黄金の羅針盤〈上〉 ライラの冒険 [文庫]

12歳の少女ライラは、「ジョーダン・カレッジ」と呼ばれる要塞のような一角で、「スコラー」と使用人のジプシャンたちに囲まれて育ってきた。叔父、じつは父のアスリエール卿と暮らしながら、ジプシャンの少年ロジャーと街に出て遊ぶのが楽しみだった。
そんな日々に異変が起こる。ロジャーが消えたのだ。「ダスト」という、人間社会の主権争いの「禁じ手」をめぐっての、人々の暗躍を感じる。そして誘拐された子どもたちは、危険な実験がなされるという北極圏に連れ去られたらしい。ライラは「真理計」という不思議な計器を携えそれが示す意味を頼りに、ジプシャンたちとともに北極圏へ子どもたちを救出に向かう。
本書には、単純な悪と善の戦いは現れない。親とは、大人になるということとは、という成長に欠かせないテーマ、そして人間の「原罪」まで、多くの示唆に富む読み物だ。シリーズ2は『The Subtle Knife』(044041833X)、3は『The Amber Spyglass』(0440418569) 。(え)
Copyright© ペイパーウェイト・ブックス All rights reserved. --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

Part one of Philip Pullman's masterpiece comes alive in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. The award-winning "His Dark Materials" trilogy is a breathtaking epic adventure spanning a multitude of worlds. "Northern Lights", the opening instalment, sees Lyra and her shape-changing daemon embark on a dangerous quest. In Oxford, Lyra learns that children are being kidnapped by the mysterious Gobblers. When her friend Roger vanishes she determines to find him, and is given a powerful alethiometer which can reveal the truth in all things. After discovering that the adults around her are not what they seem, Lyra and Pantalaimon join forces with a band of gyptians. Travelling north they encounter witch-queens and armoured bears, before being captured and taken to Bolvangar - where children are being used in terrible and secret experiments. The three novels in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" sequence are bestsellers around the world and were dramatised for a sell-out play at the National Theatre. "Northern Lights" has won the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Award, the Children's Book of the Year, and was made into "The Golden Compass" motion picture starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. "Northern Lights" has an all-star cast including Terence Stamp, Emma Fielding, Bill Paterson, Kenneth Cranham and Ray Fearon. --このテキストは、 CD 版に関連付けられています。

両親を事故で亡くしたライラは、お転婆な11歳の女の子。そんな彼女のまわりで子供が連れ去られる事件が起きる。どうやら北極で子供たちが何らかの実験に使われているらしい。ライラと彼女の守護精霊は子供たちを助けるために、船上生活者ジプシャンに同行する。世界に6つしかない黄金の羅針盤を持って北極へと向かったライラだったが…。世界的ベストセラーの冒険ファンタジー。カーネギー賞、ガーディアン賞ほか、数々の賞に輝く。

両親を事故で亡くし、オックスフォード大学寮に暮らすライラは、明るく活発な少女。連れ去られた友だちと、監禁されてしまった北極探検家のおじを救うべく、ライラは黄金の羅針盤をもって北極に旅立つ…。カーネギー賞受賞作。 --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

Some books improve with age--the age of the reader, that is. Such is certainly the case with Philip Pullman's heroic, at times heart-wrenching novel, The Golden Compass, a story ostensibly for children but one perhaps even better appreciated by adults. The protagonist of this complex fantasy is young Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Oxford University. But it quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own--nor is her world. For one thing, people there each have a personal dæmon, the manifestation of their soul in animal form. For another, hers is a universe in which science, theology, and magic are closely allied:

As for what experimental theology was, Lyra had no more idea than the urchins. She had formed the notion that it was concerned with magic, with the movements of the stars and planets, with tiny particles of matter, but that was guesswork, really. Probably the stars had dæmons just as humans did, and experimental theology involved talking to them.

Not that Lyra spends much time worrying about it; what she likes best is "clambering over the College roofs with Roger the kitchen boy who was her particular friend, to spit plum stones on the heads of passing Scholars or to hoot like owls outside a window where a tutorial was going on, or racing through the narrow streets, or stealing apples from the market, or waging war." But Lyra's carefree existence changes forever when she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, first prevent an assassination attempt against her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust. Soon she and Pan are swept up in a dangerous game involving disappearing children, a beautiful woman with a golden monkey dæmon, a trip to the far north, and a set of allies ranging from "gyptians" to witches to an armor-clad polar bear.

