Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

84 reviews

shinyfox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.75

Lyra has moments where she can be annoying as the main character, but she's also a child.... and what child isn't annoying at some point? The beginning of the book was a bit slow and you get hit with a LOT of information pretty quickly. 

Loved the narration of this book, each and every character had a different person reading for them and it was amazing and really lent itself to the richness of the world and characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Alcohol, and War

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

a1exander's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

capriqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I read these books once as a child and remember enjoying them, but not much else. An exciting adventure, and well-written—one of the best examples of an unreliable narrator. Lyra is a great main character

But while the story is interesting, it didn’t really capture me, so I probably won’t reread the rest. But I did rekindle my love for Iorek Byrnison

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

myllo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Murder

Not be suitable for kids. Describes feelings of rape quite indepth, although within this universe the actions are not the same as in ours, feelings are the same

turidt's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit

legendoflala's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Kidnapping

Minor: Gore

valorelei's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-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

5.0

a new favorite series! lyra is quite the tempestuous child, but such a loveable character for it <3 pullman has a unique writing style, with heavy exposition via dialogue, which only makes his story that much more compelling. a spectacularly interesting fantasy world with a fascinating build up to a much, much bigger plot line than Lyra thinks she has in store. absolutely love!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Alcohol

unthank's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Trafficking and Abandonment

Minor: Violence

celeste329's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

A fun book with some interesting thoughts in it. The presence of daemon companions is an interesting touch, and an intriguing concept to think about as the book progressed. I think it also fits into a bit of sci-fantasy given the presence of various magical entities and the scientific research going on.

 Lyra was also a great headstrong protagonist for this story and I loved all her interactions with Pantalaimon. I also liked how she showed her loyalties and had great flexibility in her thinking, which made her an interesting figure to watch. 

I also kind of had a feeling that

her parents were not really as they seemed and likely worked together. Cannot say I liked them, but I am curious to see what path each of them takes after separating at the end.

The pacing was overall medium, I never felt too much of a lull or too much action, so I think this was done very well. The prose was also quite well done and immersive, and I don't think there was a moment where the book did not have my full attention. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Kidnapping

Minor: Gore and Abandonment