She spends her days enjoying her youth and harassing those that turn out to be some of her greatest allies. She has grown up in an Oxford College and has developed a detachment to her guardians. The protagonist of the book is Lyra, a young girl, who is parentless and seemingly friendless. This is high praise indeed, and this novel is worthy of it. Before I go into the depths of character and plot, let me start by saying this book is up there with other fantasy hard hitters: by this I mean books like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia: the books that define the genre. (Apr.This novel is an absolute work of pure genius, and is in my top ten reads of all time. This glittering gem will leave readers of all ages eagerly awaiting the next installment of Lyra's adventures.
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.
Along the way Lyra is guided by friendly witches and attacked by malevolent ones, aided by an armored polar bear and a Texan balloonist, and nearly made a victim of the Gobblers' cruel experiments. Coulter, she joins a group of ""gyptians"" in search of their children, who, like Roger, have been spirited away by Mrs. After escaping from the charming and sinister Mrs. Deceptions and treacheries threaten at every turn, and she is not yet certain how to read the mysterious truth-telling instrument that is her only guide. The story line has all the hallmarks of a myth: brought up ignorant of her true identity, 11-year-old Lyra goes on a quest from East Anglia to the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate Roger and her imprisoned uncle, Lord Asriel. Here Earth is one of only five planets in the solar system, every human has a daemon (the soul embodied as an animal familiar) and, in a time similar to our late 19th century, Oxford scholars and agents of the supreme Calvinist Church are in a race to unleash the power that will enable them to cross the bridge to a parallel universe. If Pullman's imagination dazzled in the Victorian thrillers that culminated with The Tin Princess, in this first volume of a fantasy trilogy it is nothing short of breathtaking.
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