The Golden Compass

Philip Pullman

Bonnie gave me this book as a present in 1999 for Christmas and since I'd already received my Secret Santa present for 2000, I thought I had better start cracking on the one from 1999! I took it with me on my skiing holiday in Italy, and in retrospect, it was a good choice. You see, part of the story takes place in a very cold, and icy land. Since I was up in the snowy Alps, the book and my surroundings went hand in hand!

The story is a fantasy story about a little girl, named Lyra, who sets off on an adventure and gets mixed up in all sorts of grown-up business. Lyra's world is very similar to our own, and the places even have the same or similar names, except that in Lyra's world, each human has a daemon, which is a lifelong bond, a connection with an animal. Due to Lyra's inquisitive nature, she gets caught up in all sorts of exciting adventures, and has the time of life.

This was a quick and entertaining read. It wasn't quite as brilliant as I'd expected but I suspect it's more to do with the fact that I was not quite so fond of Lyra. The plot of the story did seem a little biased towards the young reader and perhaps this coloured my overall impression of the book. But the writing style was good because you could read it pretty effortlessly and I suspect that it's not an easy thing to do. All in all, I'd say it's a good, enjoyable read but it didn't make it to my top ten of the year.