The Golden Compass

The General Oblation Board of London reminded me of the religious sects of the world.
A very intricate story and meanings/metaphors;
Lord Asriel = Angel of Death?
Lyra = consetllation in the Northern Hemisphere?
Belacqua = maker of music
Panalaimon, Lyra's daemon = all forgiving
dust = "human wisdom, science, art.." per the author

I enjoyed this book and I'm surprised it's listed young adult.

I really do not know how to word reviews in a way that make sense to anyone but me. I will say, that I read this book and was completely immersed in it. I thought it was perfectly written. I believe the author did an amazing job of creating an atmosphere and making it easy for me to visualize. I think this book can be enjoyed by younger kids and adults alike, and recommend it to anyone who likes to think.

The Golden Compass seemingly takes place in Oxford, England, but there is an alternate universe at play. Young wild child Lyra Belacourt isn't afraid of much, especially an alternate universe. But in the beginning of The Golden Compass all Lyra cares about is getting into the Retiring Room of Jordan College, a room where, if women are not allowed, then children definitely are not. Tell Lyra she can't do something and of course, that's all she wants to do. She lives in a world where shape-shifting spirit animals called daemon familiars are the norm. Every person has a daemon and when they die their daemon fades away like a wisp of smoke. Lyra's daemon familiar is Pantalaimon, a fiercely protective companion who can be a moth, bird, ermine...whatever the situation requires. Pantalaimon won't fix on a permanent shape until Lyra is older, closer to adulthood. But, I digress. Back to Lyra and the Retiring Room. She and Pantalaimon find a way to sneak into the room and eavesdrop on a secret meeting between her uncle and college officials. Uncle Asriel tells a tale of danger and mystique involving Dust in the North. Soon Lyra finds herself more than eavesdropping. Because of unknown talents she is pulled into a terrible world of evil scientists, kidnapped children, witch clans, and armored fighting bears. In The Golden Compass you will meet Gobblers, Tartars, Windsuckers, Breathless Ones, gyptians, Nalkainers, and many others, but it is Lyra and her daemon who will captivate you.

In Book 1 His Dark Materials the young Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon leave the Oxford college she calls home, to rescue her friend Roger, who is one of many children who has been stolen by the Gobblers. She is gifted an alethiometer and quickly learns how to use this ancient provider of answers, a talent that normally takes a lifetime to achieve. Thus begins an entertaining and fast moving adventure involving armoured bears, gyptions, fairies and witches.

This is one of those novels where once I'm finished I am angry that I waited so long to read it. The edition I have has an introduction by Terry Brooks and the first paragraph says "You are going to love the Golden Compass." He was right! There are obviously countless reviews on this book, the classic such as it is, that there isn't much more I can say that hasn't already been said. Strong characters with dynamic and endearing qualities that draw you and make you care. Strong plot with enough guessing and twists and turns, that you don't really want to stop reading until you've cruised through half the book in one sitting. As well as a moral question that underlines the entire book, disguised as a fantasy adventure. Lyra is an engrossing and truly human heroine that you will undoubtedly fall in love with. She is courageous, curious, honest and loyal. She is what protagonists wish they could be. Together with her Daemon, Pan, they race across the world, taking us as a reader on an adventure of fantastical heights, as well as in depth thought and growth. I've fallen in love with Lyra and Pan in a way I haven't fallen in love with a protagonist in a long time. It's strong, and I agree with Terry Brooks, that you will love the Golden Compass.

