The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials, Book 1

By: Pullman, Philip

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: School & Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0613810368
• ISBN13: 9780613810364
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Turtleback Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.1" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

This is the first book in the Dark Materials story.

It is not worth reviewing or reading the reviews of “The Golden Compass” (British title “The Northern Lights”) until one has finished the complete story of “Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman. As with any genre, the author is trying to express a concept or make a point. By using the genre, whether it is Western sci-fi or historical peace, the author envelops the concept in a palatable story. Sometimes the envelope completely masks the purpose of the story; at other times the purpose is so blatant that one doesn't even know why anything was being enveloped. This is one of those rare stories that polarizes readers from one extreme to the other. We recognize other phenomena in this story. In many stories, the reader's rule looks at the antagonists as the protagonist and, occasionally, can sympathize but never recognizes themselves as the protagonist. In Philip Pullman's “Dark Materials,” it seems that everybody recognizes themselves with an “if the shoe fits attitude, whether it is them or not. Now, Dark Materials, book one “The Golden Compass.” Lyra, who ran wild around Jordan College at Oxford, is now hiding in a closet in the Retiring Room. There she sees that the Master is about to poison her uncle, Lord Asriel. Now Lyra must figure out who the good guys are from the bad if there are good and bad guys. In the process, she finds and fulfills her destiny without fully realizing what that destiny is. The people and creatures around her know more of her destiny than she does. Soon she must leave Jordon College and is given a beautiful golden instrument with pictures and arms that resemble a compass. What she is supposed to do with it is not clear at first.