Dieses Buch und auch die Nachfolger haben mich durch meine Jugend begleitet. Das war für mich Fantasy auf allerhöchstem Niveau. Wunderschöne Geschichte. Super ausgearbeitete Charaktere, ein wahnsinns Worldbuilding. Für alle die abtauchen wollen in neue Welten.

Philip Pullmans Der Goldene Kompass entführt die Leser in eine faszinierende Welt voller Magie, Wissenschaft und Abenteuer. Die junge Lyra Belacqua wächst in einem alternativen Oxford auf, in dem jeder Mensch von einem sprechenden Tierwesen, einem Dæmon, begleitet wird. Als ihr bester Freund verschwindet, begibt sie sich auf eine gefährliche Reise in den Norden, wo sie in ein Netz aus Intrigen, Machtspielen und unerwarteten Verbündeten gerät. Nach einem etwas holprigen Einstieg hat mich die Geschichte vollkommen gepackt. Die Welt ist komplex, aber unglaublich atmosphärisch, und Lyra ist eine starke, kluge Hauptfigur. Besonders beeindruckt hat mich die Mischung aus philosophischen Fragen und spannender Handlung.

It's been ten years (probably even more) since I've read this series and I've never forgotten it. I remember so many scenes vividly and I'd been very excited to read this again this year. I just love experiencing books that left such an impact on me as a child anew now that I am older. And what can I say? I still love it. Was it perfect? No, but I still loved it. <spoiler> -Characters- Lyra is eleven years old and I love that she also feels like that. This actually goes for all the children in the story, every child feels like an actual child and not like a toddler or a mini adult. I've seen people say that lyra doesn't act her age (too immature) but I really disagree. I want to point out that this story is set in the 1890s and children mature much faster nowadays. Lyra also never had proper adult guidance, making it very easy to understand why she sometimes acts like this. I can compare her to my brother who is 12 years old and yes, she is more immature than him, but also kind of not? I just think it was well done. Lyra often lies, embellishes stories that have happened or comes up with some that never did. Imo that was hilarious, like the story of lord asriel staring his kidnappers to death. She also is kind of bratty (again, no adult guidance). I actually kind of liked that she forgot Roger in the beginning? Children can be like that, especially with how much was going on for her. It would have been weird if she had been thinking about it the entire time. So it is even more impactful that it still moves her forward the entire time. She also is a leader, leading packs of children in Oxford, then with the gyptians and lastly in the research station, leading the children into freedom. You can see how she slowly and slightly grows up during the book and it's really cool to see. Her growth is very subtle and she still does have her childish moments but she really steps up. Do I love her? I don't know, she is not necessarily charming. But I love her as a character, I love being with her as the protagonist and the things she comes up with. I'd say she is 100 % the strongest character and other ones get way less fleshed out but still feel vivid even with little characterization. E.g. Ma Costa, Tony Costa, Lord Asriel. I enjoyed the cast of characters. I want to pay special mentions to Mrs coulter, because she is such an interesting character. I know there is a prequel and I think she's in it, so I am very excited to read that. Her love for lyra, so reluctant and hidden, her want for power and influence, her charm and brutality. She is ready to sacrifice children for her goals, very aware that they suffer from it and gets some sort of satisfaction or vindication out of it (...). She is very charming, enthralling lyra as soon as she meets her, but equally as brutal. But she also loves lyra, in a weird way and won't admit or speak it aloud, like calling lyra her “favorite assistant”. But she also abandoned her? I vaguely remember a few things and I am so excited to read further (but I also think she is less relevant in the next book?). Lord asriel gets less time on page and I an not sure what to think of him…. He seemed to be the anti-thesis to mrs Coulter but actually…. Eh, on that later. He sucks as a father. -Relationships- This is actually one of the book's weaknesses. It didn't fully sell me some of the fundamental relationships… Like lyra and pan. I do very much see their connection and I 100 % believe their bond, but I still wish I could have FELT it more. We just never get to meet Pan properly, he's always Lyra's extension but this far he just seems like a pet that says a few words sometimes. I think this is hard to do, because at the end the relationship between a Dæmon and its human is natural so making it appear as if you have to get to know your dæmon or that you can dislike it…. I get that. But I still wanted a bit more. More than that i wish they would have shown Lyra and Iorek's friendship more. Like, again, I get it! But I needed a bit more. Lyra frees