I first read “His Dark Materials” in college, at the insistence of my father, a huge fantasy nerd and book worm. I knew little to nothing about it when I opened the first pages of “The Golden Compass”, but was taken in almost immediately by the characters and the world that Philip Pullman created. And then my own personal copy (I have the whole series bound up in one) sat on my shelf, untouched until Anita picked “The Golden Compass” for book club. I was curious as to how I would view the book almost fifteen years after reading it the first time. But going back to “The Golden Compass” was worthwhile for me, even after all that time.I will be honest, the stories of the entire series are so entwined in my mind that I can’t help but take influence from “The Subtle Knife” and “The Amber Spyglass” when I look back at “The Golden Compass”. So my opinions of “The Golden Compass” now are probably affected by works that aren’t within the text of the first book, which was an interesting quandary to be in. During Book Club when Anita would ask questions about the story, I realized that my opinions of various things took influence by the series as a whole (as well as the first prequel book “The Book of Dust”), and I haven’t quite been able to remove the two. But I will do my best here. I really, really love the world that Pullman has built, an alternate universe that have the same locations in our world, but with various changes to make it unique to its own. When he describes Oxford, it sounds like the Oxford of our world, but there are differences that make it its own unique location. Within this world are daemons, beings that take on the form of an animal and are attached to all people, functioning as a soul outside of the body. It’s such a cool concept that Pullman made of having a huge and intricate part of you on the outside instead of within. This time around reading it I definitely felt it a bit more than I did in college, as my initial thought was ‘how cool to have an animal sidekick!’. Now I was more introspective about what that would actually mean for a person.I also really like the way that Pullman completely trusts his readers to handle the complex and dark themes that he throws their way. This book is definitely YA, but it takes on religious fundamentalism, child torture, and institutional corruption without holding much back. While the philosophical meditations on religion and dogma play out a bit more in the later two books, with The Magesterium REALLY revving up into its quest for absolute power, there are moments, like with the Gobblers that want to separate children from their daemons because they feel it attracts Dust (aka Original Sin in this world). Pullman is not shy when it comes to his thoughts on organized religion, and he doesn’t mince words about it. Reading it again reminded me just how much faith he puts in his readers to be able to tackle some of this critical thinking he encourages them to tackle.It was really great going back and re-reading “The Golden Compass”, and now I feel like I should continue with a re-read. I feel like it held up pretty well for me, and this classic series still remains a powerhouse in YA Fantasy.-----Well since Kate mentioned it, I will take this opportunity to propose joint reviewing the next two books as well! Yes? Yes?As Kate mentioned, I too struggled separating my mind with this book as a single unit outside of the trilogy as a whole. Unlike Kate, I’ve OBSESSIVELY re-read this series throughout my entire life. My mom read the first book to my sister and I when we were little, and then I remember that the next two books were various Christmas presents the years they came out. And it’s been an ongoing love affair ever since. Reading a series this way was also a peculiar experience. As a kid, most of what I got from these books was the action and yeah, “wouldn’t it be fun to have an animal side kick??” But as I’ve re-read, each time a bit older, there’s always another level to find. This alone easily earns it a spot on my top 10 lists.But yes, reading this book alone and then discussing it for bookclub was hard. So much of the groundwork that is laid in this one seems like major plot points here, but then as you continue, expand exponentially and you realize you only had the tip of the iceberg to start with. But here it goes.“The Golden Compass” definitely reads as the most middle grade/young adult of the series. Lyra is the singular main character and her feelings and adventures are at the center of everything that takes. The story pretty much lives and dies on whether you are interested in her. And Lyra has to be one of the great child protagonists. What makes her special is the fact that, from the beginning, it’s clear that she’s not a “good” child. She’s precocious, meddlesome, and disobedient. And yet she’s never terribly punished for these traits. Instead, all of these aspects of her personality are crucial to not only her success in this story, but to her very survival. Lying, in particular, is a specific strength of hers, and it is always presented as such: a strength. But for all this, Lyra is also incredibly brave, loyal, and loves openly, taking in those who society might overlook. All together, she makes for an excellent child lead. Pantelemon, for his part, serves as a balance to her character, and their witty banter and the supports they offer each other were always at the basis of my desire for a daemon of my own.The story does have a slow start. I remember as a child being fairly bored for a good bit in the beginning of this story. As Kate said, Pullman doesn’t pull his punches with big ideas, and he dives right into these within the first 20 pages of the book, before readers have had time to form any other ideas for themselves. But once the action does start, it’s all great. And everything he includes strikes the perfect balance of appealing to both children and adults. Child snatchers called Gobblers? Significantly creepy for kids, but wait, they are also connected to this high-level religious dogma for adult readers. A child concentration camp where the kids break out? Great for kids! Super creepy for adults reading about events that look scarily similar to historical happenings. Armored bears? Awesome for kids! Awesome for adults! It’s really a testament to Pullman’s talent that he so neatly balance an action-packed adventure for kids while also introducing huge topics of religion and what makes up humans themselves.And that ending! How can you NOT want read the entire series after that? Again, no punches pulled. Children are reading this, and yet Pullman doesn’t hesitate to introduce some really tough and challenging topics. Even as a kid, shocked and dismayed by these events, I remember appreciating the fact that this story felt so real, regardless of all the talk of armored bears and daemons, and I think it was because of the fact that Pullman treated these topics as not only acceptable but necessary for kids to read about as well as adults.So, in summary, obviously I loved this book. Always have, always will.

