The Golden Compass in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Apr 13, 2018 Jane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, middle-school, fantasy

I had never read this book, and now that I have, I can't believe I didn't share it with my sons. It's an involved, exciting allegory/fantasy/adventure...It took me fifty pages to be swept away. And, even though the winter seems to have lasted forever on the east coast of the US, the cold was a thrilling part of this novel. I loved the main character, Lyra. What a wonderful female heroine. She is feisty, daring, adventurous and smart. Phillip Pullman created the kind of protagonist I want to shar I had never read this book, and now that I have, I can't believe I didn't share it with my sons. It's an involved, exciting allegory/fantasy/adventure...It took me fifty pages to be swept away. And, even though the winter seems to have lasted forever on the east coast of the US, the cold was a thrilling part of this novel. I loved the main character, Lyra. What a wonderful female heroine. She is feisty, daring, adventurous and smart. Phillip Pullman created the kind of protagonist I want to share with girls and women. More to share.

Daemons, animals which shift-shape , and serve as their human's soul, in a way, are important characters in the story. Lyra wants to touch Farder Coram's daemon, a golden eyed, richly furred, elegant and twice as big as a real cat. "Daemons might touch each other, of course, or fight; but the prohibition against human-daemon contact went so deep, that even in battle no warrior would touch and enemy's daemon. It was utterly forbidden."

Lyra talks to a seaman about her own daemon, Pantalaimon. "Why do daemons have to settle? I want Pantalaimon to be able to change forever. So does he." "Ah, they always have settled and they always will. That's part of growing up. There'll come a time when you'll be tired of his changing about, and you'll want a settled kind of form for him." "I never will!" "Oh, you will. You'll want to grow up like all the other girls. Anyway, there's compensations for a settled form." " What are they?" "Knowing what kind of person you are. Take old Belisaria. She's a seagull and that means I'm a kind of seagull too. I'm not grand or splendid nor beautiful, but I'm a tough old thing and I can survive anywhere and always find a bit of food and company. That's worth knowing that is. And when your daemon settles, you'll know the sort of person you are. But suppose your daemon settles into a shape you don't like?" "Well, then you're discontented, en't you? There's plenty of folks as'd like to have a lion as a daemon and they end up with a poodle. And till they learn to be satisfied with what they are, they're going to be fretful about it. Waste of feeling, that is." But it didn't seem to Lyra that she would ever grow up.

We are all subject to the fates, but we must all act as if we are not," said the witch, "or die of dispair." this whole passage on 310 is crucial to the story. Such wonderful theme and characters...reminds me of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. ...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Lisa rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: don-t-recommend

This is one of the few books that I have ever given up on. I became bored by it and with the knowlege of where the story leads I took decided that I would not force it upon myself. If my children ever want to read it then I will have to finish it otherwise I have too many better books waiting.

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Jan 12, 2008 Willa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

After scanning several reviews and hearing this book praised as the strongest of the series, I'm not terribly excited about what's to come. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't all that great, either.

The prose had a tendency to feel stilted and forced as if Pullman knew the story he wanted to tell and the point he wanted to get across but he just couldn't find the right words for it. The character development was disappointing too. For the most part, they seemed to be all over the After scanning several reviews and hearing this book praised as the strongest of the series, I'm not terribly excited about what's to come. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't all that great, either.

The prose had a tendency to feel stilted and forced as if Pullman knew the story he wanted to tell and the point he wanted to get across but he just couldn't find the right words for it. The character development was disappointing too. For the most part, they seemed to be all over the place, and either the motivations for their actions were unclear or they acted in ways contrary to the personality that had previously been revealed.

And the biggest irritation for me was the dialogue. It's a matter of personal taste, I freely admit, but I tend to be irritated by too much brogue or slang in dialogue. A little is okay to make clear the character's speaking style, but over-doing it just bogs my reading down and gets on my nerves. Pullman didn't over-do it, but he did combine a little use of slang with alternate/slang words (ain't became en't, for example) and that just made it harder to read. Like I said, though, that's just personal taste. However, the dialogue seemed to jump around a lot, too, and not really make anything clear. I kept having the feeling that Pullman was assuming his characters knew more of what was going on than they should have been able to, simply because he knew what was going on and he was controlling them, which oftentimes left me in the dark and feeling like there was something I missed.

The story (plot-wise) itself, though, was enjoyable. Pullman is obviously very creative and imaginative, just not a great storyteller, in my opinion. The best part of the book was the interaction of the humans and their daemons. That was the 'truest' part of the book and very emotionally engaging. Although (**SPOILER ALERT**) I would have liked to hear more about what motivated some of the adult characters to not only sever the link between unwilling children and their daemons, but to be willing to sever their own link, since it is obviously such a painful and traumatic experience. I hope that we'll hear more about that in the following books. ...more

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Oct 21, 2016 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed this reread but I think I saw the flaws more too. I know Lyra is a child and so should think and behave like one, but this time round the childishness started to grate on me a bit.

That said, I still love the world that Pullman created and am looking forward to rereading the rest of the series soon.

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