Have Moral Compass, Will Travel?

Pullman, P. (1996). The golden compass. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 9780679879244

The Golden Compass is the first of Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. Before the story begins, Pullman says The Golden Compass takes place in universe like ours, the second book is set in our universe, and the third one shifts between these universes.

Eleven year old orphan Lyra Belacqua has lived at Jordan College, Oxford, in a world similar to that of the reader but not exactly the same. Adventurous and precocious, Lyra and her dæmon (a small creature peculiar to a human in this alternate universe), Pantalaimon, are normally left to their own devices. She and the children of servants at Jordan College can do as they please. While spying from a wardrobe upon return of Lyra’s uncle, Lord Asrael, from the Far North, Lyra and Pantalaimon save Lord Asrael’s life. Lord Asrael has remarkably found something in Far North that he refers to as Dust, an element drawn only to adults. With Oxford’s support, Lord Asrael can do more field research of Dust in the Far North, and Lord Asrael is on his way.

After Lord Asrael’s departure, Lyra notices numerous disappearances of children in Oxford at the hands of an enchantress and the Gobblers. When her best friend, Roger, vanishes, Lyra becomes frantic. However, she is distracted by the enchanting Mrs. Coulter and her dæmon’s, a golden monkey, appearance at Jordan. Shortly, Lyra is the apprentice of the charming Mrs. Coulter and they move to London. Before she leaves, though, the Jordan College Master gives her an alethiometer, a golden compass, which detects truth. The Master warns her not to show it to anyone and tells Lyra she must learn to use it herself. Being lavished with luxury and attention by Mrs. Coulter, Lyra begins to ease into her new life. However, upon hearing of a connection between Mrs. Coulter and the Gobblers, Lyra escapes and strives to rescue the kidnapped children from the Gobblers in the Far North.

Numerous elements within The Golden Compass secure this book’s place in the fantasy genre. The dæmon is a distinctive part of the story. Each dæmon represents its human owner. A child’s dæmon can take all sorts of shapes while one of an adult is fixed into one form. Throughout the first story, Pantalaimon morphs into all sorts of creatures – from an ermine to a moth to a dragon. However, Lord Asrael’s dæmon remains a snow leopard and Mrs. Coulter’s never shifts from the form of a golden monkey.

Speaking of Mrs. Coulter, she certainly has number of ways to enchant children into doing as she wishes. Lord Asrael also seems to be able to manipulate things to his liking. Lyra is regarded as someone to be well treated and often “gets by with a little help from her friends.” To some extent, they are all characters that the other characters like to some degree.

As previously mentioned, The Golden Compass is set in a different place. The time seemed reminiscent of the Victorian Era and additional literature about this trilogy draws parallels between His Dark Materials and The Chronicles of Narnia. Also, The Golden Compass seemed slow to start due a lot of plot thickening and explanation of this world.

To place The Golden Compass within a subgenre is much trickier. Like high fantasy, The Golden Compass alternates between parallel worlds. Additionally, there are humans, dæmons, and talking bears with opposable thumbs. Later on, Lyra goes on a quest to save kidnapped children from the diabolical hands of the Gobblers. When the reader finds the depravity of Mrs. Coulter’s soul, the narrative becomes very dark. Magical animals such as the dæmons and the aforementioned bears are pivotal in The Golden Compass.

I chose The Golden Compass for this assignment for a multitude of reasons. What sparked my interest was that a movie based on the novel is about to come out in theaters. Due to the movie, a nay saying forward regarding The Golden Compass has made it to my inbox a number of times. This forward says the book is inappropriate for children and gives them bad information about organized Christianity. As both a Christian and a children’s library employee, I felt compelled to find out for myself. Personally, I did not find the first book offensive nor did I feel that it was inappropriate for young adults. When I discovered it was Pullman’s version of Paradise Lost, I found no objections. The bottom line is that it is fiction.

Personally, I had difficulty reading the book because the pace in the beginning was slow. If the reader, regardless of age, has the patience to read it, then I do not see any problems in recommending The Golden Compass. Someone who enjoys a somewhat dark twist on fiction, science fiction, and a struggle between good and evil would probably like The Golden Compass.