I thought this was good the first time through. Reading it again with my 10 year old daughter is much better.

Third time on this journey and I still love it!

Loved it! Great adventure series with an awesome, tough little girl as the main character. Vocab is BIG so might want to read with a younger reader and definitely have a dictionary on hand ; )

We are now on the 2nd book and still loving this series. I highly recommend it!

I liked this book, but I am not really sure why. Nor am I sure why I didn't like it more. The main character had a lot of potential and the plot was a great concept. It just seemed like the character development could have been better. Lyra's relationship with Iorek was the best part of the book in my opinion, yet even that seemed incomplete. I'll see if I like the next book more.

I say one thing, don't watch the movie after reading the book. They completely butchered the story and the symbolism! It was horrable!

It's a good book, the best of the series I think. Personally, I don't really care for the fact that Pullman basically wrote it because he hated C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Pullman being a devout atheist. But if you take it as just a fantasy novel it's good.

I've had books #2&3 in this series sitting on my borrowed books shelf for ages. Plus, this is the book Karen credits with the beginning of her obsession with polar fiction as a genre. It was high time I finally read this.

Okay, I know I'm very late on the Philip Pullman train, but this book was incredible. It felt startlingly original even as some pieces and themes felt familiar. The variety of settings was awe-inspiring, and the melding of science/magic/religion intriguing. I want to know so much more about this world -- it's theology as much as anything else. I loved the polar bears that can't be tricked, the witches, the gyptians, pretty much everything about the daemons (I want a daemon), the northern lights.

I need to read the rest of this series very soon.

A great story and a clever, imaginative plot. I forced my mum to order the rest of the trilogy from amazon after reading Northern Lights, because i couldn't wait to find out what happened next! If you buy this book, you have to get the other two as well, because Pullman's great storytelling ability improves with each book.

A wonderful YA fantasy

This is the 3rd time I've read this book, and each time I've gotten something new from it. When I first read it as a kid (about 8 or 9), I didn't grasp what Pullman was trying to say about Dust/original sin, innocence and experience. I was just caught up in the cool adventure story of a girl (who looked similar to me in my imagination) who gets to venture across the North with armored bears, witches, and Texan aeronauts. When I revisited it again in high school, I thought myself more clever and knowing, and had raging internal debates about sin and the church. Now, I have reached a midway point between those two views; The Golden Compass is an elegant statement on childhood and adulthood and the various moral quandaries that arise from navigating those strange planes, both metaphorical and literal. But, equally as important, it is a fantasy about a young girl and her daemon. I love this book, and I'm eager to read Pullman's next installment in the saga.

The Golden Compass or, if you're across the pond, Northern Lights is the first in the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. I know I saw the movie when it came out but this is my first time reading the book. Luckily I remembered absolutely nothing about the movie so this was like a fresh read.Lyra has lived at Jordan College in Oxford all her life. She's a typical 10-year-old, enjoying playing games with her friends, inventing stories and getting into mischief all under the watchful eye of the Scholars. All of this is brought to a halt when her best friend goes missing. He's been stolen by the Gobblers, people that abduct kids and take them to the far north for nefarious purpose. Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon are on a mission to rescue her lost find, discover what the Gobblers are really up to and figure out what Dust has to do with everything. I had a hard time getting into this one. The story was interesting but it just didn't grab me until the half way point when they discover the poor kid Tony and just how horrible the experiments actually are. Then the race to find Lyra's friend and save as many of the children as possible took on a real sense of urgency for me. Then the story turned into quite an adventure with a small mystery to solve. The story also focuses on the themes of friendship, loyalty and sacrifice. I think what bogged me down was all the politics you are initially dropped in to and that Lyra's character takes a while to develop. She starts off as a bit of a brat but eventually charmed me just like she charms the other characters in the book.About daemons. I wish I had one. They are the physical representatives of our inner selves that take the shape of animals. Basically your own spirit animal that stays with you for life. As a child they are able to change shape until eventually your daemon will "settle" into the form that represents you best. Pantalaimon is simply awesome. I wonder what form my daemon would take. Such a fun idea.One of the wonderful things about books is how everyone reads them differently. I admit I didn't quite get all the controversy around this book. Sure, I can see some hard core Christians being upset that at the questions around original sin and how Pullman inserts his world's myths into bible verse. I was definitely drawn more into the ideas around parallel universes than any theological controversies. Perhaps this is something that becomes more prevalent in the next two books? I think this is considered a middle-grade book. For anyone wondering if this book is ok for their children to read be warned there are some intense battle scenes and are a couple deaths of children that could be considered scary.

