I have to admit that I never heard of this book or the book series His Dark Materials until I watched the movie with my girls over the holidays on VOD. We enjoyed the movie but the end drove me crazy. I can not stand not knowing what happens and the movie ended with a cliffhanger! Perhaps I am not completely in touch with the movie industry, but it also appeared tome that this movie may not have been as popular as expected and clearly a sequel may never appear. Alas, another set of books to read.
I did read The Golden Compass, which was actually first published as Northern Lights in 1995. The story is set in a parallel universe and tells of Lyra Belacqua's journey north in search of her missing friend, Roger, and her imprisoned father, Lord Asriel, who has been conducting experiments with a mysterious substance known as Dust. In Lyra's world, all humans are born with an animal "partner" called a daemon, sort of a person's external expression of a soul. Hurt a daemon, you hurt their human. Lyra meets many interesting characters on her journey, including Mrs. Coulter (who turns out to be related to Lyra), witches and other supernatural beings, and Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear. Given a special instrument, an alethiometer, Lyra learns to use it on her journey. The alethiometer can tell the truth, if you ask the right questions and you learn how to read the answers.
The story was pretty compelling and moved very fast. The characters were interesting although many were not very likeable or loveable. Lyra, however, is very loyal, and she grows on you throughout the book to become a fairly interesting and compelling heroine. I must admit the ending surprised me. Both times actually, during the movie and then again in the book. And both times I was sucked in and had to know what happened next. So I purchased Book 2: The Subtle Knife.
I am not sure yet how I would ultimately rate this book or the series. However, I must admit once I started the book I felt compelled to read it to the end and I was always guessing what would happen next. Therefore, I have to recommend this book as a good read.
I did read The Golden Compass, which was actually first published as Northern Lights in 1995. The story is set in a parallel universe and tells of Lyra Belacqua's journey north in search of her missing friend, Roger, and her imprisoned father, Lord Asriel, who has been conducting experiments with a mysterious substance known as Dust. In Lyra's world, all humans are born with an animal "partner" called a daemon, sort of a person's external expression of a soul. Hurt a daemon, you hurt their human. Lyra meets many interesting characters on her journey, including Mrs. Coulter (who turns out to be related to Lyra), witches and other supernatural beings, and Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear. Given a special instrument, an alethiometer, Lyra learns to use it on her journey. The alethiometer can tell the truth, if you ask the right questions and you learn how to read the answers.
The story was pretty compelling and moved very fast. The characters were interesting although many were not very likeable or loveable. Lyra, however, is very loyal, and she grows on you throughout the book to become a fairly interesting and compelling heroine. I must admit the ending surprised me. Both times actually, during the movie and then again in the book. And both times I was sucked in and had to know what happened next. So I purchased Book 2: The Subtle Knife.
I am not sure yet how I would ultimately rate this book or the series. However, I must admit once I started the book I felt compelled to read it to the end and I was always guessing what would happen next. Therefore, I have to recommend this book as a good read.
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