Reviews tagging 'Death'

Guldkompassen by Philip Pullman

50 reviews

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

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

Moderate: Grief and Murder

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

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

📱
This was an enjoyable book. I think the characters are well-developed. The story started off strong and the ending was weak. I do plan to read the other books in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Blood, Trafficking, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

cassie7e's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

I have a vague memory that I read this as a kid, and it has so many things that kid me would've loved, so I'm surprised I didn't remember a single thing about it! The particle physics, animal companions, fantastically reimagined biblical doctrine, free roaming kids... I wonder if this was the source of many of my tween interests and I forgot, or if I was into these things all along and just read this book too young and it all went over my head.

Also this book is unexpectedly DARK in the details, some graphic fights and descriptions of atrocities done to people in the name of something or other. Things I probly wouldn't've understood or caught as a kid but definitely noticed as an adult. 

Overall very enjoyable and just what I needed when angsty YA fantasy wasn't doing it for me. It was action packed, with plot after plot strung together that might've been the sole focus in some other story, plus it was full of moral questions and mysterious characters, and gave a lot of agency to the kid characters.

Main gripe w the audiobook was Lyra's constantly exasperated/whiny voice even when she's sposed to be whispering, and that the voices cut in abruptly between bits of narration and other dialogue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

mags_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Slavery, Xenophobia, and Abandonment

bexi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I thought the first part was confusing and a little boring, but it picks up later on. I'd recommend sticking with it until at least part two if you're feeling the same way, because it does get better.

I often struggled to connect with the characters and found many of them unlikable, including the main character Lyra (she grew on me, but I'm still not sure I like her).

I believe this book is supposed to be a critique of Christianity, or maybe more specifically the Church. I occasionally felt I lacked the knowledge to understand all of the critiques because although my parents were raised Baptist & Catholic respectively, I was not raised as such. For context, I'm not a religious person and identify as agnostic. I found the commentary interesting, but if you're a Christian you might get upset by some of it.

This book is marked as middle grade and young adult. I'd say it leans more YA. I found this incredibly dark for MG and would not recommend it to the average middle grader. If said child is emotionally & intellectually mature for their age then okay, but otherwise I'd say it's best for ages 14+. I don't have kids, so take that with a grain of salt. I personally would not have been mature/smart enough to get much out this book had I read it in middle school. 😅

I thought the story was unique and liked it overall, but I'm not sure if I'll pick up the next book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Excrement, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

erynelle's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

An immersive world of steampunk-Esque magic combined with the beginnings of a portal fantasy! The worldbuilding comes naturally, and Pullman brilliantly captures the thought process and mental state of a preteen girl left to her own devices. The side characters are well developed and often ride the fine moral grey line.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol