Rating: 
Summary: The Golden Compass
Review: Rohan 11/24/04
Book Report
Title: The Golden Compass
Author: Philip Pullman
Genre: Fantasy
Lyra Belacqua lives a happy life with the scholars, In Jordan College never going to school. She rarely gets to see her uncle, the famous Lord Asriel. When he comes to visit from the north she spies on his presentation to the scholars about a sort of chemical called Dust which effects the human adult, but doesn't effect children. He also says that the Gobblers (creatures that kidnap kids) have been taking kids to the north to experiment with them. When he is ready to leave back to the north Lyra asks him if she can come with him. He refuses to take her, but he gives her a golden object that looks like a compass. He calls it an "Alethiometer."
Once he leaves Lyra meets a very nice woman named Mrs. Coulter in a party at Jordan. Mrs. Coulter takes Lyra to her residence to live and help her with her mapping. After time Mrs. Coulter gets mean and starts shouting at her, so during a cocktail party at Mrs. Coulter's place Lyra runs away. While she is out alone in the city she finds some Gyptians (people who she didn't like when she was in Jordan College.) They take her to their water boat/house, and take care of her. She meets their leader, an intelligent tall man, who tells her what the Alethiometer is for. He says that it answers the questions that it asks you by pointing to three of the many symbols on it. He also arranges for an attempt to get the kids back from the Gobblers in the north. She is denied again to go to the north, but she sneaks into one of the boats and goes to the north to save the kids with the Gyptians.
This book has a lot of good writing and descriptions. It isn't too easy and not too hard. It was very easy to follow the story, and I really enjoyed it. The author didn't put so much description that it was boring, and not so little that I didn't know what was going on. I could imagine the story happening.
This book is the first of a series of three books. I really liked this story's theme and conflict, which is mainly saving all of the kids that have been captured by the Gobblers. I will definitely read the rest of the series. Out of five I give this book a four because of such a good story line.
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite book- Meghan
Review: The alethiometer, the golden compas, is a device that can answer any question...If you have the means to read it. Unless you're Lyra. She can read the alethiometer just by watching it.
Lyra starts out on her adventure in the Retiring room in Jordan College, in Oxford with her Dæmon. Even though they're not supposed to be there. She prevents her uncle from being poisoned, and starts an exciting adventure, just waiting to happen, involving Dust, armored bears, aeronauts, witches, parallel universes, and a curch, full of beliefs, that leads to the North.
"The Golden Compass" is a great book full of exciting adventures with Lyra, and her Dæmon, Pantalaimon. I personally liked it because it is a wonderful bit of writing, full of fun and adventures. If you like fantasy or Sci-Fi books, this is a good book for you then!
Rating: 
Summary: A great read, but the series disappoints...
Review: The Golden Compass is a page-turner and an adventure to be sure. But I think the reason I really enjoyed it is that I know the characters and creatures of Pullman's fantasy world will stay with me for a long, long, time. They remind me of the characters from L'Engle's 'Time' quartet: passionate, conflicted, flawed, but never, ever, boring and very, very, memorable. This is not a simple sci-fi tale; the ideas are complex and novel. The daemons are fascinating and very appealing. The different cultures of the Scholars, gyptians, witches and armored bears are original as well. Even inanimate objects (the alethiometer, Dust, anbaric charges) play very interesting roles in this story. Also very effective is Pullman's choice to set his tale in a world that very similar to our own, but different in a few startling ways. These differences are never spelled out explicitly for the reader, which leaves you feeling much like the main character Lyra, i.e. caught up in the adventure and hungry to fill in the missing bits of information. A great read! However, when I read the next two books in the series, I was very disappointed. They resonate with deep disappointment in Christianity and especially Catholicism. We are served up God as a dying angel and the Church as a mix of murderers, pedophilic priests, and inquisitors. Christ, unsurprisingly, is nowhere to be found. After all, a loving Christ who gave his life to bring people closer to God and free them from sin and death would not fit into Pullman's assessment of the Church as being interested only in obliterating every good feeling and impulse. As I mentioned in my review of the last book, I don't object to Pullman listing the abuses of the Christian Church, past or present. I think that's a worthy subject. But in writing this kind of one-sided portrayal, Pullman is at best attacking a straw man, and at worst , is offensive and deeply misleading, especially to children. Even C.S. Lewis's treatment of the Calormenes in the Narnian Chronicles, which has justly come under fire for tones of racism, is more positive and balanced than this stuff (and Lewis was writing fifty years ago, after all). I'd urge anyone who wishes to proceed with the rest of the series to take it all with a large grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Book
Review: The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, is the first book of an amazing trilogy. The main character is a young girl named Lyra with a craving for adventure living at a college in Oxford, England. She and her daemon, a shape-shifting animal that a human is bound to for life with, hid in a closet in a restricted room to women where she learned about Dust, a mysterious substance that can only be seen with a special spyglass. Immediately Lyra was fascinated by everything she heard about in the room not knowing what she was in for. Later she is presented an alethiometer, meaning a truth measure. Lyra has to learn to read the alethiometer to benifit her allies and the children they are seaking to rescue from the
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: Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Review: THE WHOLE SERIES is full of colorful characters, comming of age, action, romance, and a BRILLIANT storyline. WARNING!!! This trilogy may offend christians. But trust me, its not too bad. The author's main goal was NOT to put down christianity, but to express how life should be lived honorably and to the fullest. The main character Lyra is a caring, trustworthy, stong, and loving girl who's actions are very "christian" in value. Only the most gullible of christians would be influenced to abandon their religion after reading this story. I dont recommend this trilogy to the close-minded! This trilogy has and will continue to make a great impact on readers (IN A POSTITIVE WAY). The story of young love may jerk a few tears (as it did mine). Besides "Of Mice and Men" (when george has to shoot lenny) this was the only book that made me cry. This story makes ou ponder abot life also. i first read this book during some "dark times". it made me realize that life is to be lived to the fullest and cherished. we only have a short time to live, so we might as well make it memorable.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK ROCKS!
Review: This book was an hidden gem to me. I didn't know much about this book and its story line. I was completely captivated by the story and Lyra. I really enjoyed the mixing of magic, theology, and science, as well as the daemons.
Pullman's imagination develops a great world, that the young and old will enjoy to read. The story introduces us to Lyra and an Oxford that differs from our own. The people of this world all have a daemon that is connected to the individual's soul. The mystery unfolds as we find that children are disappearing. When Lyra's friend disappears then Lyra starts the search for him and why the children are being taken. The search take the reader to the North Pole and we meet a number of different people and characters along the way.
I haven't read the remaining two books in the trilogy, but they won't be far behind. Enjoy this book and world that is created. Younger children will also be captivated by the story.
Rating:
Summary: The Golden Compass
Review: What an amazing piece of literature! All three books that comprise "His Dark Materials" surpass much of the best adult fantasy- simeultaneously, they are thrilling, suspenseful, heartrending, intricate, involving, textured and utterly unputdownable. The central character, Lyra, while young is charming in her naivete and her liveliness. The setting are nreathtaking and the exotic array backround characters are fascinating. The one disappointment for me, in this book, was that it was placed in the young adult's section. I must stress the point that this book is entirely accessable by any age, and its depth can be more appreciated by more cultured readers. I have read and reread this book and it is well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: From DUST thou art!
Review: Whew! I just finished reading all three of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" books in a little over a week (I couldn't put them down!), and I'm still trying to absorb all of this. My initial reaction: this is going to be an all-time classic, and certainly not just of "young adult" or "fantasy" books (Phillip Pullman himself has stated many times that he can't read "fantasy," because it "doesn't tell [him] anything interesting about being a human being." While it is certainly different than the "Lord of the Rings," it is NOT AT ALL ridiculous to place Pullman's creation in the same pantheon as Tolkien's, which is something I swear I never thought that I would say. Anyway, the bottom line is that this trilogy is an amazing, mind-blowing, fascinating, exciting, heartbreaking, work of transcendent brilliance, and it starts with the story of Lyra, somewhat inaccurately titled, "The Golden Compass" (I guess that sounds better than "The Alethiometer" or "Lyra vs. the Gobblers" or something, but I strongly prefer the British title, "Northern Lights"). Also, the marketing of this book is very strange - if you look at the cover you might think this was some warm, fuzzy children's adventure story about a girl and her pet bear. Not!!! Instead, how about Phillip Pullman's dark take on creation and extended riff on multiple themes raised in John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and the Book of Genesis. The bottom line: if Phillip Pullman is mainly for children, than so are John Milton and the Bible! I don't think so.... Anyway, "The Golden Compass"/"Northern Lights" tells the story of a plucky, wild, courageous, amazing 12-year old girl named Lyra Belacqua, her beloved daemon Pantalaimon, her alethiometer (and all that it helps her discover about "Dust" -- and other things), her powerful, ambitious, complex, and dangerous parents (Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter), political intrigue in a world VERY much like our own in crucial ways, evil experiments on kidnapped children and their daemons, fascinating people called "gyptians" (water gypsies), theology and the Church, a window on a parallel universe (and the quest to find out what exists there), angels, witches, and an amazing bear named Iorek Byrnison. Is that enough material for you for one book? And how about put all that material into the hands of an author who is a great storyteller! The result, as I've said before: a CLASSIC!! Just three other points. First, this trilogy inevitably is going to be compared to (and possibly overshadowed by) another "young adult" series out these days, which you might have heard of...I think it's called, uh, "Harry Potter" or something like that. Anyway, not to disparage "Harry Potter" or anything, because that's a pretty good series of books, but "Harry Potter" is merely a cute, whimsical, well-told tale of a boy and his adventures compared to Phllip Pullman's very dark, amazing, even disturbing creation (especially if you have a closed mind towards explorations of God, religion, the Church and the nature of man - all the interesting and important