It's been a long time since I last read this novel, but the word of a new Philip Pullman series inspired me to pick it up again. I'm still not sure I do really consider it a young adult novel either. The novel has a young protagonist and is, on the surface, simply written but it is an incredibly complex novel. The comparisons that it receives to middle grade fiction like Harry Potter is frankly unfair.The world building is incredible. The political and theological background is deep and complex, and the descriptions of Lyra's journey are so detailed that you can vividly imagine each step. While this adds a sense of reality to the story, my only real problem is that it makes the opening chapters very slow and expository. While never boring, the novel doesn't start to feel like it is moving until Lyra leaves for the north, which around a third of the way through.Yet when the novel picks up pace, it never looses it. Lyra's adventure is tense, exciting and more than a little scary. The plot is very focused and contains a lot of original and memorable adventures, from flying on a zeppelin pulled by witches to Lyra tricking her way into the court of the armoured bear king. The only disappointment I had with the plot after this point was the ending. While it's shocking and more than a little dark (no further spoilers here), it does break off on a cliffhanger which is a really bug bear of mine.In terms of character, the novel presents a great protagonist in the form of Lyra. Her voice always sounds genuine, being strong willed and childlike and often resolving problems through her quick wit and ability to convincingly lie. Her relationship with Pan is also very sweet, making some of the threats that they face together difficult to read. However, none of the other characters receive this sort of development. They're memorable - especially Iorek, Lee Scoresby and Serafina Pekkala - but they don't get much development over the course of the story. Even the villains are a little two dimensional, doing terrible things because they want power, which is a little disappointing.All in all, the book had some great moments but wasn't as fantastic as I remembered it on the whole. I will read on with the series to see if it gets better though, because the word building did blow me away.

It's exciting!

This book had equal parts religion, science, and childish wonder/magic which was fantastic. I didn't completely understand the Dust and elementary particles, but neither did Lyra so that's okay. We were equally confused, sad, filled with wonder and despair, and pumped with adrenaline and love. Daemons are a fascinating alternative to "inner voices" and Pan represents everything Lyra is: a rough-and-tumble kid with a heart of gold. I managed to tear through the book in 3 days and am very proud of this feat.

EVERYTHING about THE GOLDEN COMPASS is original, wondrous, magical and brilliant!To start, I often times have a hard time describing THE GOLDEN COMPASS to those who have asked me... to me, it almost feels as if it is a parallel-world to our own, with magical realism, steampunk elements and perhaps even takes place during the Edwardian Era in the U.K. with mythical creatures, hot air balloons, and witches... there an organized group of dark and sinister people that are kidnapping children and taking them up North. No one knows why or what they are doing to the children. Soon, people realize that the government, police and more are corrupted and there aren't many people to trust in order to get help and find these innocent children... Lyra is confident, stubborn and very determined for her age. She is not one to be caged or tricked into anything. She is extremely smart, observant and is one to decide for herself. She often questions everything and everyone around her; something that is frowned upon but necessary during all that she has to endure. However, like any child, Lyra is enchanted with everything she sees outside from where she grew up in Jordan College and Oxford; until she realizes that she is fated to deal with things that she only knew of stories. Being able to only rely on herself, question the world and tell stories herself saves her from many things and shows us that one will always rely on themselves in order to get through most things. The world-building is what dreams are made of - magical and within reach. You can tell that every little detail was carefully thought out and made to be important to all of the characters and the story. I really enjoyed how the narrator would give us their thoughts and extra bits to help us better understand the history behind what was happening.The whole concept of everyone having their own daemons (pronounced demons) is mesmerizing to me! Our world would be so very different if we all had our own personal daemon to represent and guide us. Although the actual concept as to how and why each person has a daemon is never fully explained except that children's daemons can shape-shift into different animals and accommodate themselves to the child's emotions and needs until they reach adulthood. Once they are grown adult's daemons seem to take on one animal-like shape for the rest of their lives, representing their person's characteristics since once one becomes an adult one is surer of themselves and has taken on a role in society. Also, the bond between a person and their daemon is one of life and death - they cannot be separated, it's as if they share a soul. If one dies, so will the other. The realization of having a separate identity that can cause harm to oneself is quite terrifying to me, but still, an enigma that I would love to learn more about and would possibly wish to have. My only grievance with Pullman's writing is that I felt as if he went over and beyond with the details and underestimated what his readers would get from his/this world. I truly felt that more could have been visualized with less of the particulars. For example, the narrator would often times step in and give us extra bits about how Lyra was feeling, or what one of the other characters were thinking about it, or more details as to the history of something that had happened which led to what was about to happen - and then the story would jump right back into Lyra's point of view. Often times it felt like someone was just disrupting the flow to purposefully be spoilery about the things that were about to happen rather than letting the reader have a moment to guess and wonder... I hope that what I am saying is understandable and not truly a negative thing. It is most likely that I am not used to this style of writing. Overall, I sincerely enjoyed Lyra's journey and felt all of her emotions through every one of her encounters. Big or small, every moment was believable and cinematic - a true classic that will be read for many, many years!*I received this book directly from the publisher to post an honest review during the blog tour. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Brilliant epic fantasy that takes a look at the pursuit of knowledge and the forces of suppression.

