Philip Pullman

Lyra Belacqua tries to prevent kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments, decides to help Will Parry search for his father, and finds that she and Will are caught in a battle between the forces of the Authority and those gathered by her uncle, Lord Asriel.

The Golden Compass/The Subtle Knife/The Amber Spyglass

His Dark Materials

Lyra Belacqua tries to prevent kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments, helps Will Parry search for his father, and finds that she and Will are caught in a battle between the forces of the Authority and those gathered by her uncle, Lord Asriel.

Chiara Carbone

Erika Stonehouse

"Yes; I can't prevent it," said the Master, and Lyra didn't notice at the time what an odd thing that was to say. 

Lyra besucht ein ehrwürdiges Internat. Sie ist klug und ungeheuer wissbegierig. Aus der Gegend verschwinden immer wieder Kinder. Werden sie von geheimnisvollen Wesen entführt? - Forts. s. Das magische Messer.

His Dark Materials, Band 1: Der Goldene Kompass

Ann-Sophie

Human beings can't see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That's original sin.

"Without this child, we shall all die." Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live half-wild and carefree among scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. The destiny that awaits her will take her to the frozen lands of the Arctic, where witch-clans reign and ice-bearsfight. Her extraordinary journey will have immeasurable consequences far beyond her own world...

Northern Lights

This was a re read since i forgot a bit of what happened, but its still sooo good it needs to be alot more popular cuz its genius

Amelie

In this first part of the Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra's friend Roger disappears. She and her daemon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him. Their quest leads them to the bleak splendour of the North where a team of scientists are conducting unspeakably horrible experiments.

From the very start of this book, Pullman had me hypnotised by his sophisticated and excellent world-building and story-telling. There was never a page that bored me and I never wanted the book to end (luckily there’s two more which I will be diving straight into). 

Every plot twist in this book was SO unexpected but impactful (I feel some books have a big build-up to a plot twist that feels mediocre). Many times while reading this book, I forgot I wasn’t right there in the story, and it was my perfect escape from real life (I can tell I’m going to cry when I finish this trilogy). The emotions I felt while reading this book were so real and I’m hurting while writing this review.

I had seen some quite mixed reviews for this, many talking about an ‘anti-Christian’ message within the pages but I don’t think this is the case, however, the book does criticise religious authoritarianism and The Church is very important to the plot line and twists of the book. Pullman’s questioning of religious authority says much about his passion and character. 

Normally, when I write a review, I write what I’d like to see more of in the book or what I’d change, but sitting thinking about what I’d change in Northern Lights, I’d really change nothing! Everything was flawlessly written and I enjoyed every sentence. 

I’ll end the review with this; Philip Pullman is a genius and go and pick up this book!

Selina 

From the very start of this book, Pullman had me hypnotised by his sophisticated and excellent world-building and story-telling. There was never a page that bored me and I never wanted the book to end (luckily there’s two more which I will be diving straight into). 

Every plot twist in this book was SO unexpected but impactful (I feel some books have a big build-up to a plot twist that feels mediocre). Many times while reading this book, I forgot I wasn’t right there in the story, and it was my perfect escape from real life (I can tell I’m going to cry when I finish this trilogy). The emotions I felt while reading this book were so real and I’m hurting while writing this review.

I had seen some quite mixed reviews for this, many talking about an ‘anti-Christian’ message within the pages but I don’t think this is the case, however, the book does criticise religious authoritarianism and The Church is very important to the plot line and twists of the book. Pullman’s questioning of religious authority says much about his passion and character. 

Normally, when I write a review, I write what I’d like to see more of in the book or what I’d change, but sitting thinking about what I’d change in Northern Lights, I’d really change nothing! Everything was flawlessly written and I enjoyed every sentence. 

I’ll end the review with this; Philip Pullman is a genius and go and pick up this book!

Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

The Golden Compass

Sajiya Chaudhary

I read this book only after watching the trailer of the upcoming series by BBC+HBO. Nonetheless, the book is amazing. Finished it in two days, being a mix of religion+science, it's quite a different and enjoyable read!

Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera #1) was much better written than The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1). I’m shocked at how childish the prose is in The Golden Compass. It stylistically very simple straightforward sometimes even bland writing (feels like a well versed high schooler’s writing). I don’t understand why HBO chose it for a series. “Game of Thrones” is to 
“Golden Compass” as “Game of Thrones” is to “How to Train a Dragon 2”

So I’m actually going to do the opposite of what I was suggested and go back to Codex Alera #2 after lightbringer #5 (Brent weeks) and may not return to his dark materials unless y’all enlighten me about book #2 / why HBO thinks this is good for TV lol

Vicky  Nuñez 

Let me start by daying this: I did not finish reading this book. I rarely do this because even when I do not like a book I push myself into it, I always think the ending could be great & I would be missing something worth reading. That said, I couldn't finish the Golden Compass maybe it was because I read it in spanish & I'm not use to translations, but either way it sucked. 

It's about a FREAKING 12 year old! I just can't believe that, there's so much implausible things going on I better don't get started on them. 

I reached midway through it before I stopped reading & I got that far because I wanted to read about the bear. Maybe someday I'll read it again and love it, until then I'll hang my head in defeat.

Sandrin

a liar, a bear, and dysfunctional parents - killer combination

Madison Keiran

As someone who grew up in the Catholic Church, this book was the catalyst for questioning organized religion. To this day, it makes me sick to my stomach to think about this book and it’s discussion of using religion as a tool to control and manipulate entire populations of people, to cut out the parts of us that make us human: our sexuality, our joy, our complex human emotions. I will love this series forever

What an amazing book and a rollercoaster to read! I grew up with the movie and I had the book on my TBR list since many years!

The Book has more depth to it, and indeed is so much more darker. It made me very emotional so often for so many different reasons! There was sadness, anger, disbelief, disgust, but also love, laughter, admiring, hoping and joy to be found in this amazing story!

Philip Pullman created a world so similar to ours but yet so different, which is so fascinating! The way he writes about the scenes, places and characters really let the picture of the written word play around your eyes.

There are so many minds in me about this book that I might, must come later again, for a more detailed review. 

But this book is mind-blowing, amazingly good! I am really searching the right words and can just not find them, I am not often speechless, but this Universe definitely did it!

What an amazing book and a rollercoaster to read! I grew up with the movie and I had the book on my TBR list since many years!

The Book has more depth to it, and indeed is so much more darker. It made me very emotional so often for so many different reasons! There was sadness, anger, disbelief, disgust, but also love, laughter, admiring, hoping and joy to be found in this amazing story!

Philip Pullman created a world so similar to ours but yet so different, which is so fascinating! The way he writes about the scenes, places and characters really let the picture of the written word play around your eyes.

There are so many minds in me about this book that I might, must come later again, for a more detailed review. 

But this book is mind-blowing, amazingly good! I am really searching the right words and can just not find them, I am not often speechless, but this Universe definitely did it!




Northern Lights introduces Lyra, an orphan, who lives in a parallel universe in which science, theology and magic are entwined. Lyra's search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and turns into a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. In The Subtle Knife she is joined on her journey by Will, a boy who possesses a knife that can cut windows between worlds. As Lyra learns the truth about her parents and her prophesied destiny, the two young people are caught up in a war against celestial powers that ranges across many worlds and leads to a thrilling conclusion in The Amber Spyglass. The epic story Pullman tells is not only a spellbinding adventure featuring armoured polar bears, magical devices, witches and daemons, it is also an audacious and profound re-imagining of Milton's Paradise Lost. An utterly entrancing blend of metaphysical speculation and bravura storytelling, HIS DARK MATERIALS is a monumental and enduring achievement.

Deepika Ramesh

And, and, and, I am done. Here is my blog on the book: https://newfracturedlight.wordpress.c...

Maelys

Always such a powerful and thoughtful read... It brings back memories from the first time I read the series, when I was approximately Lyra's age and it moved me so MUCH !

One of the best books I've read all year!

Emma Lechner

Pepper

** spoiler alert **
           I love this series so so so much. I love how every character has a history and every history has meaning and how their actions in the past have consequences in the future. I love the way you read, and read, and read and things become clearer and dawn on you while just 2 seconds ago you were no closer to understanding the truth. I love ABSOLUTELY LOVE the fact that these characters are complex, they can do awful, repulsive things but also wonderful, courageous things - they can love while being ruthless and they can care while being cold. Most of all I love the way we are deceived because we take what people say at face value thinking nothing of it but then realise near the end that is not what they meant. 

