callistahogan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
callistahogan) wrote2008-05-17 02:17 pm
callistahogan) wrote2008-05-17 02:17 pm
Entry tags:
Book Review #10
Book: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 399 pp.
Grade: B+
Amazon Summary: In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called "Gobblers"—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
My Thoughts: Well.
As you can see by my grade, I enjoyed this book. It started out fairly slow, but the action gradually built up. I enjoyed the adventures Lyra and Pantalaimon got themselves thrown into, and I really liked the way Pullman wrote the two characters. They seemed real. They weren't invincible, like so many characters are—they were able to get manipulated, kidnapped, and thrown around by their "betters" quite a lot during the book.
Like I said, the action was quite well-paced. There were a few sections where it seemed to drag on a bit, but other than that, it was quite well-written. For the last two hundred pages or so, I didn't want to put it down—it was that good and engrossing. Even though I knew that Lyra, Pantalaimon, Roger, and some other characters were good, I wasn't so sure about the others, especially Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. Even though I had read the book before, I couldn't remember what happened, so the ending was fairly surprising.
However, the one thing that I didn't like was the bits near the end with the Bible. I understand that it's necessary for the plot, and if Pullman cut that out, the books wouldn't be worth anything, but I did sort of find it offensive how he inserted phrases and words into the Bible that were never there in the first place. I tried not to take too much offense, but it did sort of jar me out of the story a bit.
Despite that, though, I truly enjoyed the book, and I can't see what will happen next. It's lucky that I got The Subtle Knife from my public library, because I'm definitely going to start reading that right now. Everyone I've talked to has said that the religion stuff doesn't really pay a big part until the second and third books, so I just hope that it doesn't force me to drop the books before I finish.
I'm going to try to finish this series, and I hope the second and third ones deliver.
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 399 pp.
Grade: B+
Amazon Summary: In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called "Gobblers"—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
My Thoughts: Well.
As you can see by my grade, I enjoyed this book. It started out fairly slow, but the action gradually built up. I enjoyed the adventures Lyra and Pantalaimon got themselves thrown into, and I really liked the way Pullman wrote the two characters. They seemed real. They weren't invincible, like so many characters are—they were able to get manipulated, kidnapped, and thrown around by their "betters" quite a lot during the book.
Like I said, the action was quite well-paced. There were a few sections where it seemed to drag on a bit, but other than that, it was quite well-written. For the last two hundred pages or so, I didn't want to put it down—it was that good and engrossing. Even though I knew that Lyra, Pantalaimon, Roger, and some other characters were good, I wasn't so sure about the others, especially Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. Even though I had read the book before, I couldn't remember what happened, so the ending was fairly surprising.
However, the one thing that I didn't like was the bits near the end with the Bible. I understand that it's necessary for the plot, and if Pullman cut that out, the books wouldn't be worth anything, but I did sort of find it offensive how he inserted phrases and words into the Bible that were never there in the first place. I tried not to take too much offense, but it did sort of jar me out of the story a bit.
Despite that, though, I truly enjoyed the book, and I can't see what will happen next. It's lucky that I got The Subtle Knife from my public library, because I'm definitely going to start reading that right now. Everyone I've talked to has said that the religion stuff doesn't really pay a big part until the second and third books, so I just hope that it doesn't force me to drop the books before I finish.
I'm going to try to finish this series, and I hope the second and third ones deliver.