The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is a book that is full of great fantasy characteristics. Armored bears, "daemons", strange substances called Dust, and an organization that wants to control everything. The plot is pretty interesting with the main character Lyra leaving the college where she lives and going on an adventure to find out what is happening to the children getting kidnapped by the gobblers as well as her curiosity about "Dust". She meets many interesting characters along the way like an exiled armored bar, Gyptians, and a cowboy with a balloon. She obtains a golden compass which is know as a alethiometer. It is a device that is used to see into the past, present, and future. She finds out that the gobblers are taking kids to separate them from their daemons known as intercision. She helps the children escape and finds out Lord Azriel is being held captive by the armored bears and Lyra goes to save him with the help of the armed bear Byrnison. She convinces the king of the bears that she can be his daemon and he challenges Byrnison for his kingship and the right to have Lyra as his daemon. Byrnison kills Lofur the other armored bear and Lyra save Azriel. After Lyra and Byrnison follow Azriel to a new world. With all the fantastic environments and creatures The Golden Compass was a classic story of good versus evil with some hints on christianity. The head masters of the college that Lyra lives at have many similarities to the church with the way they present themselves as well as the fact that they want to push their morals and ethics on to the masses and to show them that their way is the only way. The Golden Compass is a pretty nice story it kept me intrested, especially the parts with polar bears, all and all it was a good story.