Book Review: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Title: The Golden Compass
Author: Philip Pullman
Series/Standalone: His Dark Materials (Book #1)
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Pages: 399
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Year Published: 1996
Format: Audiobook

"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 alethiometer. 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 Rating: 3.75/5

This book was the monthly pick for my local book club and I was more than a little excited to get to it. I'd heard about this book in the past as it was extremely popular around the time the movie came out, but I'd never really read about it or known what the storyline was about. Overall, I enjoyed the story, especially listening to the audiobook as it was a full cast audiobook. I also really enjoyed the questioning about morals and religion that is hinted at in this first story. That being said I do wonder if I would enjoy the rest of the series based on my enjoyment of this first book. I'm going to give the series a break, before deciding whether to continue with the second audiobook.

Thanks for reading,
Sidny