I quite enjoyed this book. I was initially hesitant to read it due to all the religious controversy, I was nervous it might just be a rant disguised as a book. But no, I found an entertaining book full of interesting ideas and engaging characters. For parents, there are many scenes you can use to discuss moral dilemmas, how to use critical thinking, and if you wish, the difference between fiction and the real world. But for those who want an entertaining escape that is well written and thought provoking, I can recommend this first novel of the trilogy.

Lyra Belacqua lives in a steam-punkish alternate universe that never had a Reformation. The elite in this universe are obsessed with the exploration of an elementary particle they associate with original sin, and are conducting unethical experiments to discover more about its interaction with humans. Lyra teams up with an expedition to retrieve children stolen for the experiments, and ends up in a great many cold Northern adventures, guided by her own strong sense of justice and the information from her symbol reader.The Golden Compass is a classic mythic journey - with sacrifice, betrayal, unknowable fate, distant and faintly evil parents, animal and supernatural guides. It's action-packed, and Lyra isn't very introspective, so it's a very quick and exciting read.

It took me a while to get into this. I was about halfway through when I reached the “can’t put it down” point and really flew through. I find there is so much referencing a few things over and over without giving you the information about it which was a bit annoying. Overall, however, it was very good.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. Lyra is one of the guttest female characters I have read in ages. Mr. Pullman keeps the readers interested in the plot right up to the last page. Can't wait to read the other 2 books in the series.

I expected to like it a lot more than I did. I thought the author was very condescending, not only to the characters but the reader as well. There was a random skip to a different POV and a completely random and unnecessary change to omniscient third person. I also wasn't happy about how some of the basic information about the world wasn't explained until halfway through the book. It was okay, and I'll probably read the other books eventually but they aren't high on my list.

Definitely the best of the trilogy, Pullman's The Golden Compass introduces the reader to a fascinating alternate reality, where people's souls take the form of an animal visible to all. Up until puberty, this animal (called a Daemon), can change form, but, as the church scientists are discovering, from that moment a strange substance called "Dust" begins to settle on humans and their Daemons settle on a final form.The all-powerful church becomes obsessed at discovering the cause of dust and connects it with the loss of innocence. Caught up in this, in more ways than she can understand, is the orphaned Lyra, who lives amongst old scholars at Oxford University. Unaware of her own power, she is warred over by those who would serve the church, those who would serve to destroy it, and those who would protect her at all costs. I can hardly do this book justice, but it is one of the favorites in my collection, and gets re-read every few years. The trilogy as a whole has so much depth, so many twists and turns, that I discover new things each time.Part fantasy, party mystery, part science fiction, The Golden Compass has something to please almost all readers.

This book definitely has a dark feel to it. The writing style is very different than books such as the Harry Potter Series. Reading this out loud to my son, it took a couple of chapters to get into the rhythm of the story.

The book takes place in a world similar to ours, but with many striking differences. It's easy to get hooked on the story after the initial introduction to the world. There is plenty of action and adventure, and the book is well written.

