Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

23 reviews

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

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

jiaa_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

Philip Pullman is a wizard at creating a fantastical new world and merging it seamlessly with our own. This is by far one of the best fantasy books I have read and I cannot wait to read the second book in the trilogy. I would also like to add that I did watch the movie "The Golden Compass" first before reading the book and I can truly say full heartedly that it is better to read the book than watch the movie. I believe its perfectly fine to have watched the film first, but it should never be used as an excuse to not read the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder

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

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

ronan_lesh's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infidelity and Murder

cicizzy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Classism

cecilielaugesen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

This is one of those books you can read at any age, and you will most likely get something different from it each time.
Both the story line, the characters and the world are so complex and well build.
While it is entertaining it is also quite dark - all in all I loved it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement and Alcohol

xabbeylongx's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Spoilers Ahead: 

I had to read this book for university, and I didn’t realise how meaty the book is! The audiobook is like 12 hours long, and it’s a big read, but definitely one I enjoyed. A little shocked it’s classed as a children’s book, even towards older children, because some of the stuff in it was difficult for even me to comprehend, but I did really enjoy it. 

We follow Lyra as she’s spying on an important meeting. They’re investigating ‘dust’, which is something that people are scared of in the North. When Children start to go missing, there are lots of rumours about what it could be, but they all decide on one name: the Gobblers. 

When the Gobblers take Roger, one of the kitchen staff and Lyra’s friend, she decides she wants to go and find him. The mayor puts her in the care of a woman, whom she quickly becomes attached to, on their trip to the North, but she finds out that the woman is actually part of the Gobblers, and so she has to escape. 

The whole of their journey around the North is to find the Gobblers and to bring the children back to their parents. She joins a group of Gyptians on their quest. She finds out that the woman who is in charge of the Gobblers and who was looking after her is actually her mother, and her uncle is actually her real father. He has plans to use the dust to gain power. 

I feel a little indifferent about this book, to be honest. It was good, but it went on too long. There were a lot of names to remember, and they’re all quite difficult or a mouthful to say, so I often found myself getting confused. The plot was good, and I was really intrigued by the idea of dust, but I don’t feel that the ending answered all the questions I needed answering. My concentration sort of dwindled towards the end. The plot is so good, but I think it could have definitely been broken down into more books (I know it’s already part of a series), or just have had some of the parts taken out, especially towards the end. All of the characters were a bit insufferable, I can’t lie, I didn’t bond with them as much as I normally like to in a book, and I think that’s where the problem started. I was a massive fan of Iorek Byrnison, he was a great, loyal character and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about him. Other than that, this book was okay, not my favourite, though I understand I’m not the desired audience for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

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