What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that there are some vivid descriptions
of battle scenes. There are some tense escapes from evildoers,
two of whom are the heroine's parents. Two children are killed.
One of Lyra's virtues is her ability to lie convincingly, but
she prizes friendship and loyalty. The British dialogue and
clever twists on common words may confuse some Americans, but
the fantasy will make readers' imaginations soar.
Common Sense Media Review
When first released, this book, the first of a trilogy,
created a sensation. There has literally never been anything
like it. A genre-bending fantasy, with elements of mystery and
Dickensian melodrama, it was sold in both adult and young-adult
categories, and brought an edgy sensibility which updated the
moribund fantasy genre for the new millennium.
Nail-biting suspense grabs readers until they can't shake themselves loose from this strange world--familiar, but definitely not the Earth we know. It has many of the same places, such as Oxford and London, but with some strange differences. The magical quality of Lyra's world sets readers' imaginations soaring. This place is so convincingly portrayed that the experiments performed on the children seem as gruesome to the reader as to Lyra. Readers soon accept her world, and they especially love this smart, rowdy heroine. Forget about sweet, honest girls--this scrappy street fighter uses all her wits to outfox the villains, and discovers mystical talents that she never knew she had.
Fantasy competes with roaring adventure as Lyra escapes from the menacing Mrs. Coulter, gets caught, and escapes again. She battles attacking Tartars, Gobblers, and cliff-ghasts, befriends one tribe of witches, and fights another. She also learns the unpleasant, true nature of her parents. For avid readers, fantasy buffs, and kids who are outgrowing children's fantasies, this is a great treasure. Even reluctant readers may get hooked if you begin by reading it aloud. Since it ends in a true cliff-hanger, the next stop is The Subtle Knife.
From the Book:
Her first impulse was to turn and run, or to be sick. A
human being with no daemon was like someone without a face, or
with their ribs laid open and their heart torn out: something
unnatural and uncanny that belonged to the world of
night-ghasts, not the waking world of sense.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
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