Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass
Del Rey 1997
ISBN 0-345-41335-0
Monika says:
Orphaned Lyra grows up at Jordan College in Oxford and
receives sporadic lessons by the colleagues of her uncle Asriel. Her
uncle, whom she doesn’t see very often, is busy exploring a mysterious
matter that is only found way up north and that he calls "dust".
When a scientist from Dame Hannah's College suggests one day that Lyra
should live with her the girl at first is overjoyed, even if that means
leaving her familiar environment. The move helps her get over the
disappearance of her best friend, the kitchen help Roger. Was he kidnapped
by the Gobblers who are blamed for the disappearance of many children in
the Oxford area? If yes, who are those Gobblers and why are they
kidnapping children? Is this somehow connected with the mysterious dust?
Lyra is determined to get to the bottom of things and when her
benefactress turns out not to be who she claims to be Lyra runs away and
heads north to find her uncle Asriel, hoping that he can answer all her
burning questions.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS is the first part of a trilogy,
followed by THE SUBTLE KNIFE and THE AMBER SPYGLASS. Since Pullman’s
books are recommended for fans of the Harry
Potter series I was curious about them. But I must say that THE GOLDEN
COMPASS doesn’t quite bear comparison with J. K. Rowling’s books. No
doubt Philip Pullman created an attractive world, lending a sometimes dark
atmosphere to the story. Magic isn’t as important as in HARRY POTTER,
instead people in Lyra’s world are born with a daemon, an animal that
has an unbreakable bond with the soul of "his" human and whose
true shape is only manifested when he is grown. The daemons play a central
part in this world and distinguish humans from animals because animals don’t
have a soul and therefore no daemon. I liked that this book, unlike others
of the genre, has a girl for a heroine, but if you are spoiled by the
lively, three-dimensional characters of Harryverse you are bound to be
disappointed. The characters of THE GOLDEN COMPASS are pale and flat, and
except for Lyra nobody had enough of a personality to make me care for
them. A bit more character development would have helped the story. This
deficit somewhat dampened my enthusiasm for the otherwise nice story. But
perhaps I simply expected too much. |
Any comments? Write us:
Monika Hübner
Christina Gross
|
