Seek the Truth from the Golden Compass

             

 Rating: 5 star out of 5

Phillip Pullman has an amazing way of combining more than two elements in writing a book. His book, “The Golden Compass” really wowed me. I couldn’t put the book down once I started reading it. To me, this book is an amazing masterpiece of fantasy that would be remembered for a long time. I thought that after reading the Harry Potter series, I can never find a good book anymore. Well, I was wrong. I kind of admit that the beginning of the book did not appeal to me in any way but as I read through the magical pages, I became astounded. “The Golden Compass” is covered by many veils, hiding the truth of the book’s nature with a fact that we think is the truth. The book is the first installment of Pullman’s trilogy, “His Dark Materials.” The story begins when a young girl named Lyra Belaqcua and her daemon, Pantalaimon is visited by his uncle, Lord Asriel in the Jordan College situated in Oxford. There, she learns about his uncle’s travels to the far North in search and study of mysterious elementary particles referred as Dust. She is then given an alethiometer, a strange device that tells the holder the truth of all beings if read with consciousness. Later on, she learns that around her city, children are being abducted by the so-called Gobblers (revealed later as the General Oblation Board). She learns that this group was being led by her unknown mother, Mrs. Coulter. She then learns that her uncle has been captured. Rushing to his rescue, Lyra travels to the North, discovering the powers of the Northern witches, meeting a polar bear, and learning the hideous experiments done by the Gobblers to the abducted children. The suspense continues with the rescue of his uncle, the fighting between two polar bears etc, and the truth about Dust thus adding an incredible amount of suspense and thrill to the book. At first, I thought that the “Golden Compass” was mainly targeted for children based on its cover and the introduction. I was wrong. I did not follow the famous saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This book attracts young adults (even mid-aged people from what I’ve observed) as it combines fantasy with other elements. The settings of the story attracted me the most. The first page of the book says that the first volume of the trilogy is “set in a universe like ours, yet different in many ways.” It then says, “The second volume is set in the universe we know.” Of all, the most surprising thing was, “The third volume will move between the universes.” In my point of view, Phillip Pullman writes a book as if he is making an all-time recipe, combining the best ingredients to produce an astonishing dish. Phillip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass” must not be missed by any human being.