Cameron Mostly Recommends: The Golden Compass

I would actually give this one 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. I just reread The Golden Compass for first time in 7 years. I was a little disappointed. I remember this book being fantastic, amazing, a literary masterpiece. Reading it again, after being introduced to great literature, I realized it wasn't as well written as I had once believed. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good. The problem is that I have been reading books that are amazing at showing me characters. To be clear, the authors showed that a character was brave, wild, loyal etc. by showing me their actions and their thoughts. Pullman, in The Golden Compass, does more telling. "Lyra was a fierce and wild child." I know it's a small thing but I feel that it was less enthralling a read. I actually had to kind of force my way through it at times because it wasn't as engaging. 

On to the story. I still really like the world he built. The idea of daemons, people's conscience or soul, being a spirit animal always by their human's side was immensely intriguing. Pullman explored many aspects of the idea and did very well with it. The book follows Lyra and her daemon Pan, whose friend Roger gets kidnapped by a mysterious group known as the Gobblers. The Gobblers have been snatching children all over and taking them to the cold and wild North, where talking, ferocious bears and fierce human warriors make their home. Lyra joins forces with a group of gyptians and sets out to help find her father with the help of the Alethiometer, a magical compass that can give you answers to almost any question and which only Lyra can read. 

On to some of the issues with the this book. 
First: I have read other reviews criticizing Lyra as being an overly passive protagonist. While I do agree that she is not as active as other heroes, she is still doing things and being proactive. I liked her, and the rest of the cast for that matter. 

Second: Now on to the real controversy of this book, the religious one. Now it is my opinion that the trilogy is very anti-christian. However, this book isn't. It does bash a parallel universe's version of the Catholic Church, and let's be honest, only some of those jabs are being made at the real Catholic church. Most of the ones that do apply, apply to some of the acts the Catholic church made in the dark ages, some of which were kind of horrendous. Modern day Catholicism is a very different thing than it was during that time and I've known some very devout Catholics that I believe are some of the best people I've known (Looking at you Elder family). Really, the thing that I feel he openly bashes is the idea of original sin. Now, as a Mormon, I don't believe in the idea of original sin. I believe that man will be punished for his own sins and not for Adam's transgressions. As such, I didn't find this part to be offensive, but I can see how for some it might be for others. All-in-all, it does feel as though Pullman might have had a bit of an agenda here. However, it doesn't detract from the story.

Overall I'd suggest this book. I liked it. The concept of daemons, or spirit animals or whatever, is really cool and I kind of wish it was one that another, more skilled author would look into it as well.

Cameron Recommends: The Way of Kings

I know what you all are thinking, "another Brandon Sanderson book? Really?". Yes, really. He is just that good. 
The Way of Kings is a heavyweight, weighing in at just over 1000 pages. But man alive, is it good. I just finished it for the second time and it was even better the second time around. Sanderson is a master at putting little clues to twists in his book without you even realizing it. Not only that, he crafts his characters with such care that you really do care about them and their story. 

I guess I should give a brief summary of the book. The Way of Kings is the first book taking place on Roshar (for which their will be 10 books) and Sanderson does an amazing job with the worldbuilding. On Roshar, terrible tempests, known as highstorms, hit every few weeks. As such the vegetation and animal life has had to adapt, most animals have hard shells and most plants are able to creep back into the earth to avoid the storms. Most of society also has adapted to deal with the storms, cities are built deep into the sides of cliffs and buildings are all made of hardened stone. 

The story mainly follows 4 people, Szeth, Kaladin, Dalinar and Shallan. Shallan is a young girl, leaving her family's estates for the first time in order to become the apprentice to a well known scholar, the heretic sister to the king. 

The Assassin in White

Highprince Dalinar Kholin, the brother of the King who was murdered. Before he died, his brother directed Dalinar to an ancient tome called The Way of Kings, which leads Dalinar to start questioning the warlike and competitive Alethkar way of life. 
Szeth is a Shin man cast out by his people and condemned to do the bidding of his constantly changing masters. He becomes the Assassin in White, sent to murder the king. 
And then there is Kaladin, the MAN! Kaladin is the main focus of the book. His story is told in two ways, one his present story, where is a a slave sold into the army of a competitive HIghprince who values riches over human life. The other way is through flashbacks, showing how he got to that point in the first place. 

This book is so good. Oh man it is so good. I love it. The sequel is coming out next month, and as such I just re-read it. It was even BETTER the second time through. So get get it. Go read it!