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List Price: $7.50Amazon.com's Price: $6.00 You Save: $1.50 (20%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Kindle Edition
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Yearling
Manufacturer: Yearling
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: November 13, 2001
Publisher: Yearling
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: November 13, 2001
Sales Rank: 4148
Studio: Yearling
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called "Gobblers"—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
Amazon.com:
Some books improve with age--the age of the reader, that is. Such is certainly the case with Philip Pullman's heroic, at times heart-wrenching novel, The Golden Compass, a story ostensibly for children but one perhaps even better appreciated by adults. The protagonist of this complex fantasy is young Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Oxford University. But it quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own--nor is her world. For one thing, people there each have a personal dæmon, the manifestation of their soul in animal form. For another, hers is a universe in which science, theology, and magic are closely allied: As for what experimental theology was, Lyra had no more idea than the urchins. She had formed the notion that it was concerned with magic, with the movements of the stars and planets, with tiny particles of matter, but that was guesswork, really. Probably the stars had dæmons just as humans did, and experimental theology involved talking to them. Not that Lyra spends much time worrying about it; what she likes best is "clambering over the College roofs with Roger the kitchen boy who was her particular friend, to spit plum stones on the heads of passing Scholars or to hoot like owls outside a window where a tutorial was going on, or racing through the narrow streets, or stealing apples from the market, or waging war." But Lyra's carefree existence changes forever when she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, first prevent an assassination attempt against her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust. Soon she and Pan are swept up in a dangerous game involving disappearing children, a beautiful woman with a golden monkey dæmon, a trip to the far north, and a set of allies ranging from "gyptians" to witches to an armor-clad polar bear.
In The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman has written a masterpiece that transcends genre. It is a children's book that will appeal to adults, a fantasy novel that will charm even the most hardened realist. Best of all, the author doesn't speak down to his audience, nor does he pull his punches; there is genuine terror in this book, and heartbreak, betrayal, and loss. There is also love, loyalty, and an abiding morality that infuses the story but never overwhelms it. This is one of those rare novels that one wishes would never end. Fortunately, its sequel, The Subtle Knife, will help put off that inevitability for a while longer. --Alix Wilber
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
My interest in the His Dark Materials series stemmed from watching the movie adaptation of the first book, The Golden Compass. And while I was biased because I saw the movie before reading the book, the book turned out to be far better than the movie ever was.
Pullman creates a fantasy world that instantly engages the reader, and keeps them wondering, What will happen (and what CAN happen) in a world like this? The story follows a young girl as she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime ... Read More
Rating:  -
As an anti-religious theme book about an alternate reality world
it has to be compared to C.S. Lewis's Narnia tales/ series.
In that case the characterizations of the children come up short
and the talking animals (Bears) may be better?
The coming of age of an illegitimate child in a world that has theology
in place of science and is ruled by a church committee,
is both awkward and adventurous. A strange woman she has never met takes an interest in her: her uncle ... Read More
Rating:  -
Given the rating, I assume that most people are going to think that it's due to me having some vendetta against Pullman's views. From the outset, I'd like to say that Pullman's depiction of the perversive aspect(s) of religeon was actually one of the book's strengths. However, it is a strength that is overshadowed by numerous shortcomings.
Speaking broardly, the novel's main drawback is that it's simply impossible to feel engaged with the world or the people in it. It becomes clear to the ... Read More
Rating:  -
Creative plot - good points for the story which is quite interesting.
Points off for thematic writing - Pullman constantly goes into irrelevant and elaborate descriptions of the surroundings which come across as thesaurus exercises. Typically the details he describe are never of any impact on the plot. In book one this didn't bother me, but over time I found it extremely thematic with these excessive descriptions.
Other points off for the stupid - only suitable word - writing ... Read More
Rating: -
More depth and better storyline than the movie. This books reads quickly and a good way to expand your vocabulary. It has an imaginative story that's hard to second guess. You'll want to order the second volume early so you can continue the epic.
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