The books are really enjoyable, but the movie just didn't do it for me. It wasn't bad, necessarily, I just didn't particularly care for it after having read and loved the books for so long.

So the author who did the Golden Compass series also, about a decade or so prior to those, did a different historical fiction series that was one of my very favorite books when I was young. I don't remember all of them; Ruby in the Smoke I think was one, but the third was Tiger in the Well and it was the first book I had to replace because I'd read it so often it fell apart. I loved it so very much! So I was pretty excited to hear about the golden compass when it came out, because I hadn't known he was still writing.

I think I jinxed it by having too high an expectation, though. I found them tediously preachy, which was frustrating as all get out because I was so very excited to try them.

But I haven't tried the movies, so maybe that format will work better, because Philip Pullman is a fantastic writer and I really would like to properly enjoy the world of the Golden Compass.