Three and a half out of Five Pearls

For more on The Golden Compass, check out the following links:

• Arukiyomi >> Northern Lights – Philip Pullman
  

 

Dust Bunnies, Great Balls of Fire, & Ghost Hunter

Castle, J. (2006). Ghost hunter. New York: Jove Books. 9780515141405

Ghost hunter is a book written by Jayne Castle, a pseudonym used by Jayne Ann Krentz when she writes science fiction, and is part of the Ghost Hunters series. Castle’s books take place on a planet called Harmony. Sometime in the near future, a curtain between Earth and Harmony opened, making travel and trade quite simple for humans. Harmony is a planet that was apparently deserted long ago by a race that was as alien to it as humans. The aliens left baffling catacombs of green quartz and perhaps a security system of ghosts, balls of destructive energy. Some creatures that live there are dust bunnies; six legged, four eyed, animated pieces of lint. Then, the curtain between Harmony and Earth closes mysteriously, blocking any sort of exchange between the two planets. Life on Harmony is rather primitive for the humans but settlers manage to survive. One of their survival mechanisms is “psi energy” or psychic abilities that are helped along with amber, a kind of fuel for the psi abilities.

This particular book starts 200 years after the curtain fell. Small town woman and botany professor Elly St. Clair is the daughter of powerful ghost hunters, people who channel psi energy to wipe out these ancient ghosts. Her father is a council member of the ghost hunters’ guild in their town of Aurora Springs, her brothers are ghost hunters, and her fiancé, Cooper Boone, is the new, seemingly humorless guild boss. Upon hearing gossip that Cooper and Campbell Frazier, another ghost hunter, engaged in a duel over her, the daughter of a powerful ghost hunter, Elly ends what she views as a loveless engagement with Cooper hangs up life in Aurora Springs and heads for the more cosmopolitan Cadence City. She opens an herb emporium and quickly makes friends with her neighboring shop keeps. A dust bunny named Rose wanders into Elly’s life and moves in with Elly. Things are going well until Elly’s friend Bertha disappears in the catacombs. Elly is worried enough to contact her former fiancé when he comes to Cadence City in order to handle the ghosts of the catacombs. Yet, does she realize that Cooper intends to reestablish their engagement?

This is a work of romantic suspense and science fiction, putting it into the Our Strange World and Genre Blending subgenres. In her futuristic setting, Castle asks “What if there was another planet that was isolated from Earth and dwelled by humans?” Furthermore, Castle contemplates the survival and evolution of humans on Harmony. Humans have had to condition themselves to the ways of Harmony. She explores various psychic abilities in her Harmony books. This particular one focuses on ghost hunters, those who can dismantle detrimental balls of energy.

In some ways, Elly appears to be an outsider since she does not appear to have any really strong psi power. This may have her looking like Marilyn Munster to readers. Another characteristic which sets Elly apart is that she has adopted Rose, a dust bunny. Despite all of this, most characters in the book genuinely like Elly. I was impressed by the sense of community and good neighbor behavior Elly inspired in Cadence City as well as in Cooper.After having the web chat with Jayne Ann Krentz, I decided I wanted to read a Jayne Castle book for the science fiction assignment. I am not the biggest fan of science fiction but I certainly admire its goals and practices. Without science fiction, I do not believe we would ask about things which seriously need to be questioned. Nevertheless, I wanted to read something that could easily fall into multiple genres. The psychic ability concept fascinated me, too.

 

I liked thisbook because it had a good plot and did not bog me down with details of this alternate reality. Within this book, Castle shows readers like me that virtues are still valued in another setting. My only complaint about the book has very little to do with the novel or its writer. The book has some hunky Fabio-esque man on the cover. Not only would I be embarrassed to read anything with such a cover in public, I thought the guy on the cover looked nothing like the “male lead” in the book. If I had not wanted a Jayne Castle book, I would have passed this one up altogether due to the cover. Thank goodness for canvas book covers!

I would definitely recommend this book to women who like romantic suspense and science fiction. I think it would be a good gateway for women interested in trying science fiction. There is bad language and sex involved in the book but these elements naturally work with the plot. Readers easily offended by bad language and sexual situations probably should avoid Ghost hunter.

 

 

Three Out of Five Pearls.

 

Scary Carrie – Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power by Stephen King

King, S. (1974). Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. 9780385086950

Stephen King’s Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power relates the story of Carrie White, a telekinetic (the ability to move things remotely with only the mind) teenage girl, who has been pushed too far by her peers and her mother’s cruel treatment of her. The story is related through third person narrative as well as multiple reports and testimonies.

Opening with a news report of how rocks fell from the sky onto the house where three year old Carrie and her beyond fundamentalist mother, Margaret White, lived, the reader sees Carrie’s first telekinetic act. Later on in the novel, the reader is told of how Margaret would punish Carrie by shoving her in a closet for long periods of time and subject her to praying for forgiveness.

Then, the story slips into third person narrative and brings the reader to a teenaged Carrie showering after gym class with the other girls. Carrie has long been made to endure the harassment of the other students for the odd way her fanatical mother has reared her and for being beyond awkward. Ringleader and mean girl Chris Hargensen instigates group terrorization of Carrie in the locker room. Even the nice, pretty Sue Snell gets in on the act. Carrie becomes so upset she breaks the locker room light bulb, showing another instance of her telekinetic ability.

Being caught by their coach, Miss Desjardines, these girls are punished for their mistreatment. Chris balks and is further punished by not being able to attend the Spring Ball/ Prom. Sue feels guilty for her part and convinces her popular boyfriend, Tommy Ross, to take Carrie to the prom. When Carrie accepts Tommy’s invitation, she still wonders what joke her peers will pull on her. Defying her mother, she attends the prom. All is well for Carrie until the inevitable proves to be the last straw and the somewhat dormant power within Carrie takes over the rest of the night and the town.

Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power is a story that produces fear in the reader. The reader asks, “How many people have hurt Carrie?” and “What is Carrie going to do to them?” In this case, Carrie and her telekinetic ability are the monster of the story. She is very human and has been hurt too many times. She has a paranormal ability of telekinesis and she is tired of taking people’s garbage. In essence, she is a woman scorned by her peers. Yet, Carrie is absolutely sympathetic. She has been pushed over the edge not only by her mean peers but by her insane mother. Perhaps this is fantastical for readers who have been at the wrong end of a cruel joke.

Also, with the reports and testimonies and the narrative entwined, the reader knows some sort big action will take place and it will be very bad. Early in the novel, it is mentioned that only a few people survived and that serious investigations were taking place after the climatic event.

The Devil is referred to often by Carrie’s mother, Margaret, as The Black Man. According to Margaret, Carrie’s frightening power comes from The Black Man. While Margaret won the battle with The Black Man, Carrie lost because she was telekinetic and attending the Prom in a dress showing off too much of her body. This novel definitely contains violence, gore, sex, and foul language. Ultimately, it presents the dark underbelly of human behavior. The reader not only sees this in Carrie but all of those around her.

I chose Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power for a number of reasons. Stephen King is referred to as the King of Horror and I thought I should read something by him other than The Green Mile. Additionally, I had tried to read this book as a high school senior but I did not manage to finish it at the time. Another reason was that I remembered seeing the movie and feeling as though Carrie was justified in what she did. I even saw this as a morality play or a cautionary tale (as many horror stories and urban myths are) as to why one should not mistreat peers in high school.

While I enjoyed the narrative parts of the book and I especially appreciated Sue Snell’s first person narration in other sections, I did not like research and investigative reports. In this respect, I prefer the movie. I felt like I was watching a soap opera when it had been interrupted by a breaking news bulletin on one of the soap opera character’s reasons for being an alcoholic. I had to keep myself from skipping these parts in favor of the narrative. In addition, I was distracted by what I found to be King’s sarcastic tone throughout the book. A recurring thought for me was that “While I am reading this book, Stephen King is laughing all the way to the bank.” Nonetheless, I do see that King is a great writer in that he evokes fear and loathing so well. I now question whether Carrie was justified in what she did.

After warning patrons about the research reports (only because they irritated me) and the sex and violence, I would recommend Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power to fans of horror and perhaps fantasy. To me, it seemed like a fantasy for anyone who has been slightly mistreated at school or felt that his/her parents were unfair to him/her. That could be a whole lot of people.

 

Two Out of Five Pearls