Because it’s the story of a young girl, I expected the book The Golden Compass to be lighter and more magical than Harry Potter. It’s not. Lyra is the heroine of the Compass world, an alternative universe where the Enlightenment never happened, technology is set back at least one hundred years and almost every aspect of life is ruled by the sinister Magisterium – the Catholic Church to you and me.

As for Lyra, she enjoys a carefree life in Oxford with Pantalaimon, her shape-shifting constant companion, her dæmon. Pronounced “demon”, it’s not a hidden computer program that runs in the background as any geek reading this expects, but an animal creature embodying her soul.

Lyra lacks a friend or a human companion. She’s on her own and runs wild with children from the town and the ‘Gyptians’ children (think gypsies) In spite of having a lot of action, the book makes for slow reading. A child may have to go back and forth to understand all the intricacies of the dark universe painted by Philip Pullman.

Lyra shows characteristics of her parents, and while I won’t give away who her parents turn out to be, it’s a little too pat. There’s a noticeable lack of family and family values in this book. In the film version, Nicole Kidman plays Mrs. Coulter, a pied-piper villain who runs an organization that kidnaps children. For younger children the book or the film may scare them. Some things about The Gold Compass did annoy me, such as when Lyra learns to speak properly, but reverts to speaking like an uneducated child.

The Golden Compass is part one of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which runs 934 pages, the other two being The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The name – and some of the themes, come from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which Pullman discovered as Oxford student while spending time in Norfolk, with his grandfather, a clergyman.

Parts one and two of the trilogy won the coveted Whitbread prize for Children’s Literature in the UK, and a recent poll by the BBC called “The Big Read” listed the books as second only to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Pride and Prejudice as the nation’s favorite books for younger readers.

For my part though, I recommend seeing the movie version instead, although it’s cold and dark, too. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the faster, lighter read of Harry Potter. For determined readers, The Golden Compass is a great gift.

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials, Trade Paperback 934 pages. Publisher: Knopf a division of Random House (April, 2007). Language: English. ISBN: 978-03758470226 $21.99

Gabrielle Pantera is the book reviewer for the British Weekly and a screenwriter.