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Northern Lights. | Paperback

by Philip Pullman (Author)

1 New starting at:

$13.19

18 Used starting at:

$1.90

Binding:

Paperback

Publisher:

Scholastic.

Edition:

Classic Edth Edition

Page Count:

448 Pages

Publication Date:

January 01, 2007

Sales Rank:

283,613rd

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 1482 reviews)

Complex and interesting by Rhiana Jones (San Francisco Bay Area)

5 Stars
November 06, 2009
This book was excellent. Much better than I expected. I started reading it because I just had to see what the fuss was about. Actually I couldn't see the problem with this book at all. I didn't really classify it as a children's book after reading it, but only because I thought it was at a much higher reading level than other similar books such as Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia. I thought the story was excellent, complex and interesting and the characters were extremely 3 dimensional. The movie was a wash out in comparison to the book.

The author blew it! by Mrs. R. Endicott (From Detroit & now in the UK)

2 Stars
October 16, 2009
This is a 3 book series of some fantastically written fiction about life in made-up, intermingling worlds different than our own, but with many similarities. The first book of the trilogy, Northern lights, was so good I got the second book as soon as I finished it. The second book, The Subtle Knife, hinted at the books main plot and because it was a very twisted view of some very real beliefs I was hoping the author was going to redeem himself by the end of the 3rd book and not continue in what he seemed to be implying. He could have, he's a brillant writer, but he didn't. 30 pages into the 3rd book, The Amber Spyglass, and I was ready to put the book down. It was rather disappoining that he was going down the road he was, but I was too curious, I really had enjoyed it up until this point. I still hoped he could make it all right by the end, though it seemed improbable. Maybe I was just fooling myself trying to justify why I was still reading it. Whatever the reason, I continued reading. However, because the thrill was gone the book became laborious to read, too many violent killings happening too many times; too many detailed descriptions of too many scenes. Still I finished it and the ending was sweet. BUT, the end doesn't justify the means, the author had an agenda and I felt like it was a sneaky, underhanded way of imposing it on his readers, or at least, this reader. That part was not fiction, it was quite clear that the author hates the church in general and God specifically. He made evil good and God a liar and humanism, no matter what you have to do to achieve it, the most important. Of course, if you don't believe in God, if you don't love him, it doesn't matter, enjoy the book. I'm one who loves the Lord and Pullmans agenda ruined the whole series.

Dark and Complex Children's Literature That Is Never Condescending by M. Richardson (TN)

