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jadziaaudrey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
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
dragonaion's review against another edition
- 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
This is not a children's story; this has many discussions about the Christian church and original sin that may be disconcerting for some and does not put the church in a good light. However, for every growing adult who feels that they do not belong, that they do not believe the path that their parents lay in front of them is right- this is the story to read.
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Alcohol, and War
bexi's review against another edition
- 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 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.
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
marianneiriss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
whirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
tlrjhnlwsn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Minor: Religious bigotry and Murder
fruya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Gun violence, and Sexism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Read years ago, in middle school, twice I think.
[20/01/2021]
a marvelous book that is as good as I remember it being as a child
pros:
- the plot is complex, neat, clever, and fascinating. It all ties together so cleverly, even all the tiny aspects.
- the writing is brilliant, engaging, beautiful, gripping, and flows brilliantly.
- It's wonderfully imaginative and original, intertwining familiar fantasy ideas (witches) with the original (armored bears) and then tying it up into complex social ideas, like the impact of the Church and thoughts around sin and growing up. And all the details and world-building around daemons is fabulous too.
- I love the characters and their range of voices and personalities. The contrast of different types of power and evilness was fascinating too, with Mrs Coulter's weaponised feminine ambition and Asriel colder ambition. Neither were cardboard villains and both were scarier for it.
- It was very gripping and even though I knew many of the twists from previous reads, I still didn't want to put it down.
cons:
- one thing i didn't like was how servants daemons were often dogs. This implied that they were innately servile and belonged forever to the lower class because of some quality of their character, which seemed extremely classist and backwards. People can work as servants without that being the pure core of their being and it seemed very like if someone was born with a dog daemon they could do nothing with their life but serve others?
- I wasn't sure on the 'gyptians' which seems clearly drawn from the slur word for Romani peoples. There presentation seemed overly positive to me, though most of their purpose did seem to be to aid Lyra.
- some parts were pretty complex and there was some names I didn't remember. Asriel mentions Boreal being one of Mrs Couter's lovers and i don't remember who he is. Also, Lyra asks Iorek to tell the witch Serrapina Pekkala of what she did and I wasn't sure what that was exactly??
- oh and it might be a sign of an older book written by an older written but there is casual discussion of Lyra getting beaten. She's afraid of Asriel or another of her guardians physically beating her and Asriel grabs her and even threatens to kill her at one point near the start I think, which was pretty disturbing.
(- Lyra is a bit of mary sue, in the nicest way. The world does seem to rearrange itself around her. but that's alright)
Overall, it is a great piece of literature and extremely readable for adults. I can't wait to read the Subtle Knife.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder