The Golden Compass (Northern Lights)
[His Dark Materials #1]
By Philip Pullman
Released Year : 1995
Page Count: 400 pages
Medium Used : Paperback
Genre : Science Fiction, Fantasy, Multiverse, 2024-read.
Rating : 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I started really liking this book - as it was nearing the end and all the conundrums began to fall in place. I liked the concept of a binding(sort of like a half soul relationship)between a human and an animal which reflects their inner nature. It seemed very sacred and precious. At times, I was shocked at the cruelty directed towards children in this story. How can someone do those things and sleep peacefully? How can they not be bothered even if they justify it with some theological/good-evil justifications ?
While this book forms a base work for what's to come .. that is, a journey from one universe into another and subsequent adventures .. through the aide of northern lights or the aurora borealis .. the central theme of the book revolves around concepts of Dust and how certain groups of people try to use it to pursue their ambitions. So, me being a fanatic of the concept of multiverse and interstellar travel, am immediately picking the next book in the series without meandering with other books like I usually do!
Lyra is a girl of eleven who is left in the care of Jordan College in Oxford by her uncle Asriel. Against much opposition, he is a mad scientist on a personal quest. In the north, there is some special particulate matter called Dust which he is investigating/researching on. He wants to find the source of it and destroy because he thinks it is bad and is corrupting in nature to humans. On the other end of the spectrum is the Church and the Oblation Board - which is headed by his ex lover - which also wants to get rid of this Dust and its effects on children because they deem it to be the origin of sin. The ways and the means they use to achieve their ends are opposite and they seem like two opposites fighting each other. The church doesn't want the world to know that other universes exist which Asriel vehemently wants to prove. He wants to build a bridge between these universes and destroy the Dust in the process.
Amidst this drama, we have the young and fiesty, adventure seeking Lyra that befriends armored bears, nearly immortal witches and some humans .. who help her in a mission to rescue kids being experimented by the church, release her father from his captivity and pave a way (as per the dictats of fate/destiny) to open a portal into other dimensions. She has a golden compass that can answer any of her questions and she is uniquely gifted to read it. Where others might want a book to refer to all the symbols and their inter relationships, she could bend her mind into a lower plane of understanding and uses this knowledge to achieve her goals.
An awesome concept and awesome read. Only the first half of the book left me confused a bit about what's what and left me craving for some explanations. Overall, a 4 point rating .. not bad at all!
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