Looking Back - The Golden Compass

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman
Young Adult Fiction
1996 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers (first published 1995)
Finished in January 1998
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

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.


My Original Notes (1998):

Fantasy. Very different! I loved the idea of daemons, but the book ran hot and cold for me. Slow in spots. I got bogged down with a lot of the fantasy details, trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't.

I'm not sure if I want to read the sequel. This isn't a book I loved or disliked. Would make a great Spielberg movie!

My Current Thoughts:

I remember when an online book group that I belonged to read this young adult novel. So many people seemed to love it and the rest of the books in His Dark Materials trilogy, but I was lukewarm about the story and didn't go on to read anymore by Pullman. For the most part, I tend prefer science fiction and post-apocalyptic books over fantasy.