His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Book 1)
The modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an “All-Time Greatest Novel” and Newsweek hailed as a “Top 100 Book of All Time.” Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach.
Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal--including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world.
Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want.
But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other...
A masterwork of storytelling and suspense, Philip Pullman's award-winning The Golden Compass is the first in the His Dark Materials series, which continues with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
A #1 New York Times Bestseller
Published in 40 Countries
"Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past twenty years." —The Washington Post
"Very grand indeed."—The New York Times
"Pullman is quite possibly a genius." —Newsweek
Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials!
** THE BOOK OF DUST **
La Belle Sauvage
The Secret Commonwealth
Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal--including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world.
Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want.
But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other...
A masterwork of storytelling and suspense, Philip Pullman's award-winning The Golden Compass is the first in the His Dark Materials series, which continues with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
A #1 New York Times Bestseller
Published in 40 Countries
"Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past twenty years." —The Washington Post
"Very grand indeed."—The New York Times
"Pullman is quite possibly a genius." —Newsweek
Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials!
** THE BOOK OF DUST **
La Belle Sauvage
The Secret Commonwealth
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Fun story of self discovery and adventure. Pullman has created a dark world for his characters, but it’s full of interesting partners for Lyra as she strives to do the right thing.
Total weirdness. Made very little sense in the beginning. The issue of the daemons was pretty straightforward, but "dust" still basically makes very little sense. Eventually, the other characters explained to Lyra (and to me) what was going on but I wasn't that impressed by then.
I like that this takes place in an alternate universe that acknowledges the possible existence of ours. The story seems like it would be especially fun if you first read it as a child. I also like that this is the anti-Narnia series (though I did love Narnia).
I like that this takes place in an alternate universe that acknowledges the possible existence of ours. The story seems like it would be especially fun if you first read it as a child. I also like that this is the anti-Narnia series (though I did love Narnia).
It was far more complex than I expected a children's book to be, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. Pullman isn't particularly funny, his characters are somewhat peculiar at times, and his little girl doesn't always seem to act like a little girl. It's imaginative, but I'm not a big fantasy reader. When I went in search of an online "guide to The Golden Compass", I found articles on the author and some controversy regarding the novel's message.
Apparently, by his own admission, Pullman states that the series is about killing God.
I wasn't too comfortable with that, but I kept reading to see if it was really evident or something a child wouldn't read in quite the same light. My conclusion: an adult might catch some of that underlying message, but a child would miss it.
Apparently, by his own admission, Pullman states that the series is about killing God.
I wasn't too comfortable with that, but I kept reading to see if it was really evident or something a child wouldn't read in quite the same light. My conclusion: an adult might catch some of that underlying message, but a child would miss it.
I really enjoyed this series as a young adult, although I could remember very little of the plot. It was fun to revisit this book the second time around with my nine year-old. She was hooked as soon as the concept of "daemons" was introduced. She had enjoyed the Scholastic "Spirit Animals" series, where humans form a special emotional bond with animals, so it was a good guess that His Dark Materials would also appeal to her. It is not for the more sensitive of younger readers as the book gets quite dark and violent in parts, in a similar way to some of C.S.Lewis' books (I know that Pullman dislikes being compared to this particular fellow Oxford-based author - sorry, Philip). It is not a light read either. Philip Pullman's dense writing style means that the reader often encounters sections of heavy detail and deep, challenging new concepts. He also uses quite complex language and introduces a lot of fictional words and ideas (sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the two). The world he creates around Lyra and Pantalaimon, however, is so intriguing and magical that I can quite see how these books appeal to adults as well as children. I look forward to rereading the second book with my daughter.
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