351 pages
English language
Published Oct. 11, 1999 by Sagebrush Education Resources.
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 …
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.
Had a lot of fun with this one.
This series has been on my radar since I was a teen, though I never took the plunge for whatever reason.
I'm glad I did, however.
I quite liked Lyra and the world Pullman envisioned and am eager to explore more in the next two installments.
Can't believe I never read (actually I listened to this one) this before. Good characters, twisty-turvy story, lots of great world building.
La trama scorre via tranquilla, le situazioni sono ben descritte e non ci sono parti affettatamente sentimentali.
È un bel libro che offre qualche colpo di scena, anche se solo uno secondo me è ben riuscito.
Spero mi abbia risvegliato dal letargo di lettura!
Un ottimo modo per iniziare una saga fantasy.
Dopo aver visto il film, qualche puntata del telefilm, ed aver notato un generale disinteresse nel pubblico, mi sono parecchio incuriosita, perché a me le premesse sembravano davvero buone (dai, chi non vorrebbe sapere che forma prenderebbe il proprio daimon?).
L'ho letto in italiano, ma lo stile sembra scorrevole, le descrizioni non si dilungano inutilmente ed i dialoghi sono adatti anche ad un pubblico di ragazzini. Non c'è nulla di troppo complicato, ma non c'è nulla di troppo banale.
L'ho adorato.
Molti dicono che la bellezza della saga si perda nel secondo e nel terzo libro, ma a metà del secondo ancora non mi trovano d'accordo.
Very part one, but good scary and wintry tale so far.
I originally read this back in the 90s, sometime after the second book came out but before the third. I remember enjoying it at the time, but for whatever reason I never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy. As part of my goal to finish more series that I started but never finished, I decided this would be the next trilogy/series I tackled.
The Golden Compass definitely holds up. I didn’t remember too much – just the broad strokes of the plot and characters – but what I found welcome about it is that it’s the rare young adult book where the main character behaves like a kid, but she’s also smart and capable in a way specific to children. Lyra Belacqua never feels like a little adult trapped in a child’s body, and the book is all the better for it.
Pullman also has a way …
I originally read this back in the 90s, sometime after the second book came out but before the third. I remember enjoying it at the time, but for whatever reason I never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy. As part of my goal to finish more series that I started but never finished, I decided this would be the next trilogy/series I tackled.
The Golden Compass definitely holds up. I didn’t remember too much – just the broad strokes of the plot and characters – but what I found welcome about it is that it’s the rare young adult book where the main character behaves like a kid, but she’s also smart and capable in a way specific to children. Lyra Belacqua never feels like a little adult trapped in a child’s body, and the book is all the better for it.
Pullman also has a way with words and a fascination with headier philosophical matters that weave throughout the story without ever overwhelming the plot.
This is a book for kids with stakes that feel real and dangerous and occasionally horrifying. The villains are truly villainous, and the book doesn’t pull any punches. I started reading the second book the day after I finished the first, so I’m already doing better than I did oh those many years ago.
I still love this whole series, but anyone who wants to take the "Bible" literally, in any respect, will probably hate it, despite the fact that the fantasy from Philip Pullman makes AT LEAST as much sense as the 30 respect is the absence of the
I was actually rereading this before I went to see The Golden Compass. I kind of wish I hadn't. The book is a great work of children's (or is that YA) fiction. Possibly my favourite, not that I'm any kind of expert. The film, on the other hand, is appallingly bad. It makes me sad.
When I started reading, I was slightly annoyed by the main character, Lyra - but as most people who read it seemed so positive, I continued anyway. Characters can develop, after all.
I found the idea of the daemons interesting, though a bit mean. But I also found myself puzzling over the world in which the story is set a lot. (I haven't come to a conclusion, though, whether the setting is supposed to be a "Victorian" or modern version of our world because of the hints in both directions. I wonder if the "modern" hints were intended or just things which slipped in and by unnoticed.)
After a while I began to sympathize with Lyra a little, though I couldn't say she became one of my favourite characters of fantasy fiction ever. All in all, the rest of the "cast" appealed more to me, especially the witches and the …
It was a very long time ago when I first read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and with The Book of Dust on the horizon, I thought it was about time I refreshed my memory. I enjoyed Northern Lights even more the second time round and I think I got a lot more out of it. I don't think I really cottoned onto the whole original sin part before, having not really paid too much attention to theological discussions whilst at school.
What I do remember was the horror over being "severed" and it has not lost any of its impact in a second reading. I probably didn't cry the first time Lyra finds the poor severed boy. It's a mark of how well the world-building is done that a minor character can elicit such a reaction. He represents the worst thing an adult could do to a child …
It was a very long time ago when I first read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and with The Book of Dust on the horizon, I thought it was about time I refreshed my memory. I enjoyed Northern Lights even more the second time round and I think I got a lot more out of it. I don't think I really cottoned onto the whole original sin part before, having not really paid too much attention to theological discussions whilst at school.
What I do remember was the horror over being "severed" and it has not lost any of its impact in a second reading. I probably didn't cry the first time Lyra finds the poor severed boy. It's a mark of how well the world-building is done that a minor character can elicit such a reaction. He represents the worst thing an adult could do to a child in the name of religion, to violate body and soul in such a way. It's a huge taboo to touch another's dæmon, they are such a personal thing.
I guess when I first read it I was enamoured over the idea of having a dæmon, a talking animal friend who would be with you whatever. That side definitely appeals to the younger readers, but they represent so much more. When the children reach adolescence, their dæmon assume a fixed form, one that can say a lot about a person.
I had completely forgotten what happened with Iofer Raknisen, the armoured bear. He might be a mercenary but he is also Lyra's protector. He is also an outcast and has had his equivalent of his soul stripped from him too. Whilst humans have dæmons, bears have their armour, made from sky iron. Iofer's armour may not be shiny but it is true to him, unlike the new bear king, who is far more human in his ways.
Mrs Coulter is a fantastic villain, she doesn't wear her ugliness on the outside. She is charming and beautiful, no one would consider her to want to do harm to children. Although she believes she is doing the children a favour, probably the most dangerous kind of villain. Lyra and Pan do get a funny feeling from her dæmon though, a crafty golden monkey.
I'm looking forward to continuing my re-read with The Subtle Knife, especially considering how little I actually remember.
1) '''What is it?' she said.
Pantalaimon, a wildcat still, crouched on the table six inches away, his green eyes following it round and round inside the glass.
'If you was to crack it open,' said Farder Coram, 'you'd find no living thing in there. No animal nor insect, at any rate. I seen one of these things afore, and I never thought I'd see one again this far north. Afric things. There's a clockwork running in there, and pinned to the spring of it, there's a bad spirit with a spell through its heart.'''
2) ''The enormousness of the task silenced them. Lyra looked up at the blazing sky. She was aware of how small they were, she and her dæmon, in comparison with the majesty and vastness of the universe; and of how little they knew, in comparison with the profound mysteries above them.''
This book definitely has a dark feel to it. The writing style is very different than books such as the Harry Potter Series. Reading this out loud to my son, it took a couple of chapters to get into the rhythm of the story.
The book takes place in a world similar to ours, but with many striking differences. It's easy to get hooked on the story after the initial introduction to the world. There is plenty of action and adventure, and the book is well written.
Amid the witches and armoured PolarBears, the His Dark Materials trilogy flips Paradise Lost with a celebration of the original sin and culminating in a new war against god to build a Republic of Heaven. What struck me reading the first book as a kid was the heroine being given a non-traditionally feminine skill of lying/manipulation and being celebrated for it as “Lyra Silvertongue”.
