Reviews

Zlatý kompas by Philip Pullman

beryboy43's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

deluciate's review against another edition

5.0

It was fun to read this again as an adult and pick up on slightly different elements of the story. I am loving the new BBC screen adaptation.

There are some small details in the screen version that didn't play out the way I remembered them, but it looks like they did follow the book. Now I need to go home and check my old copy and see if by chance things changed between editions. If not, I'm just remembering it wrong.

belle2022's review against another edition

5.0

Honestly this was so good. Lyra was an amazing lead in this and I absolutely loved the description on how it was so hard to be away from their deamons I could almost feel it myself. The first page had me hooked and then after reading the first chapter too. The last line of the book also ha some doing “daaamn” and I’m excited to carry on reading the other novels. People should definately read this.

laerugo's review against another edition

3.0

i didn't enjoy it as much as i thought i would, given the hype for this series, but i think i'd read it again. most of my frustration has to do with the fact that i still don't really connect with any of the characters; i know they're horrified because they tell me they are and because i know it's a terrible breach of etiquette to touch someone else's daemon, but when someone touches lyra's, i don't feel horrified myself like she does. maybe it's because i'm much more interested in pullman's worldbuilding - but that's hard enough to follow because he answers so few questions in his exposition (lyra as our POV character is no excuse, the narrator has definitely proven to be omniscient and doesn't care who knows it), and when we do get questions answered in the form of long monologues from adults, we're still not sure who to trust and if their information is reliable.

that said, i adore his writing style, and the descriptions he uses to share the universe are absolutely incredible. i feel like an idiot when i'm reading it, however, because i don't recognize some of these words (do you need to use most obscure animal breeds that absolutely no one knows, like "pinscher" when "dog" will do? will children know what the hell a pinscher is?). i guess despite myself i still don't know who he's writing for; lyra doesn't talk like a child, she talks like what an adult thinks a child talks like.

but my lack of connection with the characters doesn't prevent the importance of several moments and characters from being lost on me; pullman's descriptions of the characters, atmosphere, and environments are larger than life, and definitely worth trudging through this. i'm a bit scared to watch the movie now because i know any visuals won't match up to what's in my head but i'm still curious to see someone try.

annaresti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

xtammyx21's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

mdevlin923's review against another edition

4.0

Lyra has lived her entire life at Jordan College: playing games with the local kids, exploring with her best friend Roger, learning a little bit from the scholars, and occasionally visiting with her uncle Lord Asriel. But the trajectory of her life changes when she prevents an assassination of Lord Asriel. Lyra then leaves Jordan College and begins her journey to save her friend Roger who has been kidnapped by the Gobblers: from London with Mrs. Coulter to the canals with the Gyptians to the Arctic with the armored bear Iorek Byrnison.

A rich fantasy which comments on religion and government.

prettyodd_jess's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

haileypassmoree's review against another edition

4.0

i did not realize how bad the movie was, they missed so much from the book (which is typical) but they also changed so much. boy am i happy to have read this. not only did i get more information about the plot, but i also truly enjoyed it. these books are the genre of books i love the most. being drawn into different universes is my favourite pastime!

congressbaby143's review against another edition

5.0

It was such an adventure to go through! I noticed that a lot of events went by quickly and I just liked it that way. I liked that the panserbjørn got out of his bondage at that small fishing town in a heartbeat, I liked that we didn't see how much Tony Makarios had struggled, we didn't see much havoc at that Experiment Lab with the kids and the severed daemons, I liked that Iorek Byrnison claimed his throne in just 2 pages of hand to hand combat - I like that it's fast paced because I've grown to love the characters, even the fleeting ones, and if they suffered more it would all be too real and it would break my heart. I liked it just fine. And can I just say that Mrs Coulter with her golden monkey could win creepiest villain and sidekick villain.