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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'
Der Goldene Kompass by Philip Pullman, Andrea Kann, Wolfram Ströle
57 reviews
sophie_theresia_'s review
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
cemeterygay's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
It's a pretty good middle grade fantasy book. The world is incredibly rich and it's cool to explore it. There is a ton of implicit anti-native sentiment in this book, including a slur for the Inuit, some of which I know is challenged in later books but there is a lot more that is just not challenged.
I think the initial pacing is a little bit too slow but quickly improves. There also is a surprising amount of gore in this book specifically related to animals that I did not expect.
While not mind blowing, I think this book is a great set up for future books and handles discussion about religion well and in a way that is definitely understandable to its target audience while not being condescending in how its explained. It's definitely a good challenging fantasy book for a middle grade audience.
I think the initial pacing is a little bit too slow but quickly improves. There also is a surprising amount of gore in this book specifically related to animals that I did not expect.
While not mind blowing, I think this book is a great set up for future books and handles discussion about religion well and in a way that is definitely understandable to its target audience while not being condescending in how its explained. It's definitely a good challenging fantasy book for a middle grade audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
CW: Absent parentsf18's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Slavery and Alcohol
fiveredhens's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
this book: the aurora gave humans the knowledge of good and evil via elementary particles , adults who seem nice can be horrifically abusive, scandinavian witch communism, girls can be excitable and headstrong and even a little annoying while still being intelligent and worthy of love
10-yr-old me: wow cool ferret
10-yr-old me: wow cool ferret
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, Dementia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
orientalism, africa as a wild monolith, romani stereotypesviolaceae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Racism
rachel_here's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death
tbose22's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death and Child abuse
Minor: Racism
katiefronk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Torture
kirdyk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
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
5.0
Probably my favorite book of all time. From the first page you are no longer a reader, but a spectator of the vast world held within these pages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Kidnapping and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and War
It's been a while since I've read book one, so trigger warnings are not exact; I'd suggest you refer to someone who's read it recently, or google.sapphic_in_the_stacks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
The first in the His Dark Materials Series, this story introduces you to a new world that is relatively similar to our own. The biggest difference is that in this world, every human also has a daemon, and animal embodiment of their soul. Their daemon can switch between shapes in childhood, but eventually settles on a single shape (which often reflects an truth about a person's personality) in adulthood. In this world, we come to know Lyra Belacqua, an headstrong, stubborn, and brave young orphan who lives among the scholars at Jordan College. When her friend is stolen from Jordan College, and her uncle, Lord Asriel, is imprisoned among the armored bears, she sets her sights on traveling northward to rescue them both. This story chronicles her journey to the North, her investigation of the alethiometer given to her before she departed Jordan College, the mysterious Dust everyone wants to talk about but no one will explain, and even her own parentage.
Pullman's world is similar to our own, though he clearly exaggerates several aspects for the purpose of critiquing the parallel institutions in our world. Specifically, Pullman's depiction of the Church in his novel is a less than subtle critique of the way the Church in our world exerts it's power over religious cannon to claim heresy and control both everyday people, and by extent academic institutions and their research. Pullman also critiques the academic institutions themselves, particularly the amount of power that both scholars and academic institutions have, and their disinterest in matters other than their own research and professional reputation.
I appreciated how this book managed to introduce various themes, dynamic characters, and substantial world building, while maintaining an engaging plot and decent character development. Pullman strikes a perfect balance between answering enough questions by the end of the book to feel like a satisfying conclusion, while leaving some broader plot lines unanswered in preparation for a continuation of the story. Unlike many similar stories, Pullman doesn't allow Lyra to easily escape her trials for the sake of plot convenience, but rather allows her to develop as a character with each narrow escape. He even allows her to be recaptured by the same forces, thus forcing her to rely on evermore on her own bravery and ingenuity to escape from her captors in new ways. Of course there are some minor flaws in this book I could nitpick, or ways in which Pullman deviates from my own personal preference, but overall this was a dynamic and engaging book that I truly enjoyed.
Pullman's world is similar to our own, though he clearly exaggerates several aspects for the purpose of critiquing the parallel institutions in our world. Specifically, Pullman's depiction of the Church in his novel is a less than subtle critique of the way the Church in our world exerts it's power over religious cannon to claim heresy and control both everyday people, and by extent academic institutions and their research. Pullman also critiques the academic institutions themselves, particularly the amount of power that both scholars and academic institutions have, and their disinterest in matters other than their own research and professional reputation.
I appreciated how this book managed to introduce various themes, dynamic characters, and substantial world building, while maintaining an engaging plot and decent character development. Pullman strikes a perfect balance between answering enough questions by the end of the book to feel like a satisfying conclusion, while leaving some broader plot lines unanswered in preparation for a continuation of the story. Unlike many similar stories, Pullman doesn't allow Lyra to easily escape her trials for the sake of plot convenience, but rather allows her to develop as a character with each narrow escape.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Child death