• Author: Philip Pullman

Despite the sizeable pool of fantastic works of fiction from which I’ve fortunately chosen to read so far in 2009, I can say without a doubt that The Golden Compass is hands down one of the best.  It’s a bit surprising that the His Dark Materials trilogy escaped my attention for so long, but fortunately I am in the midst of remedying that.  I recommend seeing the film version first since everyone was perfectly cast in my opinion (especially Iorek), and I think it adds to the experience (in this case) to be able to picture the characters and setting so readily.

I hate to give away plots, so I’m not even going to touch on it…except to say that it’s deliciously suspenseful, original, and mildly disturbing.   I read the entire novel out loud to my husband (well, okay, technically he might have read a chapter or two here and there), and on several occasions when he was out of town I had to force myself not to skip ahead.  This book also introduced me officially to an entirely new subgenre:  steampunk.  I read Illusion by Paula Volsky ages ago and had never found anything even remotely similar to that memorable, eerie work until now.