As you’ve no doubt seen, I’ve been reading the Golden Compass for the past week or so. The book is being turned into a movie starring Nicole Kidman for the Christmas holiday season. Hollywood hopes to milk this fantasy franchise in the same manner that they have milked the Lord or the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, or the Harry Potter books.

From what I’ve read so far, this is probably going to be a tough sell.

First of all, the novel is loosely plotted around some elements of Milton’s Paradise Lost–with all of the intellectual hubris that that implies. Second of all, the mixture of fantasy elements, steampunk technology, computer science, and alternate history combine into a dizzying reality that is breathtaking in its complexity…but also very hard to digest.

Don’t get me wrong, the book so far is excellent. I haven’t found that the book is anti-religion (as some Amazon reviewers would have you believe), but I have found that the author isn’t afraid to put characters into positions where they question both the status quo and authority. 

How a screenwriter/director combo can effectively bring every nuance to the screen is beyond me. Pull on one thread of this narrative and the whole thing collapses.

Perhaps I’ll be surprised. In the meantime, I’m going to continue to enjoy this awesome work of fiction.