The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Title: The Golden Compass

Author: Philip Pullman

# pages: 399

Date published: 1995

Genre: YA fantasy

Series: #1 in His Dark Materials

Challenge(s): Unread Authors Challenge, New Classics Challenge, Raved-About Reads Challenge, What an Animal Challenge, Book Awards Challenge II

Rating:

(one of my favorites)

First Sentence:

“Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen.”

What Is It About? Lyra Belacqua lives in a world that is similar to our own, but with some key differences. For one thing, people in Lyra’s world are always accompanied by a daemon. Their daemon is an animal that represents that person’s soul. When children are young, their daemons can change shape but as they grow older their daemons settle into one form and stay that way.

When children all over England begin to disappear, including Lyra’s best friend, Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon, embark on a quest to the North to save the children.

Random Thoughts: I loved this book. For me, The Golden Compass was a great, exciting adventure novel. I know there are many people who consider this series anti-religious, but I didn’t really notice a strong anti-religious sentiment in The Golden Compass (although I fully admit to knowing little about organized religion, so maybe it just went over my head. Or maybe this aspect becomes more obvious in the other books in the series?).

Favorite quote(s):

Lyra asks:

“But suppose your daemon settles in a shape you don’t like?”

“Well, then, you’re discontented, en’t you? There’s plenty of folk 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.” (p. 167-168)

Fun tidbits:

• Philip Pullman’s Web site
• Information about the movie
• Meet your own daemon

Let’s give people a variety of opinions! If you've reviewed this book (or a book by this author), leave me a link to your review in the comments and I'll link to your review, too!