Iorek, rides him once and they're suddenly all buddy-buddy. I would even get why he likes Lyra, but her? Even from her pov i don't think she had enough interactions with him to justify the close friendship they end up having. This is sad because other relationships are better fleshed out, like lyra with her mother figures ma costa and Mrs coulter. -Worldbuilding- The worldbuilding is arguably one of the best things in this book. It is deeply fascinating and I love love love the way it was presented to the reader. Obviously I have some previous knowledge on the books so perhaps this would be an issue for a first timer, but I really enjoyed how the story did NO introduction to the world. What are dæmons? Well, who knows. Just read further. And bit by bit the story drops the information, like that the dæmons don't change form after puberty, everyone has one, you can not move away much from it, society etiquette around them. Yet it never feels like you're left in the dark or that you don't know what's happening, it just is piece by piece when you need it. In the beginning you only need to know that pan is always with Lyra and that he can change his form. You can figure the rest out by yourself and then you'll also get new info. Or very early into the book we hear about a “cut child”. It is quickly dismissed because it's something else - but then like 300 pages exactly that term is relevant and explained. I love that and as someone who already knew what was meant I had to chuckle a bit. The same goes for the world, like the similarities and differences to our own world are never explained to us, we're just invited to go and see for ourselves. I think the foreshadowing with Lyra's parents was pretty decent. I don't think it was necessarily supposed to be a surprise to the reader - only to Lyra. The seeds were planted very clearly in the Mrs coulter chapter, like her wanting a kiss from Lyra or people constantly asking if she's her mother or if she knows about her parents and saying “interesting” when she tells the story she knows. Also the doubts she has about the story herself. -Themes- I think I need to put dust into this section, lol. Dust is such an interesting concept and the way all the people handle it, talk about it and study it is so interesting. Again, we are not told what it is until the end (we still don't know lmao). When I read this as a stupid child I obviously didn't catch on much to the anti-christian themes but over the years I've learned that pullman created this series as an anti-thesis to Narnia and its very strong biblical themes so I was very attentive this time. It is clear from the beginning that Lord asriel, who is painted as the good guy, dislikes the church and the gobblers are part of the church so there's that. But I didn't expect it to be so on the nose in the later chapters with the very direct and unveiled critique of the church ☠️☠️ made me feel stupid for looking out for the subtext. So we have Lord asriel who hates the church. The church believes that dust equals the original sin. I'm not 100 % what lord asriel believes, because he clearly disagrees that dust is the physical sin (saying the church is bending the truth the way they need it) but he also somehow believes that stopping dust will stop death? Or maybe he is just curious as a scientist. Either way he clearly despises the church. The church accepting mrs coulters cruel experiments also is a sign. Another theme would be childhood vs adulthood. Alone that the children are free from dust and that this is the reason the whole thing is happening. Then lyra being the innocent child, unknowingly having to save the world while being ignorant of the things at stake. How the adults all misinterpret dust, when it maybe isn't bad. There's also a very beautiful quote in one of the early chapters that i love about how old people worry and young ones laugh about it. I also really like how the reader is tricked into believing that lord asriel is the good guy while Mrs coulter is the evil one when in the end they are actually the same, they just have different goals. Just like her he is very willing to sacrifice lives for his goal (his daughters BEST FRIEND) and unlike Mrs coulter he even does it himself and in front of lyra. Mrs coulter and him, who had been posed as enemies for the entire story are suddenly in each other's arms and the whole facade shatters, revealing how similar they are. What i am unsure of: Misogyny. I don't know if this book is misogynistic or not. Usually I prefer giving older books the advantage of being a product of its time but this book is from 1995, which isn't that long ago (2024 as i am writing this). Compared to Narnia which was written around the 1940s the society progressed much more with feminism. But i don't even know what stance the author and the book itself are taking. There are many instances of societal rules around women, like “women can't go into the resting room” or “women can't sit at the table with the special