THE GOLDEN COMPASS (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Original review written May 22, 2019)

What a gem this is!

The journey of Lyra and her daemon Pantaliamon was a welcome one after struggling through a different Young Adult series before this. In a world just adjacent to ours, where humans are soul-bound to a spirit animal that shares their feelings and personality, you find aspects of magic placed next to explanations of science, where a girl brought up in an academic world just wants answers to the rapidly changing elements of her life.

And that girl is kind of a badass! Lyra’s got more bravado than I do, that’s for sure. The main protagonists in these YA series can fall into an old mold pretty easily, especially with the “this child is cosmically important” trope, but her tenacity and spunk broke through the expectations.

It eluded the perfect 5-star rating due to a fraction of predictability, but it’s on the stronger side of a 4. I'm genuinely happy after having read this book and starting this classic series, which is a feeling I’m not always rewarded with.