The Golden Compass

His Dark Materials, Book 1

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Philip Pullman, Joanna Wyatt, Rupert Degas, Alison Dowling, Douglas Blackwell, Jill Shilling, Stephen Thorne, Sean Barrett, Garrick Hagon, John O'Connor, Susan Sheridan, full cast

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

HIS DARK MATERIALS IS NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING DAFNE KEEN, RUTH WILSON, ANDREW SCOTT, AND LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA!

The modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an “All-Time Greatest Novel” and Newsweek hailed as a “Top 100 Book of All Time.” Philip Pullman takes listeners to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach.

Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal—including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world.

Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want.

But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other...

A masterwork of storytelling and suspense, Philip Pullman's award-winning The Golden Compass is the first in the His Dark Materials series, which continues with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

A #1 New York Times Bestseller

Winner of the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction

Published in 40 Countries

"Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past twenty years."—The Washington Post

"Very grand indeed."—The New York Times

"Pullman is quite possibly a genius."—Newsweek

Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials!

** THE BOOK OF DUST **

La Belle Sauvage

The Secret Commonwealth

Listen to the rest of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.

©1995 Philip Pullman (P)1999 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"As always, Pullman is a master at combining impeccable characterizations and seamless plotting, maintaining a crackling pace to create scene upon scene of almost unbearable tension. This glittering gem will leave readers of all ages eagerly awaiting the next installment of Lyra’s adventures.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred

“Extraordinary storytelling at its very best.”—The Detroit Free Press

“Superb . . . all-stops-out thrilling.”—The Washington Post

Best Audio Book I've ever Heard

I've been listening to audio books for quite some time and this one by far is the best. Performed by a full cast where each actor assumes the role of one of the characters, the listener is transported into Pullman's world.

Set in the fictional past of early 20th century England, every human has what is called a "demon". As children these demons can assume any animal form, often changing depending on the mood of their child. Demons are animal representations of human souls, and no one is complete without one. After puberty, the demons assume one form and stay that way for life. Demons seem to take on the type of animal the person is in life, for example servants tend to have dogs as demons, loyal and obedient. Scholars have birds such as ravens, intelligent and far-seeing. One sailor has a dolphin or some such creature as a demon, thereby tying him forever to the ocean. Humans and their demons are mentally connected. What one feels, the other feels. They can talk to each other and cannot be away from each other, even at close distances or they feel great pain and anxiety.

Lyra, an orphaned pre-teen girl, and her demon Pan (yet to assume one form) find themselves in the middle of a political conspiracy. Unsure of who to trust and who their true allies are, their life was changed forever when they witnessed the Master of the college where they had spent all their years as a ward, attempt to poison Lyra's estranged uncle.

Her uncle, involved in some strange discoveries and experiments has returned to the college to ask for money to continue his work, investigating the origin of subatomic particles referred to as "dust". For some reason the scholars of the college are suprised to learn that this mysterious "dust" does not cling to children. After he receives the money and thwarts an attempt to poison him, he returns to his work.

What is dust? And why are children all over England disappearing? Lyra soon embarks on a journey to seek these answers.

Brilliant fantasy!

Although aimed at younger readers, like the Harry Potter books, The Golden Compass trilogy is very entertaining to adults, as well. The story follows young Lyra and her daemon Pan through adventures in an alternate universe, where magic is common and each person's soul takes on the external form of his or her daemon. Pullman's writing is brilliant and very dynamic, and this is much more than a simple children's book. While great for listeners of any age, younger children may need a little guidance, though shouldn't have too much trouble following the story. Highly recommended!

More for adults than kids...

While I don't think this is a book for children, I do think this book is amazing - the narriator is very good as well. I loved these books when I read them - and I loved them just as much while listening. You won't be disappointed.

great imaginative story.

The only critique is the sound mix-went from barely audible to extremely loud. Made it difficult to adjust volume. Otherwise, loved the imagination it inspires. Thank you

Wish I could give it 10 stars

Outstanding! Actors are terrific and make this audio book the best listen ever. If you like being constantly surprised and feeling as though you're in the book along with the characters, download this one.

Awesome

I’ve seen the movie and I’m excited for the TV show but this book is worth a read! So exhilarating!

Good Book

This is a very interesting, well written series. For younger childre be careful as it definitely has an anti-religion aspect as you get farther in it. Other than that I HIGHLY recommed all books in the series. Another great thing is that the characters are performed by many actors. This really brings the book to life!

I LOVE these audio books

This series is amazing! I know it is young reader, but I just couldn't help myself. Even though these were written with a younger audience in mind I very much think that the story should be read by adults. I was entertained through and through. The world and the story are so fantastic! The narrator did an amazing job. Now that I've listened to all of the books I am a bit sad that they are over. I would and have recommended these books for young adult and adults young at heart.

Great story with great performances

Just a short review with a little background. I’ve never read any of HDM. I had only seen TGC Nicole Kidman film when it first released, and after listening to this, I did watch the HBO/BBC Season 1.

My girlfriend recommend I get this trilogy on Audible and this first entry is such a great way to introduce us to Lyra and all her companions. It’s a slow build but not dull because of the interesting world building continually happening. The one aspect of the story that really grew on me was the idea of daemons. When I first started, I didn’t love the idea of having spiritually-connected animals being linked to every human. By the end of the book, not only did I buy in, I was emotionally connected to whenever a daemon was in trouble.

When it was over, I was definitely emotional but also satisfied with the conclusion of the singular story but excited for what comes next and how it all comes together in the end of the third book.

For me, performances were great. While supported by a superb full cast, I think that the narrator (who I found out after the fact was actually the author Pullman himself) is the star of the show. Seems natural to have the author read his own story, but maybe not every author is good at narrating. However, Pullman reads the story with perfect pacing and inflection. His voice also goes perfectly for the feel of this type of story.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy adventure titles. It’s well-written, well-performed, and an adventure worth taking.

Great Story; Weird Recording

I really enjoyed the story, and it was not too difficult to follow like some fantasy and sci-fi can be. the recording was weird for me though, I had to adjust sound levels on all my listening devices for the 's' sounds not to hiss loudly and annoyingly, was unable to listen in my car for that reason.