4 Stars
September 30, 2009
Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass, as it is called in America, for whatever reason) has quite a reputation behind it. Like JK Rowling's hit Harry Potter series, this book has caused some significant turbulence with specifically Christian audiences. The controversy involving this book (and series, incidentally) exists on a far deeper and more interesting level than the controversy regarding Harry Potter. By this, I mean that complaints about Harry Potter tend to be very shallow, focusing on the surface aspects of the story (witches and wizards, magic, etc.). A close reading of that series reveals a set of underlying assumptions that conform perfectly with cultural Christian norms. The anger over Pullman's book, on the other hand, and the series at large, actually has some merit, in that it is philosophically radical for a work of children's literature. I will, in this review, however, only speak of Northern Lights. Pullman's Northern Lights is set in an alternative universe which mixes entirely original fantastic elements with a warped overlay of our own world. The word "steampunk" has been used to describe the level of technology here, and it seems to fit. The Earth seen in the book seems to geographically correspond to our own Earth, although different settings can be dramatically different in the details. So, right at the start, you have an innovative setting. The most significant fantasy aspect of this world is that all humans are accompanied by their respective daemons. These daemons take the forms of animals, but they are not pets. They are soulmates with their humans in the most fundamental sense: either the daemons are outward manifestations of peoples' souls, or they share one soul. Either way, the connection between person and daemon is the private and fundamental relationship in the lives of the people of this world. It is considered enormously taboo to touch another person's daemon, as this seems to be the most offensive invasion on another person's Being that is possible. Daemons and humans feel the other's pain. Imagine, then, what terrible, inhuman horror it must be if someone severs the invisible link between you and your daemon. What could possibly justify this? Is it moral to inflict this kind of pain for any conceivable reason? When does respect for individual human welfare collide with the 'greater good' of scientific advancement? How far can one morally go in the pursuit of knowledge? These are the kinds of tough moral questions at the center of this remarkable novel. Pullman confronts his (mostly) young readers with vexing moral dilemmas at every turn with a quiet and unsentimental respect for their ability to reason them out with their individual minds. This is echoed throughout the novel as well, where the heroine Lyra must navigate the morally-ambiguous adult world in order to stop the 'Gobblers,' who have been abducting children throughout England, and rescue her friend Roger from their grips. She asserts her independence of mind and action against all people, mostly adults, who seek to brainwash her to follow their philosophy. This is where the most profound controversy can arise for parents. The book is fundamentally individualist, and takes the often unpopular stance that the judgment of one's individual mind should supercede the dictates of any other authority, be they social, parental, religious, or any mix of these as such. Lyra continually defies all authority, and the influence of this approach to life seems to be making authoritarians of all stripes uncomfortable. The reader is asked to question everything, and many feel that this is dangerous in a work of children's literature. I don't agree, but that element is there, and many will want to shield their children from it. Myself, I recommend reading the book along with your child, discussing the events of the story with them, helping them to not become completely overwhelmed by the moral complexity of this novel. The plot is an eclectic mixture of different elements. Beyond the previously discussed fantasy and steampunk elements, it also comments on the power of authoritarian institutions over the individual (in this case, a powerful and influential mockery of the Catholic Church), and includes fascinating fictional physics in the form of the mystery substance "Dust" (which seems to be the motive power behind the mysterious alethiometer, a predictive device which is given to Lyra near the beginning of the story, and which she develops a proficiency with). Someone reading this review might find it curious that I assign a four-star rating to a book that I have written so enthusiastically about so far. I have rated this book four stars, but, given a more comprehensive system, I would have rated it more on the side of 4.5. There are a few cloying problems with the plot that prevent this novel from being perfect. Among my complaints: 1) Beneficial coincidence can in real life, but there are too many times where Lyra escapes mortal danger through sheer dumb luck. It is possible for a person to get lucky while she's imperiled, certainly, but good stories should solve conflicts organically rather than relying on blind chance. One almost gets the feeling that Lyra is never significantly harmed because the story can't allow for her to be harmed. No author wants a reader to get this feeling. 2) The alethiometer feels more like an authorial tool which will allow Pullman to break the rules of his fictional universe when he wants to than a legitimate manifestation of the effects of the story's alternative physics. The alethiometer is a compass-like device which will answer questions by utilizing a series of symbols, which the user must interpret correctly. It's a clever idea, and one can see how an exceedingly clever child like Lyra could correctly interpret the general idea of a scenario through the interpretation of symbols. But there are too many opportunities where this device is used as a way to give the characters understanding that would be impossible for symbols with multiple and complex meanings. How, for instance, is Lyra able to use these symbols to deduce that Mrs. Coulter has equipped her airship with machine guns? Instances like this stretch the credulity of the situation to its breaking point. Moreover, the alethiometer undercuts the book's dramatic evolution more than once. Perhaps a clever idea isn't necessarily a good idea to incorporate into a story. 3) Standard fantasy elements, such as prophecies about Lyra's destiny, or a subplot about a talking polar bear who is exiled by the new polar bear king and then returns to reclaim the throne, mar what is otherwise an original and fascinating work of speculative fiction. These problems are relatively negligible, though, in comparison to what the book does right. And it does a lot right. It has as much to offer to adult readers as it does to children, and makes for great reading. I highly recommend this novel to anybody who enjoys good literature.

It SUCKS ! by Life of Brian (Sydney, NSW Australia)

1 Stars
September 23, 2009
I have read this book - I have read books way better than this What is it with all the confusion and crazy psycho violence Phillip introduces to children who have to read this book! It encourages domestic violence and non stop torture! Why would he write such a demented mentally disturbing book? DO NOT READ IT!!!

Good start to a series by Irish of Tickettoanywhere.blogspot.com (Central MA United States)

4 Stars
September 19, 2009
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman starts off in a world very similar to our own there are schools, children, adults, and religion among other things. The story opens on a young orphan girl living at Oxford College in London, England. Lyra has led a relatively charmed and wild life allowed to roam the college and do what she wants. Lyra is also a very curious child and hates not knowing so one day she sneaks into a forbidden room and the moment she does the life she has always known changes forever. Soon Lyra is removed from her comfortable life at Oxford and thrust into a journey that will take her from London's High Society to the freezing cold villages of the far North. Along the way she'll meet the cold & beautiful Mrs Coulter who wants to mold Lyra into her own image as well as an outcast bear who will risk all to keep her safe. Everything that Lyra thought she knew will be tested and challenged and she'll have to sift through the conflicting stories in order to figure out the truth. The only person who she can count on is her daemon, Pantalaimon, who is an external part of her soul. In the beginning this book was a little slow and it often felt like I had walked into the middle of a story that I somehow missed the start of. But once Lyra left Oxford and some of the background of the world was described the story really started to move along. Lyra may only be an 11 year old girl but her sharp mind and quick wit will impress many an adult. She has a knack of knowing just the right thing to say or do in the situations that she finds herself in. Overall The Golden Compass was a very enjoyable book with many memorable characters. I look forward to reading The Subtle Knife - the second book in this remarkable series. [...]

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