Book Review: The Golden Compass
I decided to go ahead and do a book-by-book review of "His Dark Materials," to get my thoughts about each volume individually down. So, since this is one of those reviews that might have spoilers, it goes behind The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Book I) by Philip Pullman, isbn # 9780440238130, 351 pages, softcover, Random House / Laurel-Leaf, $7.50
I have a tendency to try to avoid anything that has been majorly hyped. I'm the guy who avoided the Potter books until after the fourth one had come out and even then dug into the series grudgingly (ended up loving them, but still ...). I'm the guy who avoided LOST when it originally aired, and only watched the start of the second season in order to satisfy a friend (ended up loving the show, but still ...). I'm the guy who has avoided "His Dark Materials" for years, until I saw the movie with my friends Tom and Hilda and their sons Alex and Aiden (can you see a pattern here ...?)
Yes, I enjoyed the movie. Yes, I enjoyed the book even more. I think Philip Pullman, in this first volume, creates a world and a mythology that is as readily accessible as Harry Potter's world and mythology were while at the same time feeling completely different from that series.
And that's about as much comparison as I'm going to do between Pullman and Rowling. Others have done it to death long before I came along.
I think "Compass" is paced well. It introduces characters and fills them out; you can't quite tell when they're introduced just who is going to be important and who isn't. Even some of the tertiary characters get enough background detail to be "real." Among this large and sprawling cast, I particularly like Farder Coram, John Faa, Iorek Byrnison and even Serafina Pekala. I like the deeper link between Ma Costa and Lyra than was hinted at in the movie and hope to see that developed further. I liked (and felt supremely sorry for Roger). Both Mrs. Coulter AND Lord Asriel come across as the despicable excuse for humans that they are; Lyra would be better off never having discovered her true parents. (I admit, it will be interesting to see how Daniel Craig, who came across so stern-but-kindly in the movie, chews up the scenery when the final scenes of this book make it to the screen in the next movie -- if there is a next movie.) Even being despicable, though, I still enjoyed reading about them -- as you should enjoy reading about any antagonist worth their salt. If you don't feel a thrill of some kind when the person working against the hero appears on the page, then that antagonist is not well-developed enough.
The character I'm really not enjoying ... is Lyra herself. I find her to be annoying, selfish, disrespectful. Yes, I get it -- she has a Destiny. And yes, with parents like Coulter and Asriel, and being raised as pretty much the only girl amongst a bunch of egghead men, she was bound to turn out a little self-centered. Doesn't mean I have to love her. I don't actively dislike her (nor do I hate her -- that is way too strong a word), but I'm sort of apathetic about her except as a focal point for the rest of this fascinating world and story. Perhaps that will change as I work my way through Book Two.
As for the fascinating world and story. I see where The Controversy comes from. If Dust really is what caused Original Sin, and if it really is what gives us Free Will, and Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter (each for their own reasons) really are out to destroy that -- well, that is pretty controversial stuff. The little Biblical lesson Asriel gives Lyra at the end of the book (well, almost the end ...) was a nice way of bringing the subtle theme to the forefront of the story. Before that, I was enjoying a nice little "alternate Earth" adventure story. After that, I was still enjoying a nice little "alternate Earth" story but with a bit of a darker tone to it. I can see why some portions of the very diverse world of Christianity would be upset with these books; The Church (presumably some version of the Holy Roman Catholic Church that the various Protestant denominations never split off from) are obviously the major villains here, being the powers behind Coulter's General Oblation Board and so on. But Asriel can also be viewed as a villain: a megalomaniac willing to murder a child in the name of scientific inquiry.
Personally I'm invested and interested in Lyra's world, and could right now care less about the other world seen through the Aurora. I'd be happy to learn more about the world we've been introduced to, including what it is the Witches are going to war with. I guess I shall see.
I'm going to recommend, and give four stars (out of five) to The Golden Compass, and we'll see what I think of the series overall eventually.
Once again, thanks to Tom, Hilda, Alex and Aiden for inviting me to see the movie with them and kickstarting my interest, and thanks to Hunter for picking up on that interest and sending me the box set for Christmas.
I have a tendency to try to avoid anything that has been majorly hyped. I'm the guy who avoided the Potter books until after the fourth one had come out and even then dug into the series grudgingly (ended up loving them, but still ...). I'm the guy who avoided LOST when it originally aired, and only watched the start of the second season in order to satisfy a friend (ended up loving the show, but still ...). I'm the guy who has avoided "His Dark Materials" for years, until I saw the movie with my friends Tom and Hilda and their sons Alex and Aiden (can you see a pattern here ...?)
Yes, I enjoyed the movie. Yes, I enjoyed the book even more. I think Philip Pullman, in this first volume, creates a world and a mythology that is as readily accessible as Harry Potter's world and mythology were while at the same time feeling completely different from that series.
And that's about as much comparison as I'm going to do between Pullman and Rowling. Others have done it to death long before I came along.
I think "Compass" is paced well. It introduces characters and fills them out; you can't quite tell when they're introduced just who is going to be important and who isn't. Even some of the tertiary characters get enough background detail to be "real." Among this large and sprawling cast, I particularly like Farder Coram, John Faa, Iorek Byrnison and even Serafina Pekala. I like the deeper link between Ma Costa and Lyra than was hinted at in the movie and hope to see that developed further. I liked (and felt supremely sorry for Roger). Both Mrs. Coulter AND Lord Asriel come across as the despicable excuse for humans that they are; Lyra would be better off never having discovered her true parents. (I admit, it will be interesting to see how Daniel Craig, who came across so stern-but-kindly in the movie, chews up the scenery when the final scenes of this book make it to the screen in the next movie -- if there is a next movie.) Even being despicable, though, I still enjoyed reading about them -- as you should enjoy reading about any antagonist worth their salt. If you don't feel a thrill of some kind when the person working against the hero appears on the page, then that antagonist is not well-developed enough.
The character I'm really not enjoying ... is Lyra herself. I find her to be annoying, selfish, disrespectful. Yes, I get it -- she has a Destiny. And yes, with parents like Coulter and Asriel, and being raised as pretty much the only girl amongst a bunch of egghead men, she was bound to turn out a little self-centered. Doesn't mean I have to love her. I don't actively dislike her (nor do I hate her -- that is way too strong a word), but I'm sort of apathetic about her except as a focal point for the rest of this fascinating world and story. Perhaps that will change as I work my way through Book Two.
As for the fascinating world and story. I see where The Controversy comes from. If Dust really is what caused Original Sin, and if it really is what gives us Free Will, and Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter (each for their own reasons) really are out to destroy that -- well, that is pretty controversial stuff. The little Biblical lesson Asriel gives Lyra at the end of the book (well, almost the end ...) was a nice way of bringing the subtle theme to the forefront of the story. Before that, I was enjoying a nice little "alternate Earth" adventure story. After that, I was still enjoying a nice little "alternate Earth" story but with a bit of a darker tone to it. I can see why some portions of the very diverse world of Christianity would be upset with these books; The Church (presumably some version of the Holy Roman Catholic Church that the various Protestant denominations never split off from) are obviously the major villains here, being the powers behind Coulter's General Oblation Board and so on. But Asriel can also be viewed as a villain: a megalomaniac willing to murder a child in the name of scientific inquiry.
Personally I'm invested and interested in Lyra's world, and could right now care less about the other world seen through the Aurora. I'd be happy to learn more about the world we've been introduced to, including what it is the Witches are going to war with. I guess I shall see.
I'm going to recommend, and give four stars (out of five) to The Golden Compass, and we'll see what I think of the series overall eventually.
Once again, thanks to Tom, Hilda, Alex and Aiden for inviting me to see the movie with them and kickstarting my interest, and thanks to Hunter for picking up on that interest and sending me the box set for Christmas.