Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

24 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

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

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

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

bruinrocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is one of my favourite book series of all time, and the audiobook furthered my love for the series. The full cast brings the characters to life, in what was already an amazing story about a little girl on an adventure to save her best friend. On the way she meets many new friends, in the form of a giant bear named Iorek, and a Texan Aeronaut named Lee Scorseby. These two characters go on to become two of my favourite characters in all literature. The friendship between the two is made abundantly clear, and their dedication to Lyra is such a wonderful event to behold. Lyra goes through many hoops to make it to the North to save Roger. With an ending that could leave the book as a stand alone novel, but also propel it forward into the rest of the series I highly recommend this book and the following series to everyone. 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Gore

f18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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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

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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 stereotypes

seedsofsunflowers's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Minor: Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Slavery

mmefish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

monoliloquy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

I have loved this book since I was too young to read it. I first read it when I was about ten and fell in love. I forget about this series ever so often and it's always great to reread. 

There are moments, in the way Pullman writes people--women, especially--that give me pause, but most of these moments are storytelling choices and specific misconceptions that Lyra has about the world. 

The writing in this book is enthralling, vivid, and doesn't let you go even for a moment. It's creative and the worldbuilding is beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry