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 Performance

The multiple voices and excellent narration made a good book and a great experience. It was hard to hit the pause button while listening to this one.

A Wildly Imaginative Fantasy

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the concepts of both daemons, and light. These imaginative constructs were outstanding, and the reactions were incredibly believable. It's not hard at all to imagine, and even envy a world where part of us is manifested into a loyal creature that lives by our sides at all times. It required no effort whatsoever to be drawn into the imaginative concepts and worlds painted by the author - such is the skill of this author.

Any additional comments?

I don't know what it is about fantasy novels that irritates the church so much, but this is yet another novel that has fallen victim to their political nonsense. More recently, Harry Potter came under fire for similar reasons which are just as nonsensical. So unless your beliefs incline you towards the mindset that Harry Potter motivates children to practice witchcraft, you and your children are perfectly safe reading this wonderful trilogy.

These books motivate the reader to think critically, and imagine a world that's quite a bit different than ours. When I first read these books it felt like someone lit the fire of my imagination anew (I was around 17 years old at the time.) I'll always remember them fondly, and from time to time I will revisit them again. I greatly encourage children and adults alike to read or listen to these novels for this reason. It's so incredibly difficult to find literature within the fantasy department that is as compelling, imaginative, and well written as this one. I highly recommend this series.

Golden Compas part 1

Excellent story - If you enjoyed Lord of the Rings you will love this story. Well written and excellently spoken.

Amazing trilogy

Love the story, love the preformance of the readers! Second book is the weekest but the third finnishes strong!

Recomend reading them all. Ass seperate piece they are not that good but together rock solid❤️

Swift , Adept and Lovely W/Brilliant performances.

Written with a geniuses understanding at the varying depth of even the most common of words.

Wonderful listen

I loved the clever storytelling, the unique voices, and the story itself as a whole.

excilent

the book sent me back to my childhood, when my gram read to me nightly. I love this series, but the audible book was even better then expected cause they had more people reading it. it really had me! Can't wait to reread or listen to book 2!

Brilliant - a true masterpiece

What a brilliant book and and a fantastic cast. I could not stop listening to this. Highly recommend this.

Favorite Audio Book

This is my all time favorite audio book! I have listened to it more times then I can count. The full cast brings the story to life in such a captivating way that you can't help but listen to the story again :)

!!!!!!!!!

Amazing! I love the book and the performance was just wonderful! I wished it would never end.