This is the first book in His Dark Materials (will be referred to as HDM in the future).
Info:
it has been published under The golden Compass or Northern lights (FYI)
Genere: Science fantasy, High fantasy
Published: 1995
It has been adapted into the 2007 Golden compass Movie (It follows the book alright, some of the events are in different places but apart from that its good)
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Synopsis (From Wikipedia, im lazy)
In , 12-year-old and her dæmon Pantalaimon witness the attempt to poison , Lyra's rebellious and adventuring uncle. She warns Asriel, then spies on his lecture about , mysterious . Lyra's friend Roger is kidnapped by child abductors known as the "Gobblers". Lyra is adopted by a charming socialite, . The Master secretly entrusts her with an , a truth-telling device. Lyra discovers that Coulter is the leader of the Gobblers, a secret Church-funded project, which is abducting children. Lyra flees to the , -faring , whose children have also been abducted. They reveal to Lyra that Asriel and Coulter are actually her parents.
The Gyptians form an expedition to the Arctic with Lyra to rescue the children. Lyra recruits , an , and his human friend, . She also learns that Lord Asriel has been exiled, guarded by the bears on . Near Bolvangar, the Gobbler research station, Lyra discovers an abandoned child who has been cut from his dæmon; the Gobblers are experimenting on children by severing the bond between human and dæmon. Lyra is captured and taken to Bolvangar, where she is reunited with Roger. Coulter tells Lyra that the intercision prevents the onset of troubling adult emotions. Lyra and the children are rescued by Scoresby, Iorek, the Gyptians, and 's flying witch clan. Lyra falls out of Scoresby's balloon and is taken by the panserbjørne to the castle of their usurping king, . She tricks Iofur into fighting Iorek, who arrives with the others to rescue Lyra. Iorek kills Iofur and takes his place as the rightful king.
Lyra, Iorek, and Roger travel to Svalbard, where Asriel has continued his Dust research in exile. He tells Lyra that the Church believes Dust is the basis of , and plans to visit the other universes and destroy its source. He severs Roger from his dæmon, killing him and releasing enough energy to create an opening to a parallel universe. Lyra determines to stop Asriel and discover the source of Dust for herself.
My thoughts:
I personally loved this book, It had great characters, fantastic plot, great setting. If anything, its downfall was that It had to many characters. Lyra and Pantalaimon where the best, they where a great dynamic duo and where my favourite characters. Whats great about these books is that if you are 8 or 80 you can still enjoy the books.
I would rate this book 8/10 and would recommend it to children 8+. You could also read this to your child as it has some complicated words sometimes.
