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

Great story, lousy music.

I really enjoyed the story, and the performance of the cast, but the music between chapters was getting on my nerves.

Absolutely love this series

I initially had the book for a few years before I really read it. I picked it up a couple of times and never got past the retirement room. It starts slow, but when I finally pushed past the opening it was fantastic. This series is single handed the reason I began to read again as an adult. Once you finish the Golden Compass you immediately want to start The Subtle Knife. I even named my daughter after the main Character.

Excellent Performance

I read a number of reviews that criticized the performance, I'm not always a fan of a full cast performance but I thought this one was excellent. All cast members sounded professional and Lyra's character was played just right. And the author's narration was steady and added to the overall story. Overall, a wonderful story and a great performance.

Simply incredible

This is such a well-written, engaging story with a vivid fantasy world. The full-cast style recording of this story (and is sequels) make them quite possibly the best audiobooks I've ever heard.

A fantastic recording

Philip Pullman narrates his own work here, and is wonderful, but it's the full cast of terrific actors that really gives this audiobook its depth and color. The parallel universe of Lyra Bellaqua's world is brought to life in detail, and the vision of that world is vivid and fully realized. You'll be swept away and you'll want to go North, too.

Brought back so many memories!

Loved it all, looking forward to continuing with the rest of the series. A librarian turned me onto it in the seventh grade and it made an impact that has lived on through today. I'm glad to unearth some of these memories and have a new experience with an amazing cast.

Best audio book ever

What did you love best about The Golden Compass?

I really like the story; it's engaging, colorful, and speaks to all ages.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lyra. She's very inquisitive and mature without being precocious.

Have you listened to any of Philip Pullman and full cast ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not Pullman's books, but many others.

Any additional comments?

This audio book is like listening to a radio play. It keeps your interest and never drags down. Highly recommend.

Good story. Forced pace of reading

The story is great, but the pace of the dialog between characters is forced to be fast and tight together. if they want to use an ensemble, then let them pace the conversation as if it were different people talking

Highly recommend - great story & excellent narration

Excellent. Loved Philip pullmans voice. The actor who played Lyra was good for the role but a bit whiny BUT she didn't speak enough for it to be annoying which was great.
Despite being a full cast, the voices were all of a good volume and stayed within a pleasant range.
Great story and great performance. Truly the performance added to the story.
Highly recommend.

Awesome experience!

Any additional comments?

Great story! Engaging, unpredictable yet not unbelievable. The characters are memorable and can easily be related to. The narration cast does a fabulous job for the most part. I flew through this novel... couldn't stop listening.