Comments on: Top 100 Children’s Novels #28: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 22:50:58 +0000

I loved this book so much when I first read it (I think I was 14), but I did not like the other two. I thought the second one was boring, and the third one just infuriating.

By: Sondy

Sondy — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:44:09 +0000

I was amused by this detail: Many voted for The Golden Compass. Many voted for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I didn’t notice anyone vote for both! (Though I may have missed some who voted in the form.) I’m firmly team LION myself, though I did find this book impressive. Not exactly lovable, though.

(I find this amusing because I believe Philip Pullman talked about writing this book as an atheist’s response to C. S. Lewis.)

And the whole issue of alternate worlds? To me that goes against the very point of Story. If there are infinitely many other worlds where Lyra is making other choices, well, then why the heck tell us about this one?

You do have to give him that he’s mighty good at world-building.

By: Rosten

Rosten — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:57:28 +0000

I also only read the first one and didn’t have any desire to read the others. I also still don’t believe that this is a children’s book. As far as I’m concerned it’s strictly in the YA camp.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 17:45:12 +0000

This is one that I just don’t get. I only read Golden Compass, and didn’t bother with the others because I found GC to be quite boring. Maybe one day I’ll go back and re-read, but at this point I’m not in any hurry.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 03:58:44 +0000

I was waiting for this series to show up…am so glad it’s this high on the list. Brilliant, magical writing.

By: rams

rams — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:15:57 +0000

I was fine with it until the last five pages, then that was it. You don’t kill children. Never had any urge to read the others, especially with the bogus theology. Pthagh.

By: Jennifer in GA

Jennifer in GA — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:23:56 +0000

I tried to get through the book and I was just…bored. I don’t get the love for it at all.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 18:20:50 +0000

Below is a link about how the success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films led to the impossibility of Golden Compass sequels.
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/05/25/indie-blockbuster-franchise-is-not-an-oxymoron/

In short LoTR and Golden Compass were both financed the same way (pre-selling intl distribution rights of a trilogy to finance the first installment). But when parent company Warner Bros. absorbed New Line, WB did not want to make the Dark Materials sequels because they contractually would not be able to distributed them themselves overseas (where the first film made $300 million [it did do poorly here in the US though]) because the intl distribution rights were already held by a variety of local distributors across Europe and Asia.