BOOK REVIEW: His Dark Materials #1: The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman

Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary

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. – Goodreads Summary

Lyra Belacqua is from Oxford–but not the Oxford we know. In this Oxford, and this entire world, every human has an animal companion, a daemon, that comes into being when they are born, and it is the physical manifestation of a human's soul.

Lyra loves Oxford, but she and her daemon, Pan, long for adventure. When her uncle, Lord Asriel, arrives talking about a strange substance called Dust, Lyra wishes more than anything to join him when he returns to the North, but he refuses to take her with him.

Strange things are happening in Oxford. Children are disappearing, taken by the mysterious Gobblers, and a beautiful, kind woman named Mrs. Coulter comes to take Lyra on as her assistant, giving her the chance to go on the adventures she has always longed for. However, Mrs. Coulter is not all that she seems,

Lyra's journey takes her North to find Roger, but what she discovers is far more terrible than anything she could possibly imagine. Armed only with her cunning and a strange device called an alethiometer that always tells her the truth, Lyra battles with armored bears, the oppressive church called the Magisterium, and possibly the most dangerous people of all … her parents.

My Review

I have been meaning to read this book for a very long time, and I am so happy I've finally gotten around to it. The story is told mainly from Lyra's perspective, which I think was a wonderful way to go about it because Lyra is a child and is still learning how her world works. As we see the narrative develop through her eyes, the reader is also learning about her world in a way that feels natural without any annoying info dumps.

I am also very impressed with Philip Pullman because there are very few male authors who write female characters as full, vibrant, and complex people. Often, female characters are written in supportive roles, or are relegated to being "plot devices" that move the male characters along on their journey. Pullman, in great and wonderful contrast, gives the female characters of this book not only a central role in the narrative, but he also gives them great power and makes them into real people.

Plot: ★★★★☆

The plot of The Golden Compass honestly kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire last half of the book. The first half is also very good, and none of it feels slow or boring, it's just a lot exposition which was fine!

Characters: ★★★★★

Okay I loved Lyra as a character, she was by far my favorite. I also really loved Lee Scoresby, Serafina Pekkala, and Marisa Coulter. However, I think Pullman's brilliance comes from the way he makes even the smallest side characters feel like real people with their own personalities. It felt like he developed all of them and knew who they were at their core, even though we, as the readers, didn't get to see it. This attention to detail just blew me away, which is insane because this book wasn't even very long.

Setting: ★★★★☆

The Golden Compass is set in a parallel version of Europe, similar to our Europe in the 19th or 20th century, but with some steampunk vibes and a bit of magic. In this parallel world, Texas is its own country, human souls exist outside of their bodies in animal form, there are witches, talking bears, and a church with seemingly unlimited power. There is no Christianity in this world, but they know the Biblical story of Genesis and this is a central story to the people and the church–the Magisterium.

Recommended To ...

The Golden Compass (or Northern Lights, as it is known in Europe) is often considered a YA novel, or Middle Grade, but it is perfectly suitable for fantasy-loving adults as well! It was easy to read, but it did not feel simple or "dumbed down" in any way.

Triggers

Non graphic death, non graphic death of children, non graphic kidnapping, small instance of parental-figure abuse toward a child.