Like when Lord Asriel told Marisa at the end of Northern Lights to join him and they could destroy Dust. Did it make sense? No. My brother who had just finished book one was wondering that because how can he say let us destroy dust and not be on th side of the Church? Wouldn't that mean he was just as bad as those people who severed daemons? And yet can I still hate Mrs Coulter for Bolvanger when those very actions in the end helped her deceive Metatron? It was like all those countless innocent lives tortured did have meaning: to help her convince Metatron to follow her down the abyss. 

And when Will said Marisa was lying because that was her nature - that she would lie even if it was not helping her I believed him. I had been convinced by what she said but then again Will is the protagonist and if he says shes lying she must have been. And then when Lord Asriel said she was lying I believed him too. After all he is a man who seems to know how to read people if he says she is she must be. And thus till the very last scene of theirs I was still in sort of suspended terror about whether to believe Marisa or not. And when it turned out that at least when it came to Lyra her nature was not the same, her ambitions held no power I was happy but also marvelled at how well Phillip Pullman had managed to keep us readers in a state of anticipation. 

And how much did the idea of Spectres make sense once it had been explained. And how horrifying that thought was! And the thing about how Lyra and Will's daemon's turned into witches daemons. And how that John Parry refused the witche's love which lead to his death which lead to them going into the underworld which led to them helping Will & Lyra and Lord Asriels plans. And how "tell them stories" was meant for the harpies but as it turns out for Mary Malone as well. I admired and really appreciated the way everything was so very connected, how tiny chances led to huge events.

I don't get the ending though. Is it just because I am not really familiar with the Eden/Paradise/Tempter thing? Because I don't really see how Will & Lyra falling in love helped bring The Authority down? I can understand about the sraf (sarf?) returning yes but was the whole point of this whole thing to help the mulefa? Or was the actual point to bring about the end of Death? 

This is one of those series where you re-read and re-read and can still find new and wonderful gems that you hadn't made sense before. Ahh I have all these thoughts in my head but they aren't coherent at all. All I can think is I need to get my hands on Lyra's Oxford ASAP!

Premier volume d'une trilogie. Lyra a vécu les onze années de son existence dans un collège d'Oxford. Elle sent qu'elle a un rôle à jouer dans les projets d'exploration d'autres mondes qu'a entrepris son père, Lord Asriel. Tout d'abord, elle participe à une expédition vers le Grand Nord, pour la libération d'enfants enlevés en vue de terrifiantes expériences. Un roman fantastique, ample et original, mettant en scène une nouvelle Alice qui ne s'aventure pas, cette fois, au pays des merveilles. Pour bons lecteurs. Meilleur livre de l'année par le ##Publishers weekly##, Etats-Unis; prix Guardian de la fiction pour la jeunesse, Grande-Bretagne; Carnegie Medal, Grande-Bretagne. [SDM]

Les royaumes du Nord

This was not my first read of this book, but it is still really good! I love how Lyra is portrayed and I truly love Iorek. You get invested in the characters so fast and the way the world is written, you truly feel like you could be a part of it.

a.girl.a.dog.and.books

erin

A reread for me. 

Enjoyed it as much as I did as a child, if not more.

After watching the show, I really enjoyed reading this book!

Eneko Uruñuela

Zhomart M

First book was interesting. It showed spectacular world and promised good plot. But 2nd and 3rd book destroyed this expectation.

charisa

ok, can't really get over the fact that this is classified as children's literature. lots of controversial ideas and some shockingly unguarded atrocities. intercision as compared to castration??? kinda spicy. while i can't agree with pullman's underlying philosophies (especially in relation to his beliefs about original sin and free will), i can't deny that he is a deft storyteller who captures the innocence and unfettered will of a child so masterfully. also, lots of important emergent questions that i think should be discussed. 

i'm prompted to think about the corruption of churches (especially historical institutions, like the catholic church) and the perils of legalism. if you didn't have the Lord, then yeah, the answer to legalistic churches would certainly seem like the dissolution of organized religion and the adoption of a view that ultimately equates a sinful nature to freedom. but this is a dim view of faith that totally fails to see the beauty of Christ's church amidst brokenness, with grace and sanctification as agents of true, eternal freedom.