guests” - and these rules are also iterated by Lyra. But then again the story is set in the 1890s where those rules existed (I'll just assume that rn) and Lyra is a child so her saying those things doesn't have to be true to the story. Also, regarding the resting room, there's that rule but then Lyra does break it! She sneaks into the room and that starts off the entire story. And calling a story that begins with “girl defies misogynistic rules” misogynist…. eh. At some point Lyra thinks badly of the female scientists, calling them poor things, comparing them to Mrs coulter and her more traditional feminity - but Mrs coulter literally is the villain of the story and even she is not traditional with how power-hungry she is. The portrayal of femininity is also interesting. Mrs coulter who is very traditionally feminine appearing, likes looking pretty and pretty things and is sweet talking and charming but then she also is incredibly influential, ambitious and brutal. On one hand i appreciate such an evil female villain (I support both women's rights and women's wrongs) but on the other hand I wonder if it's her ambitiousness that is being criticized. Like is her being a power-hungry woman bad or is she just a bad person? There is also an instance of Nell, a gyptian woman, requesting women to be brought onto the rescue mission - but then she suggested traditionally feminine roles like a child rearing. And at the end her suggestion isn't even approved… But at the same time she at least spoke up about it! Like the author was aware of it and made a point to address it, but then what does it mean that the suggestion isn't approved? It's all just very hard to understand because misogyny and feminity are not a theme or in any way addressed. I'll just have to see what the next books do with that, for now these are just thoughts I have and am not sure what to make of, so I am neutral on it. -Writing- Oh the writing is so enjoyable. I loved the voice of the narrator and the beautiful descriptive language. I also appreciate how we are with lyra 99 % of the time and the only scenes we aren't are those that have other people talk about how she basically has to save the world(s) without knowing about it. -Plot/pacing- The book definitely moves at a slow but steady pace. Many things happen over the course of the book. Lyra in Oxford, then with Mrs Coulter, her fleeing with the Gyptians, her travels to the research station, her time there, her making Iorek king again and finally the reunion with her father. Generally there's a lot of travel happening (which I enjoy). There's never intense tension but it's also never boring. There's always something happening. I really liked that. I also want to point out that it was well done how Lyra's time with Mrs Coulter was put into one singular chapter. It was long enough to give us a feeling of who she is and what her dynamic with Lyra is but not long enough to take away from the actual plot. The twist with lord asriel was such a shock to me. I was feeling so smart at the “he didn't know what he was waiting for was going to arrive soon” thinking “yeah, they want me to think it's the compass but ik it's actually Lyra” and then it wasn't lol. I genuinely didn't see it coming. Even at his reaction seeing Lyra I didn't get it. -Ending- While I think that the scene of lyras parents was very good in presenting the reader with the truth about lora asriel and the perceived difference between him and Mrs coulter being not what the reader thought it to be…. But it also wasn't the moment. I think the intention could have been to make it less depressing, especially as it was one of the last pages, but it still wasn't the moment. Lyra had been searching for roger from the start of the book and while this wasn't the forefront of the story and she had many other motivations, it still was part of her quest the entire time since she left Mrs coulter. So then he dies IN HER ARMS and it's just her parents making out so that I was confused whether he had actually died…. And then she just drops him on the floor and the book ends. Like… I shed a tear for that Tony boy but here i was unfazed and rather shocked that this was how his death was treated. Lyra doesn't even have a strong emotional reaction to it. Again, I understand that a best friend dying at the end of a book could be very traumatizing for the child readers but damn, he was done dirty. Then just don't have him die? I think it was needed to show how far Lord asriel would go but then it could have been whatever child, right? I can't justify the way his death had no emotional impact on lyra. And instead we get that creepy making out ☠️ really not the moment. </spoiler> A very interesting book with beautiful writing and intriguing worldbuilding. The plot moves slowly but without missing a beat. The weaknesses of the book are the lacking relationships (partly) and an event regarding the ending. Would recommend.

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