Northern Lights: His Dark Materials, Book 1

I was fortunate enough to be exposed to the philosophies of this story from a very young age.This has given me the imagination and insight in to these ideas through out my life.I loved the film, I did find it a little long in some places, but I thought it was wonderful and I couldnt wait to read the book.The books arrived from amazon about 2 weeks ago and I couldnt wait to get stuck in.I read the Golden Compass in around 2 weeks, which is the fastest I have every read a book in my life.I was totally engrossed and loved every single page, Pullmans writing style is wonderful and I was totally caught up in his world.This book got a lot of press as it attracted the religious nutters, as it does talk a lot about God, The Church, and Religion.The morral of this story is about Free Will, and Original Sin.The Christian God gave us free will when he kicked "us" out of the "garden of Eden"This book deals with that idea that humans have free will thanks to their creator, yet, through out history there have always been organisations that have tried to take it away from them, The Church being one of them.Telling people how to behave, how to think and how to live their lives has always been a way of the chruch.88888 plot spoiler - dont read past this point 888888888888888The Children in the story are "cut" from their Deamons (A soul that inhabits an animal form that lives out side the body)In this process of cutting the children are almost stunted or forced to grow up.It is a bit like in the past when young men were castrated so that they would keep their high voices, the church had no problem in mutilating young men in that way, and this is real life, not fiction.I find it hilarious that the religious groups can throw mud at these books and writers like this, when THEIR CHURCHS have been responsible for so much death and so many terrible things through out history.I would recommend this book to any one who loves fantasy and is also interested in Quantum Mechanics.A great read!5/5 stars!

I don't read fantasy. I just don't. Lazy tales about magical swords and rings of power, McGuffin plot devices that enable undisciplined plotting. But I had to read Pullman's books; his fame alone demanded it. And I'm glad I did. For a long time Pullman didn't publish in e-versions, but I don't buy print books any more, so he's made one extra sale (to add to the millions!) at least......first, the quality of writing is effortless. You eyes glide along each page (more correctly, down the column in my Kindle version.) Most impressive is the daemons: they're in the scene but not laboured. Each character accepts them as a natural part of life, as they would in reality. You soon find it perfectly logical that people carry their souls around in a small companion animal; several mornings I woke up looking for mine.The lauded descriptions of an alternate Oxford didn't quite work as well; it's a city I love so I was looking forward to more moments like "Oh! That's their version of...[insert landmark]." It doesn't happen much. Again, because Pullman's not labouring the point.He's not afraid to hurt his characters, or leave them with the messiness of real life to deal with. And the tale expands at graceful pace, broadening from a young girl's secrets to a fully-realised and fascinating world.Like I said, I don't read fantasy. And I still won't. But I do read good books, whoever they were written for and whatever their subject. And as its millions of fans would agree, Northern Lights/Golden Compass is a seriously good book.

Being so late to this book means I have heard A LOT about this novel from other readers I know, one of my bff’s was quite forceful that this should be my next read when I was pondering over my tbr. So here we are book lovers!What did I like:It has been a looooong time since I’ve read a book where the MC is so young, so I did find Lyra quite testing and petulant at times. I had to remind myself that I’m used to young adult or adult adult MC’s so I simply can’t hold her to the same expectation. That being said, the representation of Lyra as a character is wonderful and after a number of “she’s only a child” internal prompts & deep breaths through the first quarter to half of the book I did start to bond with the tenacious little girl and root for her. By the end of the book it was quite refreshing having the innocence of a little girl as the MC with her single minded driven attitude.I really enjoyed the Gyptian community in this book and it was during these chapters I felt there was genuine relationship building, especially between Lyra and some of the Gyptian’s themselves. At the beginning of the book Lyra seems very disassociated with the adults in her environment with little to no true relationships with any of them but whilst she is with the Gyptian’s she builds some solid bonds with the likes of Ma Costa, John Faa and Farder Coram. I felt this was also a sound representation of community, with camaraderie, warmth and spirit.I am an animal lover, so of course I have a soft spot for Iorek Byrnison.The plot itself is genuinely well written and a treat to the imagination. From reading, it became quite clear why readers from so many age ranges loves this book, there is something for everyone. From all the books I’ve read so far this year this one has the most beautifully described detail that you could close your eyes and experience it in your inner eye. The level of world building and description that has gone into this book is what I think makes this novel so engaging to all ages, I’ve found with more “adult-y” books you can sometimes miss out on that detail which for me is where the magic happens. I want to immerse myself in the story.Every part of the story flows beautifully into the next, everything had purpose. No dull, dragged out sections. I found everything progressed at a really good rate with a decent amount of action/drama. Every character we meet is diverse in characteristics and adds a little something to the story. The end definitely leads on to the next book, if I was old enough to have read this in 1995, I’d have been gutted to have to wait the 2 years before the next book comes out.Philip Pullman is such a highly acclaimed writer, there isn’t much I can add that hasn’t already been said. His way of writing is quite unique and not a style I’ve seen replicated or similar anywhere else yet. The second and third book are patiently waiting in my wishlist to be purchased, next to Ruby in the Smoke (I borrowed it from the Library when I first read it) which I’d love to reread.What I wasn’t so keen on:This was an enjoyable read for me, so there wasn’t anything I really disliked. As I mentioned I had to remind myself child MC’s don’t behave like older MC’s. With my challenge for 2020 to read a more diverse range of books I will hopefully come to meet many different MC’s and not trip up on something so basic as this again.Iorek and Lyra had a tight relationship from when they met, like there’s a connection. It was obvious what Lyra’s thoughts and feelings were towards Iorek but I’d have loved to find out his feelings towards her. Were his actions inspired by duty or genuine affection?I’d have liked a bit more explanation in the last sections of the book as to what’s going on and why, but with end of the book the way it was maybe I’ll find out in the second book.

