A review by liz_mcc
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

4.0

Despite reading this as a kid, I had very little memory of it and really enjoyed re-reading. In fact, I was questioning the whole time whether this is supposed to be a kids' book, or if the protagonist just happens to be a child. It's a lot more complex and definitely darker than I remembered. The plot is thrilling (seriously, there are about 3 different climactic scenes in this story) and all the different people and groups introduced as players as Lyra meets them flesh out this familiar-but-different world and make the events feel momentous. Pullman keeps the reader in the dark about some things along with Lyra, which kept me reading, wanting to understand the big picture surrounding the events Lyra witnesses.

The one piece I struggled with was not really feeling emotionally connected to what was going on. This was especially frustrating in not fully feeling or understanding Lyra's deep connections with Iorek and Roger. The book actually did a great job conveying fear and dread (that monkey is soo scary and you really feel for little Tony), but was lacking when it came to conveying friendship and camaraderie. Hoping this evolves in the next two books.