The Golden Compass

(His Dark Materials, #1)

by Philip Pullman
Release date: 1995

Type: speculative fiction
Genres: fantasy, young adult
Tags: carnegie medal

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Published in the UK as Northern Lights.

Lyra and her daemon are eavesdropping when they uncover a plot to murder Lord Asriel. He has returned from the far North where he tells of strange sights – a beautiful city hovering in the sky above the pole, a shimmering Dust that settles on and delineates all but human children. Lyra is scarcely able to save his life before Lord Asriel is off again, on a quest to answer the riddle of the world.

Meanwhile, children are disappearing, and when Lyra's dearest friend is taken by the Gobblers, she determines to save him – a decision which leads her on a great journey, a journey that will lead to the discovery of her mother, a disastrous betrayal and the beginning of the unravelling of the mystery of Dust.

(updated 2017-01-18)

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About the Author :: Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman (born 1946) is an English writer. He is the best-selling author of His Dark Materials, a trilogy of fantasy novels, and a number of other books.

Life

Pullman was born in Norwich. The family travelled with his RAF pilot father's job, including to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he spent time at school. His father was killed in a plane crash in 1953 when Pullman was seven. His mother remarried and with a move to Australia came Pullman's discovery of comic books including Superman and Batman. From 1957 he was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy school in Wales and spent time in Norfolk with his grandfather, a clergyman. Around this time Pullman discovered John Milton's Paradise Lost, which would ... (more)

become a major influence for His Dark Materials. From 1963 Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving BA in 1968. Pullman married in 1970 and began teaching children.

His first fantasy novel was Galatea in 1978, but it was his school plays which inspired his first children's book, Count Karlstein, in 1982. He stopped teaching around the publication of The Ruby in the Smoke (1986), his second children's book, whose Victorian setting is indicative of Pullman's interest in that era.

Pullman taught part-time at Westminster College, Oxford between 1988 and 1996, continuing to write children's stories. He began His Dark Materials about 1993. The Golden Compass was published in 1996 and won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award. Pullman has been writing full-time since 1996. He was awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours list in 2004.

His Dark Materials

The first volume of His Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights, won the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the UK in 1995. The Amber Spyglass, the trilogy's last volume, was awarded both 2001 Whitbread Prize for best children's book and the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in January 2002. The trilogy won popular acclaim in late 2003, taking third place in the BBC's Big Read poll.

In 2005 Pullman was announced as joint winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for children's literature.

Pullman is a supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

Although Pullman has criticized C. S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia as religious propaganda, the two series have several things in common. Both feature children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the ultimate fate of those worlds.

A film adaptation, titled His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, is to be released in December 2007 by New Line Cinema, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Dakota Blue Richards.

Photo: Wikipedia, Adrian Hon

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Reviews (2)
(open a review) Written by Tim (2013-06-13) Since the publication of "Northern Lights" or "The Golden Compass" in the USA in 1995, 18 years have passed since I write this. In those years, many things have changed. First of all, the original series is now completed. Secondly, Pullman has written a few spin-off stories. Thirdly, the world is still waiting for "The Book of Dust", which he is now writing for about 8 years. Fourthly, "Northern Lights" is now a film titled "The Golden Compass" - and unfortunately, the other two books won't ... (more) be shown on the big screen because in the USA there were not many good reaction to the film. And fifthly, we can easily that "Northern Lights" is one of the most modern classics. It really is a book which will endure the Tooth of Time. Now, millions of copies have been sold and dozens of publications are released. In my opinion: if you haven't read this book, you have missed something extraordinary good, and you don't know real fantasy. Because for me, "His Dark Materials" is a synonym for fantasy.
(open a review) Written by Riikka (2014-05-07) I don't know what to say since Tim summarized it pretty nicely. I read the series in Finnish when I was around 13-14 years old and this is one of the two series which I can honestly say truly affected or changed the way I started to think or see things. I consider these books essential part of all that which made me who I am - and therefore I cannot really review these, only thank mr. Pullman.

Reviews (2)

(open a review)

Written by Tim (2013-06-13)
4.0

Since the publication of "Northern Lights" or "The Golden Compass" in the USA in 1995, 18 years have passed since I write this. In those years, many things have changed. First of all, the original series is now completed. Secondly, Pullman has written a few spin-off stories. Thirdly, the world is still waiting for "The Book of Dust", which he is now writing for about 8 years. Fourthly, "Northern Lights" is now a film titled "The Golden Compass" - and unfortunately, the other two books won't ... (more)

(open a review)

Written by Riikka (2014-05-07)
5.0

I don't know what to say since Tim summarized it pretty nicely. I read the series in Finnish when I was around 13-14 years old and this is one of the two series which I can honestly say truly affected or changed the way I started to think or see things. I consider these books essential part of all that which made me who I am - and therefore I cannot really review these, only thank mr. Pullman.