Michael Springer

This book was really fun. I'm definitely hooked enough to continue the series (as soon as I get ahold of the second book). Need reasons to read the book? Okay. Gigantic arctic warrior bears. Controversy over the book's religious contents. A protagonist that compulsively makes up hilarious lies. And, the climax of the book takes place at an aurora borealis. If you like adventure books, this is definitely one you ought to read.

Audrey Lord

It was so much better then I thought it would be. It goes so in depth into the story and the life of Lyra, that sometimes you can get lost but it's still so good.

Prashanth Srivatsa

Easy to read, relate and cherish. Maybe too easy. I wonder what prompts a writer to name one of his characters Faa.

(His Dark Materials, Book 1)

Aviv Leo Zippin

Though it is quite eventful, reading "The Golden Compass" feels like a drag. Only managed to truly captivate me by the third and last portion of the book.
Sure, it holds very neat ideas and indeed the last parts read great, incomparable to the rest of the book, and perhaps it is enough.
I dunno, maybe I'm jaded by the movie, but the conclusion did tip me over to want to read the next one, and not see the book as a total mess.

Book 1 of His Dark Materials series. A New York Times Bestseller. Carnegie Medal Award Winner. Publishers Weekly Best Book. ALA Top 10 Books for Young Adults. Lyra Belacqua is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College. But when her uncle, Lord Asriel, returns from the North with tales of mystery and danger, it sets off a chain of events that draws Lyra into the heart of a terrible struggle. An Accelerated Reader title.

Jeff James

I originally read this back in the 90s, sometime after the second book came out but before the third. I remember enjoying it at the time, but for whatever reason I never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy. As part of my goal to finish more series that I started but never finished, I decided this would be the next trilogy/series I tackled.

The Golden Compass definitely holds up. I didn’t remember too much – just the broad strokes of the plot and characters – but what I found welcome about it is that it’s the rare young adult book where the main character behaves like a kid, but she’s also smart and capable in a way specific to children. Lyra Belacqua never feels like a little adult trapped in a child’s body, and the book is all the better for it.

Pullman also has a way with words and a fascination with headier philosophical matters that weave throughout the story without ever overwhelming the plot.

This is a book for kids with stakes that feel real and dangerous and occasionally horrifying. The villains are truly villainous, and the book doesn’t pull any punches. I started reading the second book the day after I finished the first, so I’m already doing better than I did oh those many years ago.

"Ohne dieses Kind werden wir alle sterben." Lyra Belacqua führt ein unbeschwertes, wildes Leben bei den Gelehrten des Jordan College in Oxford. Immer an ihrer Seite ist Pantalaimon, ihr Tierdæmon. Doch mit der Ankunft von Lyras Onkel, dem düsteren Lord Asriel, beginnt für sie ein gefährliches Abenteuer. Denn es gibt geheime Pläne, die Lyras Welt ins Chaos stürzen: Es geht um gestohlene Kinder und verlorene Dæmonen, um Hexenclans und kämpfende Eisbären – und um eine rätselhafte, weltenverändernde Substanz namens Staub ... Dies ist der erste Band der preisgekrönten Fantasy-Serie "His Dark Materials". Alle Bände des epischen Meisterwerks: Über den wilden Fluss (Band 0) Der Goldene Kompass (Band 1) Das Magische Messer (Band 2) Das Bernstein-Teleskop (Band 3) Ans andere Ende der Welt (Band 4)

His Dark Materials 1: Der Goldene Kompass

Richtig gutes Buch. Ich habe "His Dark Materials" früher öfter gelesen und war immer super begeistert. Ich bin total froh, dass es mit der Zeit nicht schlechter wurde. 

Inga Kühn 

Mudita

I missed out on this series when I was a kid because my mum said I read too much fantasy. So I'm reading this at 22 and I love it! In fact, it gives me quite a bit of food for thought that I may not have picked up on if I was 12. Children's books are filled with so much wisdom. I would recommend this to people of all ages.

His Dark Materials The Golden Compass/The Subtle Knife/The Amber Spyglass

Reviews

Highlights