His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass

I work a day job where, on my first day, I was encouraged to listen to audiobooks to pass the time while I worked. It was like being a kid and being told you could have cake for dinner! I was pumped.

I’ve been at this job for about a month, and I’ve devoured 4 audiobooks and 34 1/2 episodes of a podcast. The book I’m listening to right now is one that I read back in 6th grade and remember loving.

His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

I’m 98% done at this time, and boy does it hold up! It’s been so long since I read it that the twists (and there are a lot of twists) are fresh and thrilling. It’s a YA novel, the first in a series, but it’s heavy enough for adults to enjoy, too.

The premise is that, in an alternate plane of existence, a person’s soul manifests in the form of a daemon- an animal that lets your true heart be known and keys you into the world around you. There is a group of religious zealots trying to separate the daemons from children- severing the soul/body connection, sometimes killing the child.

It’s dark and it’s gritty and it doesn’t pretend that children wouldn’t be interested in that sort of thing.

~ YouTube review coming 1/2/24 ~