Any Direction’s Reviews > The Golden Compass > Status Update

Scenario for fellow academics to ponder: you are in a fantasy world doing research and get captured by armored bears (like you do). What are you thinking about it and is it worrying about getting scooped by your academic rival (like the guy in this book)? I’d like to say no, I’m thinking about how not to get killed by armored bears. Though, I think I’d be lying, and it’s making me reflect on my priorities.

Forget the God is evil stuff, the real thing this book convinced me of was that I want my soul to be a real life animal that glares at me when my judgement is bad. Now, the gender lore of the demons is not quite clear yet: I believe the subtext is that if you have a same sex demon you are gay, but what if you’re a gender queer, panromantic, asexual?! What gender is my demon, 1995 Philip Pullman!!

My Catholic elementary school banned a total of two books during my education: This and Da Vinci Code. (It corresponded with film releases. 🤷) Joke was on them because I’d already read the full darn series by the time the ban was enacted and the religious critique was way over my head (at least for books 1 and 2). Been meaning to do this reread for years. What scandels shall I uncover?