His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Book 1)

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.

I had seen the movie before reading this book, and the movie was just okay to me, so despite MANY recommendations from all kinds of young and adult readers, I did not prioritize this on my reading list. However, when the time became right and this book came into my possession, I really enjoyed reading it. The plot is fantastic and unpredictable. The "rules" of the fantasy world unfold in a way that is well-paced, but not over-explained. The language of the narration is beautiful, poetic, and precise. Pullman is not afraid to use the full breadth of his vocabulary simply because the book is marketed to younger readers - there were a few words I had to look up! I didn't get quite attached enough to any of the characters to put this in the 5-star range, but there is so much other great stuff going on with this book (and series), that I didn't especially miss feeling attached to characters. The experience of sitting down with this book and getting absorbed into its fantasy world is something that I looked forward to every day while I was reading it. When I finished, I gladly moved right on to the next...

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 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.