Summary Sultan: The Golden Compass / Northern Lights

Well I've finished the book and I have previously read it, so I have to summarise it. Ever so sorry to those who may not have completed it already.

Northern Lights or The Golden Compass is a novel which sets itself in an alternate universe where people are ruled over by a Magisterium and each person has his or her own daemon (rather their own soul). The two principal protagonists are Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon (often called Pan), her daemon. Early in the book she is fairly reckless, however she is driven by an insatiable curiosity. As we follow Lyra and Pan we learn of the two main antagonists Lord Asriel, Lyra's uncle, and Mrs. Coulter who is head of the Gobblers despite her charming appearance. The Gobblers are a renowned group of child snatchers in alternate England, and they have Mrs. Coulter as their head.  

As the story progresses Lyra learns this horrifying fact, however she also learns another. As she flees away from the Gobblers she meets the Gyptians, a sea-faring peoples who tell her that Asriel and Coulter are in fact Lyra's parents. The Gyptians then stop at Trollesund where Lyra and Pan beet Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear who has lost his armour. Lyra locates it for him and in return the bear helps them on their quest. This quest of theirs gets Lyra captured, and a war erupts between several factions on this alternate Earth. 

The whole story is driven by the alethiometre (the golden compass) and this notion of 'dust.' Dust could, essentially, be used to bridge the gap between worlds and to thus control the universe if you had enough power. Lord Asriel has a notion to use this dust for just that, and he does indeed end up opening a strange rift in time and space. The alethiometre is wielded by Lyra as a great truth-saying device. Instead of hours, or directions, it instead carries little symbols, each with it's own particular meaning that can be used to uncover the truth about something.