I just found the most beautiful edition of His Dark Materials books. They are wonderful.I’m not reviewing the story or writing itself, only the product that I had bought. Those who have read this masterpiece know how much it’s worth. Those who haven’t, I strongly advise you do. It has this beautiful dust jacket showing the Alethiometer. Hardback blue. The letters have a very decent size, same for the space between lines. And at the end of the book there’s an Appendix showing some curious papers from the Library at Jordan College. I had never seen that before in other editions! It’s a clever addition to the story.The editions of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass have similar curiosities in its Appendix too. If you buy this edition of Northern Lights, you have to buy the other books in the same edition. I’m adding pictures to this review so you can see how amazing they are.Those books are for every age. It's the fourth time I'm reading them, and each time I understand something new.

this is a very good book. my son enjoys it very much and it seems very interesting

It is a really light reading book, to be honest it is really slow at the beginning but once you get to the good part you won’t stop until you finish.

This book and this series is exceptional in so many ways. I give it five stars, and my 9-year-old son is reading the series as I re-read it with him.Here are three things I love about this book:1- The main character is a strong girl (Lyra) with incredible willpower as well as a pre-ordained important role to play in the world. She is funny, scrappy, and a very likable and relatable main character. The fate of the world is literally in her hands, but she doesn't realize that.2- The world building here is so creative and so different from other fantasy novels. After reading a lot of fantasy novels with my son, at some point I get bored of the traditional storyline of wizard fights some sort of evil and prevails. In this world, every person is born joined to a Daemon, which is an animal who talks and basically always stays within ten feet of the person. They are bonded forever, and part of being a whole human is being bonded from birth to death with this talking animal. There's also a huge theme here about physics, which they call "Dark Matter" or "Dust" - that creates mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the book. There are also such creative creatures, including armored polar bears who talk and are mercenaries for hire. There are witches, who live for thousands of years and exist within clans. And the Daemons are fascinating. They can change shape at will into any animal basically until their human hits puberty, at which point they pick one animal shape to maintain for the rest of their lives.3- The settings are interesting, and also related to parts of the earth. For instance, the story starts in Oxford in England where Lyra grows up as a part of a college. She is a little girl among scholars, who mainly runs around and does what she wants throughout the town. She's proud of her mastery of the spaces around her, and becomes the center of most groups of kids, who follow her - from her best friend who is the son of a kitchen worker at the college to her friends the Gyptians who live on boats. Then the story moves to the Arctic, where there are detailed descriptions of auroras and vivid explanations of the cold. My son got more interested in the Arctic here, and found himself exploring the science in the science fiction. That's an exciting advantage of a book like this!Notes for parents raising kids in a religious tradition:The church is evil in this book and in this series. And the church uses names and terms like many real religious traditions- clergy, magisterium, priests, etc. The church is funding an evil plot to try to harness energy by physically harming children in the Arctic. Phillip Pullman is unapologetic about the church being evil in this series, and even extrapolates later in the second book to make statements about churches always being on the wrong side of things.The book is just so, so good, so I didn't want that to be a reason not to share it with my son who loves fantasy and science fiction. But I did want to read it with him and talk about it throughout the book. We talked about how worlds are different from each other in fantasy and real life. We've also spent time talking about how church is an institution, and institutions make mistakes and have done things that are wrong or even evil- and how to square that with being confirmed in a church literally this year.If you are a parent of a child being raised in a religious tradition, I strongly recommend reading this series together with your child.

Comprei para meu filho, adorou.