How many books are there in the Golden Compass series?

The Golden Compass series is one of the most popular fantasy series in the world. It’s firstly released in 1995 with the “Golden Compass” name in North America and “His Dark Materials” name in the world and written by Philip Pullman. Main story is about adventures of two children “Lyra Belacqua” and “Will Parry” in parallel universes. Series won lots of prizes in time. Also series entered BBC’s Big Read poll. It’s possible to find some inversions about Paradise Lost of John Milton in books. How many books are there in the “Golden Compass” series?


There are three books in this series. They are Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Northern Lights book is released with the Golden Compass name in some countries. Book is firstly released in 1995. Story is mainly about Lyra Belacqua’s adventure to find her lost friend Roger Parslow in parallel universes. Then Roger Parslow’s father Lord Asriel also joins to people list of lost. Book took good reviews about technique and world creation but also criticized by its religional title usage. Some criticizers wrote about theist world view of some characters in book. Book adapted to cinema with “The Golden Compass” name. Names like Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Sam Elliott, Ian McKellen and Daniel Craig starred on movie but it couldn’t take good reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that only 43% of reviews are positive. Also a vide game “The Golden Compass” is released for Play Station series, PC, Wii and Xbox.

Second book of series “The Subtle Knife” is released in 1997. Main story of books is about Lyra Belacqua and her research on mysterious phenomenon on parallel universes. It’s the first book Will Parry is introduced. Detailed war against Magisterium is also included in book. “The Subtle Knife” took lots of good critics from important reviewers like Booklist Editors and Parents’ Choice. New Line Company also promised a movie adaptation to this book if the first movie becomes successful. First movie become successful on gross but couldn’t gain critical success with its confusing end. After lots of struggles on production rights, young stars of first movie are growth and New Line gave up adapting the project. There is also a “The Subtle Knife Audio” version of book.

The third and last book of series “The Amber Spyglass” is released in 2000. Book gained a high critical and commercial success. It awarded several times with prizes like 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year award and Children’s Book of the Year. Book is mainly about struggle between Marisa Coulter and Lyra. It’s the first book Lyra sees land of the dead in her dream. Book and its writer Philip Pullman created some controversies in editorial world because he made some changes in US version and added some sexuality to characters. It was an attempt to take attention of adults rather than youth to book.

Philip Pullman made an announcement about new book of series. It will be about Will Parry. Also some terminology of series related books are released. It was also a popular topic why second book’s movie adaptation was cancelled. Sam Elliott made an interview and said that adaptation is cancelled because of Catholic Church’s opposition. But some movie writers claimed that only “disappointment” of the first movie caused the cancellation of second adaptation. Some Catholic writers like Leonie Caldecott wrote humorous essays about book and cancelation of adaptation. There are some claims that writer Philip Pullman is trying to find a producer for second book but there’s no sign of a development still.