Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

49 reviews

nat20charisma's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

4.5

It was very easy to get sucked into this book with the writing style and a world very similar to our own. 

The book is full of awful adults (and a few good ones too) doing terrible research on children in the name of the church. Lyra is an interesting child with a brilliant mind. I won’t say I found her the most lovable main character, but she had some creative solutions to the situations she was in and she grew on me over time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Blood

gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of my favourites. Never read it as a child so I read it now and I'm so glad that I did. Characters and plot are fantastic. Moving onto the Subtle Knife right away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, and Death

Minor: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Trafficking

sorkka's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, Medical trauma, and Trafficking

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Overall this is a children's book but some children may be disturbed by the child kidnapping and

Spoiler

medical trauma / child experimentation that occurs. This leads to some animal and child death.

The main character is neglected by her relations and raised in a 'school'. The main character's

Spoiler

mother and father are revealed to be exploitative of children

bennoyb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Classism, Racism, Child death, Child abuse, and Violence

wemily0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Child abuse, Death, and Child death

merrynthomas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Violence

Minor: Gore

fjerda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really adored this book. The imagery was vivid and palpable. The child characters thought authentically like children which is lost in a lot of books. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Murder, Gore, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Child death, and Death

plume_de_renarde's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Animal death

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Racism, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Murder and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship

ra22ouille's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

What a fun adventure! I was so invested in the characters and enjoyed hearing the cast's various backstories and interweaving narratives. The world is exciting and fresh.

The plot ambled and the intensity/stakes kept seesawing with a lot of intensity. It took away from the impact of the ending. It felt like it was just another one of the big hurdles that had already happened and didnt feel particularly special. 

I found the way some of the accents were written annoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical trauma, and Child abuse