In The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman has written a masterpiece that transcends genre. It is a children's book that will appeal to adults, a fantasy novel that will charm even the most hardened realist. Best of all, the author doesn't speak down to his audience, nor does he pull his punches; there is genuine terror in this book, and heartbreak, betrayal, and loss. There is also love, loyalty, and an abiding morality that infuses the story but never overwhelms it. This is one of those rare novels that one wishes would never end. Fortunately, its sequel, The Subtle Knife, will help put off that inevitability for a while longer. --Alix Wilber
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

If Pullman's imagination dazzled in the Victorian thrillers that culminated with The Tin Princess, in this first volume of a fantasy trilogy it is nothing short of breathtaking. Here Earth is one of only five planets in the solar system, every human has a daemon (the soul embodied as an animal familiar) and, in a time similar to our late 19th century, Oxford scholars and agents of the supreme Calvinist Church are in a race to unleash the power that will enable them to cross the bridge to a parallel universe. The story line has all the hallmarks of a myth: brought up ignorant of her true identity, 11-year-old Lyra goes on a quest from East Anglia to the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate Roger and her imprisoned uncle, Lord Asriel. Deceptions and treacheries threaten at every turn, and she is not yet certain how to read the mysterious truth-telling instrument that is her only guide. After escaping from the charming and sinister Mrs. Coulter, she joins a group of "gyptians" in search of their children, who, like Roger, have been spirited away by Mrs. Coulter's henchmen, the Gobblers. Along the way Lyra is guided by friendly witches and attacked by malevolent ones, aided by an armored polar bear and a Texan balloonist, and nearly made a victim of the Gobblers' cruel experiments. As always, Pullman is a master at combining impeccable characterizations and seamless plotting, maintaining a crackling pace to create scene upon scene of almost unbearable tension. This glittering gem will leave readers of all ages eagerly awaiting the next installment of Lyra's adventures. 100,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

"SUPERB . . . WONDER-FILLED."
--The Washington Post Book World

It was no ordinary life for a young girl: living among scholars in the hallowed halls of Jordan College and tearing unsupervised through Oxford's motley streets on mad quests for adventure. But Lyra's greatest adventure would begin closer to home, the day she heard hushed talk of an extraordinary particle. Microscopic in size, the magical dust--found only in the vast Arctic expanse of the North--was rumored to possess profound properties that could unite whole universes. But there were those who feared the particle and would stop at nothing to destroy it.

Catapulted into the heart of a terrible struggle, Lyra was forced to seek aid from witches, gypsies, and formidable armored bears. And as she journeyed into unbelievable danger, she had not the faintest clue that she alone was destined to win, or to lose, this more-than-mortal battle . . .

"VERY GRAND INDEED . . . Scene after scene of power and beauty."
--The New York Times

"A ROUSING, PAGE-TURNING ADVENTURE that promises to please fantasy readers of all ages."
--Library Journal (starred review)

"POWERFUL . . . SPARKLES WITH CHILDLIKE WONDER."
--The Boston Sunday Globe
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
I love this book, so when we decided to give out copies at a convention this summer, I was thrilled! We must have given away a hundred copies of The Golden Compass throughout that weekend and one person even came back the next day to let me know how engrossing the book was--he had read it overnight!

--Anh Hoang, Marketing Assistant
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

"As always, Pullman is a master at combining impeccable characterizations and seamless plotting, maintaining a crackling pace to create scene upon scene of almost unbearable tension. This glittering gem will leave readers of all ages eagerly awaiting the next installment of Lyra's adventures."--(starred review), Publishers Weekly
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

Philip Pullman was born in Norwich, England and was brought up in Rhodesia, Australia, London and Wales. Philip graduated from Oxford University in 1973 with a degree in English, and has taught middle school at Westminter College. He is the author of many highly-acclaimed books for young readers, from contemporary fiction to Victorian thrillers, and has written plays and picture books for readers of all ages. Philip's current book, The Golden Compass , has been hailed as "a rich combination of high fantasy, high drama, and intense emotion" by author Lloyd Alexander, and "extraordinary storytelling at it's very best" by the Detroit Free-Press .

Philip currently lives in Oxford with his wife, Judith, and children. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

プルマン,フィリップ
1946年、英国ノリッジ生れ。父親が英国空軍の軍人のため、子供時代は様々な国で暮らす。オックスフォード大学を卒業後、ウエストミンスター大学で英文学を教えるかたわら、小説、芝居の脚本、絵本などを発表。ビクトリア時代を背景とした小説The Ruby in the Smokeなど多くのベストセラーがある。現在はオックスフォード在住

大久保 寛
1954年、東京生れ。早稲田大学卒業(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです)