I’ve seen the movie. Can I skip the first book and go straight on to The Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass then?
Afraid not. Although the movie adaptation of Golden Compass is quite true to the first book in the series, it does however leave out the last few chapters. Those are the bits deemed “too controversial” for a big budgeted Hollywood epic and were thus omitted. The cliff-hanger ending in the movie version is also very different to the one in the book and you’d be lost if you’ve only seen the movie and decide to skip right ahead to the second book in the series.
