a paralell universe, and also, as we find out in later books, in our world. The plot moves only in one direction, and you can identify each of the author's afterthoughts as he tries to make it coherent. Is he really trying to sell us his subversive view of christianity as the equivalent of evil and ignorance ? If so, he fails miserably in my view. The characters are blatantly one-dimensional, you close the book and forget their names, and will not feel endeared to any of them. They are not lovable, they are just there, like the zombies and specters in his books, devoid of any life of their own. My strong recommendation: rather than reading this stuff pick your old copy of The Lord of the Rings and read it again...
Rating: 
Summary: Innocence begins the journey
Review: A child begins a journey without the usual parental guides. Trusting strangers until they betray her, Lyra embarks on an adventure that will lead at least to other worlds and certainly to self awareness and maturity. Surprising numbers of betrayals and tragedies make this a very different child's fantasy. I'm hooked.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully complex and exciting
Review: I have read this book probably over 100 times over the course of about four years. Waiting in agony till the next book was published. After finishing the trilogy I have found new intrests of things that I did not know actually exist. Dark Matter or Dust for example is a very new and cutting edge topic of science. If you Love complex masterpieces this trilogy is the best for you. It was a little confusing in the begining for some of my friends, but if you continue to read on you will enjoy it thoroughly. This trilogy and this book inparticuar will raise alot of very interesting questions and will bring you the fun of unfolding and aging and mysterious plot of danger, betrayal, trust, and an untold love that defines what true love should really be like.
Rating: 
Summary: My Opinion
Review: I think The Golden Compass is a great book for over achieved people. I like to be that way myself. I'm a fifth grader and this is considered my book report. This book has many realistic things about life. Lyra, a young girl wholives at Jordan College. Her uncle Lord Asriel is really her father though she doesn't know it yet. When it's heard that there are kidnappers Lyra is sent with Ms. Coulter to go to her college. Before she left she received a golden compass from the master. She runs away and then meets Jhon Faa,Farder Coram,and returns the kids back that were kidnapped. In the end everything turns out right.My opinion of this book:so-so. I have a different taste for books. I still think you should read it!
Rating:
Summary: Unquestionably the best book I've ever read!
Review: This book is brilliant! The way Pullman develops the cheracters in a way that makes you think their your best friend is so imaginaive that that makes the book amazing! A Million times better than the Harry Potter series! A Brilliant amazingly written non stop masterpiece!
Rating:
Summary: Hmmmmmm....
Review: This was the best book I have read for a good 3 months. It had twists and turns in every chapter. Phillip Pullman is THE best author. If you enjoyed this, read it's sequel, The Subtle Knife.
Rating: 
Summary: Completely Boring
Review: This book was completely boring to me. It was well written, but I formed no attachment to the characters except perhaps, the polar bear. The plot was a little better, but I found myself skimming pages. The basic plot: Lyra is a girl who lives in a world where everyone has a daemon. A daemon is like an companion that is connected to a person though some special bond. There seems to be a conspiracy afoot that involves Lyra's uncle and the scholars at Oxford University. Lyra's best friend is kidnapped along with other children. Lyra sets out to find her friend. ...The plot continues from there, and seems very dark and serious. There is murder and violence, but I was so uninterested in the book, that I hardly felt it. I don'tthink that this should be listed as a children's book, but I don't think that children(or adults) will find this interesting at all.
Rating:
Summary: Who's Harry Potter? (just kidding)
Review: I am frustrated a little bit by the marketing of these books. Not only are they in the Young Adult sections, but the cover of the hardcover/trade edition is so bland, you'd think this was a warm fuzzy story about a young girl and her polar bear. Quite the opposite. I can't think of any book in the last twenty years that has been more daring, provocative and (in the case of close minded people) relatively controversy free. With the publication of the third novel in this series, I am sure that it's all going to change. The plot of this novel? To tell too much would give it away. To narrow it all down, we can say that this is a story of a girl (like Alice or Dorothy) who goes on a wonderful adventure in search of "Dust" Unlike Alice or Dorothy, the terror she faces is on a scale of the final battle between good and evil, and her parents are not left behind to wring their hands and wonder where their daughter is, indeed, they are uncaring individuals responsible for the atrocities that are occurring on Lyra's alternate earth. Suffice it to say that this novel is complex on a scale with Gregory Maguire's "Wicked" (which is classified as an ADULT novel). The plot twists surprise us, the ambiguities confound us, and by the end of the book, we are even mroe confused than we were at the beginning... that's a good thing, dear reader..a VERY good thing. This is a book that will not only increase in popularity in the coming months, but it is one that is sure to get people talking. Look for it on the subway, the bus, and on your own coffeetable (where it may have appeared out of the blue... the book is that pervasive.) Enjoy this book, but buyer beware...the cute whimsy of Harry Potter (and compared to this book, it's ALL whimsy and makes the protestors about Potter look even more foolish) is nothing compared to the dark horror in this book that that grips you like a supernatural pair of pliers. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: The mindless ranting of a lunatic!
Review: After reading all the 5-star reviews, I felt I had to give this book a try. What a disappointment! The writer seems utterly uninspired and untalented. The story drags on and on, getting nowhere. It is full of totally irelevant gimmicks like the 'daemons'. The central character is an utter twit, like all the other shallow characters. This is such mindless drivel, that I think I'm going to burn the book!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books EVER!
Review: The Golden Compass The Golden Compass is one of my favorite books. It is a non-fiction/fantasy story. The Golden Compass is about a eleven or twelve year old girl, Lyra Belaqua, her life at Jordan Collage and when she travels to the north to help her friends and family. The book starts when Lyra sneeks into a forbidden room, The Retiring Room, that only scholars are allowed to enter. Her uncle, Lord Asrial, is about to give a special slide show presentation of his most recent trip to the north for the scholars of Jordan Collage, and she doesn't get out of the room in time for the presentation. If you want to find out what happens next, read the book.
|