I'm a sucker for alternate universes, and 'His Dark Materials' has been in the To Be Read pile for a long time. I've seen the film based on this book, and also the more recent BBC dramatisation. So the plot was known to me. What I wanted to see was the sort of job Philip Pullman made out of the world-building, and also to get a feel for the controversies that accompanied the film (particularly) on its release.I found the world-building far more detailed and intriguing than I expected. There is considerable detail shown of the world outside Pullman's England, apart from Svalbard; this is slipped effortlessly into the novel. There were a number of things that surprised me about the novel; Lyra is a far more feral child than the screen adaptations suggested, and I was also surprised that the novel did not strike me as exceptionally anti-religious. Indeed, we have a Catholic church firmly entrenched in Britain, albeit one with different instrumentalities - we appear to have the Magisterium instead of the Jesuits, for example. In this volume, Pullman doesn't really offer any opinion on the Church; the Magisterium and the General Oblation Board are certainly the baddies, but that's just religious politics. Anyone who believes this book to be anti-religious because it takes a dim view of religious politics has led a very sheltered life.The setting could do with a little explanation. As an alternate reality, we assume that the story is set in the present day; but the description of the towns and cities, and the technology, suggest a setting more in line with the 1930s. (The film took the fantasy elements further and detached Pullman's world further from our own; the BBC TV adaptation back-dated the setting to something more like the 1950s.) Seeing as the Catholic Church is pre-eminent in this world, this suggests that Pullamn is familiar with the Morton Hypothesis, that Catholicism has had a tendency to stifle scientific and technological advancement, and the nations of western Europe only achieved their technological advantages through embracing Protestantism.Some reviewers have commented on the theme of child abuse in the book. It is only abuse in the terms of the novel - severing children from their daemons, the familiar spirit creatures that accompany everyone in this world - and although this is firmly in the fantasy portion of the work, by the time this is revealed Pullman has built up our understanding of the link between people (especially children) and their daemons so much that the prospect of severing that link is quite abhorrent. The explanation that Mrs Coulter, the sinister figure behind the General Oblation Board and the project to sever children from their daemons, gives Lyra is the justification for all the tortures the strong exercise on the weak "for their own good". Given that this is (or at least, was) a Young Adult book in intention, this illustration of the evils of those with power segregating people into camps and performing experiments on them is clear and no less powerful for being fictional.Other characters - the leaders of the gyptians, the canal dwellers who spirit Lyra from London to Svalbard, for example - are exceptionally well drawn. Lord Asriel, heroic explorer and Lyra's uncle (we are told) is painted as romantic but distant to start with; accounts from the gyptians reinforce this picture. But things are seldom what they seem. Perhaps the character I personally enjoyed the most was the armoured bear, Iorek Byrnison. "Defend the right to arm bears!" says the t-shirt slogan, and Iorek is the personification (ursunification?) of this.The gyptians have interesting antecedents. Many of them have Dutch or Greek family names, suggesting a far greater interchange between England and old Europe. The name itself is suggestive of the oral history the Roma people have for themselves. And there are descriptions of the Fens, and the North Sea beyond them, that suggest that the Dutch never assisted in the draining of the Fens in the Restoration period in this reality. The gyptians hold their meetings in a hall in the middle of the Fens, inaccessible on foot, that recalls Viking moot halls. And the North Sea (here, the 'German Sea') is described as shallow, suggesting that the frozen nature of the North lands has locked up a lot of water that in our world made Britain into an island defended by deep and turbulent seas.So i enjoyed this greatly. But I had to acknowledge that there was little here - beyond the conceit of the daemons - that I had not seen elsewhere. The big comparison I kept making was with Keith Roberts' 'Pavane'. an alternate reality where Elizabeth I was assassinated and the Spanish Armada succeeded in returning England to the Catholic fold. That book pre-dates Pullman's work by 25 years or so; yet I've never had the impression that Pullman has ever been part of the science fiction community. Pullman achieved his status through his work with children's literature, and the plaudits for 'His Dark Materials' arose from there. He himself does not speak of it as fantasy, but instead says it is "stark realism". The acclaim this book and the others in the trilogy have received is very much an expression of the cultural cringe there is in the UK about science fiction and fantasy; other books with similar themes are just as deserving of praise, but don't get it because of their labels. Part of that cultural cringe is authors denying their works the fantasy or SF label. On this, Philip Pullman must be guilty as charged. But that's not going to stop me carrying on treading the series.

Took me a little while to get into, but then it grabbed me. It was hard to put down. The Bolvangar escape left me breathless. Great heroine, great world-building. Some parts were tremendously sad.