Brilliantly written | The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1)

A little stiff, but otherwise imaginative | The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) | Philip Pullman

books:


	• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) Philip Pullman Del Rey, 1997 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 1454 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

The best in the trilogy, but that's not saying much.

This book was pretty good, with some fairly imaginative parts to it, but I wouldn't consider it a classic by any means. Unfortunately, the other two books in the trilogy are not good at all. I would recommend either reading just this book, or not reading any of them. They only get worse from here.

Brilliantly written

What a very powerful boo,. Very well written. I was not prepared for the cruelty toward children nor for some of the graphic fights, but it was a brilliant book nonetheless.

A little stiff, but otherwise imaginative

One thing is for sure: Pullman certainly has a gift for imagination, and that is what makes this book as wonderful as it is: mindblowing imagination that still manages to connect itself with real-world philosophy.

My heart pounds every time I read this. I'm simply stunned at the creative plot this has and the wild myriad of settings. It's chilling and beautiful all at once.

for more information click here

Well Written Fiction to Expose the Truth

Philip Pullman has done an excellent job of using a compelling and exciting story to expose the dark truth about an organization that continues murdering and torturing people to this day. Anyone who thinks the hidious actions of the Catholic Church happened only in the middle ages needs to look a little harder. In Central and South America millions of women are held in bondage by the mind control perpetrated by the church, telling them that birth control is a sin, resulting in untold numbers of children being born to women who are already living in poverty. Many of these children die an early death because medical care is not available to them. If this is not murder and torture for these women to see their children suffer, I don't know what is. In addition, for an untold number of years the church swept under the rug the plight of children being molested by priests, who were moved around to keep their incidious actions undisclosed. Is it not torture for a young boy to be raped by a person who he has trusted? Rape robs these children of their dignity and self respect. It was not the church, but the courage of the victims and actions of the courts that exposed what was going on. But what of the children in other countries that do not have the judicial system that the United States has? I applaud Philip Pullman for his resourcefulness.

for more information click here

An Amazingly Crafted Fantasy for Children and Adults Alike

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 through a world full of unique creatures, intricate subplots, and enough mystery to keep the reader wanting more. Some might think that this book is just an extended child's fairy tale, but I disagree. The Golden Compass (along with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) delivers enough fantasy to entertain a child and enough philosophical food for thought to entertain an adult, making it an enticing story worthy of both audiences, large and small. While this book can stand on its own (without books 2 and 3), I highly suggest reading the entire trilogy - it's worth it.

One other item I would like to mention is the story's discussion of Dust, the Authority and religion. While the series does create a very strong distate for religion, this distate stems only so far as the religion defined in the book (the Magisterium). I'm sure many will argue that the His Dark Materials series insults and rebels against Christianity and other modern religions, but they are wrong. This book is a fictional fantasy tale that emphasizes a corrupt religious group solely for the purpose of the main character's difficult quest. Pullman has no intentions of turning readers against religion with his stories. The Golden Compass (along with the other His Dark Materials books) is nothing more than a unique fairy tale crafted up by the amazing and talented mind of Philp Pullman. Any reader who believes the books to be "blasphemous" is merely too insecure with their own religious beliefs to enjoy a good fairy tale.

for more information click here

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.

for more information click here