I am going to be honest, I don’t think I have read anything like The Golden Compass. And for that reason, I am giving this 5 stars. Is this a 5 star book? Absolutely not. But I genuinely don’t think I have read something so original in a really long time. 

Pre-Read 

Going into this, I didn’t know a lot about “The Golden Compass.” I knew that everyone had some kind of animal companion and that there would be at some point a talking polar bear. I was also vaguely aware of the movie, but I have no memory of actually watching it. 

With my pre-book research, I became aware that this series has been criticized for having anti-church messages (litcharts link) and the author himself is Atheist (according to his wiki) The fact that religious critics have said " "far more worthy of the bonfire than Harry [Potter]" is WILD. 

The author is still seems pretty active even at 78 years old and released a short story in 2022. (And he has been busy being incredible based on Twitter) I like his comments on writing saying "I have stolen ideas from every book I've ever read. My principle for researching a novel is 'Read like a butterfly, write like a bee,' and if this story contains any honey, it is because of the quality of the nectar I have found in the work of better writers." He has also said that the line between adult and children's lit shouldn't be so strict and he was against put age or gender suggestions on the cover of books (Ex. This book is best for 5+ or This book is good for girls). I an adult who enjoys kid lit and middle grade, I agree completely. 

So now with the idea that the author is a pretty cool dude and that I should probably be on the look out for some religious themes I set out on my reading journey. 

Reading 

I really enjoy that the story jumps right into it. Honestly even though this book took me 2 weeks to finish the plot doesn’t really drag and I was excited to know what would happen next. Two weeks is kind of a uncharacteristic long time for me to finish a book of this length. Usually only takes me 3-5 days. I don’t know what happened because it really wasn’t the books fault. The plot is interesting, the world is great. I love this idea that everyone is born with a little demon companion that basically represents your soul and character as a person. Feel like that is easy fandom territory right there. What animal would YOUR demon take? Found this neat quiz. I got brown bear. Anyway, the world is very cool. I also like this weird 19th century setting that’s going on. 

I really like the writing. I feel like the author is pretty good at conveying emotions, feelings, and environments. There is a lot of child abuse so maybe mentally prepare for that because it did blind side me a little. There are a group of people called the Gyptians which took me way too long to realize were just Romani people. There are some really fun characters like Lee Scoresby, the balloon pilot guy. Who identifies as Texan, as in from the country of Texas. Which I thought was so fucking funny. I really like his relationship with Iorek Byrnison, the Panserbjorn which are the talking fighting polar bears. The Panserbjorn are cool as fuck, and I wanna play one in my next DND campaign now. 

In the second half of the book, we are really starting to hit some of the important themes. Mom and Dad representing church and science is pretty obvious. The fact that Dad is being put to death/being outcast for having a thought that goes against the church parallels the scientists being killed by the church for promoting Heliocentrism. I found that super interesting. The demon’s settling into one form as an adult representing the lose of innocents was interesting. Although later in the book its kind of compared to original sin and children who are severed from their demon are saved from original sin. This separation is compared to castration. But also dust also represents original sin? And by being cut from your demon you keep your innocents but that also means that your demon will never settle into a form, there for a child who is cut from their demon can never truly grown to understand themselves as a person.  At least in theory? Chapter 18 is just here to talk about free will vs destiny (the Texan represents free will because of course he fucking does). Chapter 21 just starts dropping scripture. Pretty sure Dad Asriel said “FUCK YOU I'M GOING TO HEAVEN TO KILL GOD.” 

Its at this point that I really asked myself, is this a children’s book? Is this actually middle grade? Because I have NEVER seen these kinds of ideas being presents in middle grade before, EVER. Its honestly amazing. These are questions and ideas that children think about but no one except Philip Pullman has the fucking balls to actually write about. It’s fantastic. I’m utterly confused, but it is very cool. 

Post-reading 

The only bad thing that this book has going for it is that it’s just the beginning of a bigger story. It ends on a cliff hanger, but I’m not mad about it. In fact I think I am pretty excited to pick up the next book in the series. 

10/10 I think everyone should read this. Its really unique and amazing.