The Golden Compass, Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (His Dark Materials, Book 1)(Rough-cut)
by Philip Pullman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Philip PullmanEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2006-10-24
ISBN: 0375838309
Number of pages: 432
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780375838309
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of The Golden Compass, Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (His Dark Materials, Book 1)(Rough-cut)
Book Review: One of the greatest, smartest fantasy novels that I've ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow! I just finished reading this for the first time, completing it only a few minutes before midnight and the beginning of 2010. I have to confess that I only recently learned about the series, but I instantly was interested in it after hearing about the premise. I was hooked immediately and read the entire book in less than twenty-four hours. I'm going to say very little since with 1,500 reviews no much remains to be said. I'll merely add that the book reminds me a lot of Keith Roberts's PAVANE and Alan Moore's THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, with perhaps a little bit of LORD OF THE RINGS thrown in (mainly Frodo's quest, which is similar to Lyra's). Everything in this book clicked for me. I loved the daemons, the armored bears, the assumption of millions of parallel worlds, the witches, the Gobblers, the Gyptians, and all of the major characters. I've already started THE SUBTLE KNIFE and it will unquestionably be the first book that I finish in 2010.
I would just ignore those giving this book low ratings (and there aren't many). They are aberrations. I can't imagine many literate individuals who won't be absolutely blown away by this. Not just fans of fantasy and SF, but people who love wildly imaginative works of fiction. Some Christians (and for the record, I'm an orthodox Christian, a former Southern Baptist [I left the convention after it became more and more progressively stupid -- the proclamation that wives were to be subservient to their husbands passed on the annual convention few years ago along with the incessant unbiblical idiocies of Richard Land made me give up and the SBC and become an independent Baptist instead) are bothered by the anticlerical tone of the book. But frankly, I am just not bothered by that. If one's faith is so fragile that reading a book that doesn't like Christianity can threaten it, one doesn't have much of a faith to begin with.
I don't know where this will rate among the best fantasy that I have read since I have all of one book and most of a second to go, but based on what I've read so far, I would have no trouble putting this up with C. S. Lewis's NARNIA, Tolkien's LOTR, and Rowling's Harry Potter books as the best fantasy that I have ever read.
More The Golden Compass, Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (His Dark Materials, Book 1)(Rough-cut) reviews:
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Summary of The Golden Compass, Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (His Dark Materials, Book 1)(Rough-cut)
Published in 40 countries, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy--The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass--has graced the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Book Sense, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. In 1996, The Golden Compass changed the face of fantasy publishing, and 2006 marks its 10 Year Anniversary--and an opportunity to celebrate with a deluxe hardcover. Pullman created new material just for this edition (archival documents, scientific notes and "found" letters of Lord Asriel) which has been illustrated and handlettered by renowned British artist Ian Beck and will be included in the back matter. The deluxe edition also features Pullman's own chapter opening spot art. A quality collectible--with the enticement of never-before-seen new material--for Pullman fans.Some books improve with age--the age of the reader, that is. Such is certainly the case with Philip Pullman's heroic, at times heart-wrenching novel, The Golden Compass, a story ostensibly for children but one perhaps even better appreciated by adults. The protagonist of this complex fantasy is young Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Oxford University. But it quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own--nor is her world. For one thing, people there each have a personal daemon, the manifestation of their souls in animal form. For another, hers is a universe in which science, theology, and magic are closely allied:
As for what experimental theology was, Lyra had no more idea than the urchins. She had formed the notion that it was concerned with magic, with the movements of the stars and planets, with tiny particles of matter, but that was guesswork, really. Probably the stars had daemons just as humans did, and experimental theology involved talking to them.Not that Lyra spends much time worrying about it; what she likes best is "clambering over the College roofs with Roger the kitchen boy who was her particular friend, to spit plum stones on the heads of passing Scholars or to hoot like owls outside a window where a tutorial was going on, or racing through the narrow streets, or stealing apples from the market, or waging war." But Lyra's carefree existence changes forever when she and her daemon, Pantalaimon, first prevent an assassination attempt against her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust. Soon she and Pan are swept up in a dangerous game involving disappearing children, a beautiful woman with a golden monkey daemon, a trip to the far north, and a set of allies ranging from "gyptians" to witches to an armor-clad polar bear.
In The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman has written a masterpiece that transcends genre. It is a children's book that will appeal to adults, a fantasy novel that will charm even the most hardened realist. Best of all, the author doesn't speak down to his audience, nor does he pull his punches; there is genuine terror in this book, and heartbreak, betrayal, and loss. There is also love, loyalty, and an abiding morality that infuses the story but never overwhelms it. This is one of those rare novels that one wishes would never end. Fortunately, its sequel, The Subtle Knife, will help put off that inevitability for a while longer. --Alix Wilber
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