Fantasy and sci-fi lovers alike ought to be happily acquainted with
Philip Pullman, a master genre-bender who boldly takes readers on a
kaleidoscopic magical odyssey, complete with talking animals and portals to
other worlds. The Golden Compass—also
known by its British title, Northern
Lights—is a stunning work of creative vision, and as intellectually
engaging as it is fun and exciting.
Twelve-year-old Lyra Belacqua inhabits a world in which human souls
manifest themselves outside their bodies in the form of dæmons:
shape-shifters who take on animal forms. She and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, grow
up in Jordan College, raised by scholars, professors, and servants, until the
arrival of her enigmatic uncle, Lord Asriel, an explorer who experiments in
theology. Upon overhearing a secret meeting involving a quest for mysterious
magic particles known as Dust, Lyra is given a golden compass-like device
called an alethiometer—or a “truth teller” with prophetic powers—and introduced
to the beautiful and mysterious Ms. Coulter, a scholar whose arrives at the college
around the time children in the area begin to disappear. When Lyra’s friend
Roger goes missing, she sets out to find him and is soon drawn into a dangerous
and complicated scheme involving secret experiments that transcend time and
space; a journey that takes her around the world on boats, zeppelins, hot air
balloons, and the back of an armored bear.
Just as Pullman’s magical world draws comprehensively on a multitude of sources—mythology,
theology, astronomy, magic, and politics—it also offers a diverse cast of
characters. There are tribes of witches, including the witch queen Serafina
Pekkala; a nomadic ethic group known as gyptians, whom Lyra travels with for a
time; and talking armored bears known as panserbjørne;
which includes the bear prince, Iorek Byrnison, who becomes Lyra’s trusted
companion. The villainous ones in the assorted collection are the members of
the General Oblation Board, known as the Gobblers, who kidnap children and
perform experiments on them in the name of religion.
The compelling driving force of the narrative is Lyra, a willful, vivacious
tomboy whose brazen disregard of authority serve her well on a journey that
tests her courage and resolve; yet she’s also equal parts clever and
compassionate. Fittingly, her talent for lying—which gets her out of many a
life-threatening situation—eventually earns her the nickname Lyra Silvertongue,
bestowed on her by Iorek Byrnison.
A writer like Pullman does not adhere to the confines of genre. Just as
Lyra’s expedition transcends time and space, The Golden Compass defies easy categorization, and its audience is
certainly not limited to children and young adults. This also applies to the
book’s two sequels, The Subtle Knife and
The Amber Spyglass.
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