Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

14 reviews

lycaenide's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious

5.0

This was dark, beautifully written, with a clever tricksy plot and boundless adventure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

kelforrest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I personally loved it. A lot of my love comes from nostalgia, but I genuinely really love the worldbuilding, the characters, the plot, and the settings.

It definitely felt less like a middle grade at times, with some brutal themes, but when I read it as a child I was okay with it so it depends on what your kids are fine with honestly and what you think they're ready for.

The writing was nice - slightly complex at times, but pretty and made it very easy to picture what was happening in my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and War

jolineliest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

deliriah's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-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

4.5

I adored this book the first time I read it in 2021, scrambling my way through the entire series at breakneck speed. The detail and the world building of this universe is such an immersive experience, it continues to be engaging as I re-read it for school. Reading this in 2023, in association with Paradise Lost and The Chronicles of Narinia, there is so much more depth to the storytelling, beyond the calling out of church-sanctioned abuses and the cognitive dissonances around the concept of heresy. The novel's lack of a centralized paragon of evil complicates the messages of Paradise Lost in unique and interesting ways. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Azriel act as physical manifestations of Milton's Satan's pride, ambition, and cunning, but Lyra's lying, and the willingness of herself and her companions to do what is necessary in their quest creates a gray area between good and evil as paradigms.
I love the characters of the witches, especially in how they (to an extent) are similar to Milton's angels.

It's very easy to get immersed in this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement, Vomit, and War

Minor: Toxic relationship

alicelalicon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

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

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

hedsek's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Absolutely love the worldbuilding and the lore and most things about the story. The ways in which relationships between characters and dialogue are written is not great tbh, but the story more than makes up for it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Death of parent

marianneiriss's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

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