Black Matter Trilogy · Golden Compass

Author: Pullman
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Pullman is a renowned contemporary British author. His masterpiece, "His Dark Materials," has taken the world of books by storm, with over ten million copies sold, making it the most anticipated fantasy epic in the world! Its plot twists rival "Harry Potter," while its grandeur surpasses "The Lord of the Rings." This book is one of the trilogy, and the movie is being meticulously crafted by the original cast of "The Lord of the Rings." "The Golden Compass" won the Carnegie Medal and the highest prize in British children's literature, the "Guardian Children's Fiction Prize." Pullman was thus hailed as "the best Anglo-Saxon fantasy novelist since J.R.R. Tolkien," and in 2005, he won the third Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. This is an extraordinary world where a person's soul is a spirit in animal form, and humans and spirits are inseparable; otherwise, life would cease to exist. In this world, Oxford University is home to 13-year-old Lyra, who lacks familial love, does not recognize her wealthy and powerful but now enemy parents, and is unaware of the world-shaking curse she carries: she spends her days carefree with her companions and their spirits, growing into a cunning, reckless, and lying wild girl. However, terrifying prophecies cannot be avoided; Lyra is destined to take on the role of the savior, playing the part of Eve, the mother of humankind: "Dust," feared by all, appears, Gobblers roam the streets, companions disappear mysteriously one after another, and the happiest times come to an end with the loss of her close friend Roger. A vast conspiracy is brewing.
Thus, with a golden compass—a truth-teller that she can understand and predict the future—Lyra, unaware of the dangers, decides to find the children taken by the evil scientist. From then on, she embarks on a difficult journey to save the world; she heads toward the unknown North Pole. Waiting for her are armored bears, witches, angels, cliff ghosts, and even a spirit-cutter that can end life. And yet, the one who guides her step by step into the land of death is her father, the natural scientist Lord Asriel, and her mother, the zealous fundamentalist Mrs. Coulter.