The Golden Compass

Author: Phillip Pullman
Year: 1995
Genre: Fantasy (steampunk)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Series: First in the His Dark Materials series

Plot Summary: When Lyra Belacqua decides to sneak into a forbidden room at Oxford and overhears a discussion among the scholars, she has no idea of the consequences. Children all over England are disappearing, stolen by "Gobblers" and when Lyra's best friend, Roger, disappears she's determined to rescue him. Along with her faithful daemon, Pantalaimon, Lyra journeys to the mysterious North to solve the mystery of the Gobblers' purpose and rescue Roger. On the way she discovers startling information of her own past and learns to use the mysterious truth-telling device--the alethiometer.

Red Flags: some scariness and spookiness, character death, a violent battle between polar armored bears. And let's not forget the whole anti-Christian thing, although that doesn't really come into this book.

Movie Version: The Golden Compass

My Rating: A-. I don't know if this is traditionally viewed as a young adult book, but the writing style and the overall heaviness of it makes me wonder how many kids would be interested. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It took a while for me to get really interested but by the end I was thoroughly hooked. Pullman is a good writer and even though Lyra is a brat, I mostly liked her by the end. Also: Iorek=win.