The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Series: His Dark Materials #1
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
Yes, I am reading it because of the movie. I am both excited and afraid. This is one of my favorites. I read it back in ’99 for what I think was the first time. It was during the period when mom and I would write in the front of the book when we finished it. It is hard for me to believe that was 8 years ago and I was twelve. I’m reading a chapter here and there whenever I get the chance. I had forgotten so much of it. Pullman’s world is beautifully crafted: a mix of the comfortably familiar and the entrancingly fantastic. Even though Lyra is a child she is easy to relate to because she is passionate and intelligent as well as wild. The story is engrossing and the more I fall in love with it all over again the more nervous I get about the movie but I am still determined to see it for it’s own merits. So I finished it… why are so many of the books I love full of cliff hanger endings? Though it is not near as bad as Mr. George R. R. Martin waiting for his books to come out. I already have a chapter of The Subtle Knife read. Immersion like this makes me want to create a world just as believable.And of course as you transition into The Subtle Knife, you realize Pullman will not be stopping with just one or even two amazing worlds. It is a book within the reading capabilities of children, but it is not a children’s book. There are harsh realities that the child characters face, the lines of good and evil are constantly being blurred. The story is both powerful and intriguing.
