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The Golden Compass  By  cover art

The Golden Compass

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
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Publisher's summary

His Dark Materials is now an HBO original series starring Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James Mcavoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda!

Featuring an exclusive bonus interview between the author, Philip Pullman, and His Dark Materials star Ruth Wilson.

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 number one New York Times best seller

Winner of the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction

Published in 40 countries

"Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past 20 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

"Superb.... Wonder-filled." (Washington Post Book World)

"Very grand indeed.... Scene after scene of power and beauty." (The New York Times)

"A rousing, page-turning adventure that promises to please fantasy readers of all ages." (Library Journal)

Featured Article: 45+ Quotes to Help You Make Peace with—and Take Charge of—Change


Reeling from change? Or ready to make some changes in your life? These wise words from authors just might give you the comfort or boost you need. Their words reflect the nature of change and the swirl of feelings surrounding it—from fear to exhilaration. In this collection, you'll find gentle reminders that change will keep happening and reassurance that you can handle it. When you face it and embrace it, change can enrich your life in unexpected ways.

What listeners say about The Golden Compass

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Amazing!!

Such a phenomenal story brought to life by an amazing cast!
Can't recommend this enough

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amazing read

I can't say how much I love this book,. For when you first meet Laura to the very end when you find out where does comes from. you feel for the character Lyra and you hope that she succeeds Stewart should you feel for her Joys you feel for her sadness. and the plot twist at the very end did I did not see coming

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Sets a standard for everyone else to meet

These 3 Dark Materials books are not just audio books -- they are audio plays with music and actors and the kind of full production values like an old radio play. The stories are very very very dark and very very very serious and very long but they are also rich in character and dense plots with lots of action. You'll never hear anything better than these. They are marketed as kids books but they are not easy or simple books. They make Harry Potter look like Mother Goose. They deal with the soul and god and religion and moving between worlds in search of demons and "dust" and angels. The Armored Bear on the cover is one of the great fantasy characters in fantasy literature. Bravo!!

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Thought Provoking

I really enjoy the detail and descriptions. The characters (at least the main) are pretty well developed. Very stimulating for the imagination.

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Masterpiece

Amazing story and excellent performance. Production level was fantastic, and sounded great even on 1.25 speed.

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Delightful!

Beautifully written and performed. Delightful story. Looking forward to The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

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Amazingly well done

Narrator is superb, cast really add to the performance magnificently.
The story is exciting, intriguing, and well written.
Definitely recommend.

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Very entertaining

Easy to listen to, had to do some outside research on daemons since that was never fully explained, but once I understood that this wasn't "our" world it all started to make sense.

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Amazing!

This is hands down one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. 😍 Philip Pullman narrates it very well, and the actors in this adaptation are excellent as well, especially Lulu Popplewell (Lyra), and Timothy Dalton (Lord Asriel).

I'm reading this book right now, and I love it so far; it's very well-written, and I seem to constantly have trouble putting it down. 😉 In my opinion, those kinds of books are the best kind.

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Fantastic! My second time for this book.

Not used to full cast, but they do a seamless job of blending together so you don't notice by the end of the 1st or 2nd chapter.

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