Review: “The Golden Compass” – Philip Pullman

PODCAST:

S3E10B – The Golden Compass (book)*

SHOW NOTES:

We were so excited to cover this material over the last few months, I just couldn’t contain myself during the show. As a matter of fact, I grew increasingly relieved that I didn’t bother to read the book as the evening proceeded. Ironically, I was the asshole who suggested we read it as we started organizing this season. Guess the book served as a valuable lesson solely for Ryan and Wilk.  Now, they are in a better position to realize organized religion is a bane of the world. With that, I leave you with this; the wise Maud’Dib famously remarked, “There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.”

– Rick

WRITTEN BOOK REVIEWS:

Book: “The Golden Compass a/k/a Northern Lights (His Dark Materials #1) (1995)” by Philip Pullman

Ryan: 4 Stars “…A tale told by a crackling, comforting fire while the bitter northern winds gust dangerously against the window panes outside…”

Wilk: 3 1/2 Stars “…If you’re reading this review you’re too old for this book…”

Rick: 1 Star “…just a bunch of blither aimed at children…” (Caveat: please note the disclosure in Rick’s Show Notes for the book episode.)

(Click the links to read full written reviews on Goodreads.com)

 

FUN FACTOIDS:

On the episode we mentioned that one of the characters is named Lord Azrael, not to be confused with sinister cat named Azrael on “The Smurfs” cartoon: http://smurfs.wikia.com/wiki/Azrael.

In The Golden Compass, the characters have familiars which are psychically tethered to their bodies and function a bit like an inner conscious, companion and soul. These animals are referred to as “Daemons” — not to be confused as “Demons” although they are pronounced the same. Here is a short article on the pronunciation: https://www.quora.com/In-Golden-Compass-how-do-you-pronounce-daemon. Here’s a Wikipedia entry on Daemons in Philip Pullman’s fantasy world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A6mon_(His_Dark_Materials)

Some of the conversation on this episode were about the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Rings trilogy was originally turned into the publisher in the form of six smaller works with suggested titles. The publisher repackaged the manuscripts into the now-famed trilogy, however a few years back a version of the books was bound in the way Tolkien had originally suggested. If you want to know more about this check out this website: http://www.mytolkienbooks.com/books-by-tolkien/middle-earth-related/lord-of-the-rings/complete-sets/the-lord-of-the-rings-millennium-edition/.

Lastly, Wilk and his wife Laura Valle started a true crime podcast called, “How to Avoid Murder …and other awkward situations,” which he plugged at the end of the show. You may remember that Laura Valle joined us (with our former co-host Beam) for discussion on The Hellbound Heart and Hellraiser during our special torchlight recordings.

The website for their podcast is: http://www.avoidmurder.com/. You can also find it on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-avoid-murder-other/id1187366565?mt=2

 

* DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the views and opinions of the hosts and guests of NDIOS are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the other hosts and guests or that of NDIOS.