His Dark Materials Book One: The Golden Compass Reviewed

The His Dark Materials books are a trilogy of epic children's books, akin to the Harry Potter series, albeit much shorter, but no less epic. The first novel of the series was published in 1995 (In the UK). It was titled Northern Lights. When it crossed the Atlantic Ocean, the title was changed to The Golden Compass, because of the large gold compass depicted on the cover. The His Dark Materials novels get their name from the epic poem Paradise Lost, by John Milton. Pullman takes this alternate telling of Adam and Eve's fall, and uses inspiration from it to write this unique and fascinating story. (http://www.bridgetothestars.net).

The first book, The Golden Compass, is set in a world similar to the world that we live in, but different in many ways. The book opens on to the main character, Lyra Belacqua and her daemon (same as "demon") Pantalaimon sneaking into a forbidden room in the Jordan College. The college is located in Oxford, but not the Oxford that would be familiar with England dwellers. London is mentioned, as is Greenland, even The Royal Mail, but the world is still foreign from our own. It will take further reading to discover more about the land in which Lyra calls home.

Pullman does a great job with character development. Lyra is a wonderful main character for this book. She is wily, hot headed, but yet can still be timid and unsure of herself at times. She does grow throughout the book, with the classic motif from innocence to experience. He introduces Mrs. Coulter early on in the book, mentioning her not in name, but in appearance and the appearance of her daemon. She starts off by leading children away from their families, and then taking them away. After this happens, rumors start flying about kidnappers called "The Gobblers". Suddenly Mrs. Coulter shows up at the Jordan College, and wants to take Lyra away with her, but is most polite about it. She dotes upon Lyra, and the reader almost starts to like her, when she drops the ball.