Of Swords and Parasols

(ETA: prozacpark  if you don't scroll right past this entry, you can't blame me for spoiling you!)

I usually try to blog things fairly in the order that I read them, but I wanted to go ahead and post on this while it’s fairly fresh on my mind.

( spoilers )
In the end, The Golden Compass is my favorite of the trilogy, but I like all three to differing degrees.

An orphan living at Jordan College, 12-year-old Lyra has a series of strange events in her life kicked off when she sees the Master of her college attempt to assassinate her uncle, Lord Asriel, and warns him, which results in her being able to eavesdrop on a conversation she shouldn’t have heard. Soon after, a dashing woman named Mrs. Coulter takes Lyra from the college to be her assistant, but not before the Master entrusts Lyra with an item called an alethiometer, an item that can tell Lyra anything she wants to know. While Lyra is initially enchanted by Mrs. Coulter, she soon learns that things aren’t as they seem and runs away. Meanwhile, Lord Asriel has gone missing, and Lyra’s friend, Roger, has been taken by the Gobblers, people-or things-who have been kidnapping young children. Learning that both Lord Asriel and the Gobblers are in the north, Lyra joins a group of Gyptians-water bound analogues of gypsies (I still see the word and have to remind myself that it’s from “Egyptian,” and not a metal or and element)-on a quest to find the children. Later, they are aided by several others, most notably Iorek, an armored, talking bear who has been exiled from his people.

This is a book I’d never really planned to read, but it’s the topic for a chat, and so I did. The thing is that, in general, I have bad luck with the massively popular fantasy series. It may be because I go in with higher expectations after the praise, but often, the most popular series tend to either be, for me, (A) the most typical of fantasy plots and stories with a thin veil to make them “original,” (B) centers around tropes that annoy me, or that I’ve just had too much of, or (C) bore me. My struggle to read Robert Jordan was mighty. Then there’s the armored bears. I’m sorry, but they just sound like the silliest thing ever. Having read the book and having quite liked the armored bear plotline, I still actually think the idea is kind of silly, just not in this case. Plus the religion/C.S. Lewis bit. And Iorek and Lyra’s relationship is a pretty fun take on “big gruff badass with wee cute accessory,” especially since the wee cute accessory did a nice bit of saving herself. Moving on, I tend end up liking this a fair bit.

( more with spoilers )
No spoilers in the comments, please. I’m not sure exactly when I’ll read the rest. Depends on if the chat schedules them soon, or spread out enough that I don’t feel like waiting that long.