things, in other words)! Second, I absolutely love Pullman's writing style (what a great storyteller!), as well as his use of words and names. He apparently has put a LOT of thought into this! For instance, take the main character, Lyra. I looked it up in the dictionary and found that "Lyra" is a constellation in the NORTHERN Hemisphere near Cygnus ("northern CROSS") and Hercules (child of the highest Greek God, Zeus, and Alcmene, a hero of extraordinary strength who won immortality by performing the 12 labors demanded by Hera). Interesting... Also, the constellation "Lyra" is located near the Corona BOREALIS. Finally, "Lyra" sounds awfully much like "liar," which is Lyra Belacqua's main skill (besides reading the alethiometer), and one in which she takes great pride. Coincidence? Hmmmm...I don't think so! Also, just to intrigue us further, Pullman names his Lyra's father "Asriel," which is similar to "Israel", which according to my dictionary is the name given to Jacob by the angel with whom he wrestled; perhaps literally "God struggles"). Double hmmmmm! Finally, we've got Mrs. "Coulter," and guess what that means? Well, according to my trusty dictionary again, a "coulter" is a BLADE or wheel on a plow for making VERTICAL CUTS in the sod (from Latin culter, KNIFE). Cool! Third, maybe we all should read (or reread) Milton's "Paradise Lost" (and the Book of Genesis) before/after we read "The Golden Compass", because there's no doubt that Phillip Pullman has borrowed freely from Milton's all-time classic take on Creation, God, Satan, free will, the temptation in the Garden of Eden, and the "Fall" of man into "Sin" (among other things). Before the book even begins, we have an epigraph from "Paradise Lost," specifically the scene where Satan surveys the unformed potential of the Creator. Given this, it should not be surprising to anyone familiar with "Paradise Lost" (or the Bible, for that matter) that "The Golden Compass" leads us ever northwards, since the rebel angel, Satan, repaired to the NORTHERN realms. Meanwhile, don't forget that in "Paradise Lost" the angels (at God's command) tilt the Earth's axis so that man will have to endure extreme hot and cold seasons, instead of the constant temperate climate which existed before the Fall. Meanwhile, in "Paradise Lost," Sin and Death construct - with God's permission -- a bridge (window?) for easy passageway between Hell and Earth, through which they promise to infect the Earth and to corrupt all living things with Death and Sin. Veeeerrrry interesting!!! In interviews, Phillip Pullman has confirmed that the biblical Creation story, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and "Paradise Lost" are major sources for "His Dark Materials" trilogy, and that the title itself comes from the following quote: "Unless the almighty maker them ordain / His dark materials to create more worlds." Read "The Golden Compass" if you want a great story, if you want to be challenged, amazed, intrigued, and moved (as long as you're not one of these strange, closed-minded, disturbing, Oblation Board types who I see here and there on this site criticizing Pullman for "bigotry" or "blasphemy" or some other ridiculous thing!). And OF COURSE read it if you're curious to know more about "dust" -- "our final rest and native home..."
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Fantasy To Lose Youself In
Review: Wondering what magical world to enter into while waiting on the next Harry Potter book? Look no further, Lyra Belacqua has arrived.The heroine of Philip Pullman's intricate and bewitching trilogy that begins with "...Compass", is a young girl living among the scholars at Jordan College in England. Her parents, who had died when she was a baby, had left her in the care of her Uncle, Lord Asriel. Like any great hero or heroine she is a child "who has a great destiny that can only be fulfilled elsewhere-not in this world, but far beyond. Without this child, we shall all die. So the witches say. But she must fulfill this destiny in ignorance of what she is doing, because only in her ignorance will we be saved." So says one character to another. Her destiny begins to be realized with her Uncle's return from the North where he speaks of mysterious things going on. At the same time children begin to disappear, and the rumors of what is happening to them isn't nearly as horrifying as the reality.Accompanied by her trusty daemon,(an animal companion that seems representative of the soul), a colorful cast of characters, and a great warrior Polar Bear named Iorek, Lyra sets off on an unforgettable adventure. Personally, I found the first seventy pages or so a little slow going as the plot is set up, and the reading level is slightly more demanding than the Potter books. However, once the action begins to really motor along, it's a hard book to put down, and one adults and children will love equally.
|
