Product Description

"Without this child, we shall all die." Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live half-wild and carefree among scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. The destiny that awaits her will take her to the frozen lands of the Arctic, where witch-clans reign and ice-bearsfight. Her extraordinary journey will have immeasurable consequences far beyond her own world...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3209 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Synopsis
'Without this child, we shall all die'. Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live half-wild and carefree among scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. The destiny that awaits her will take her to the frozen lands of the Arctic, where witch-clans reign and ice-bears fight. Her extraordinary journey will have immeasurable consequences far beyond her own world...

Customer Reviews

One of the all-time greats
I truly believe that in years to come, this will be regarded as one of the great children's classics, right up at the top with Alice in Wonderland.

Not really for grown-ups
His Dark Materials is being touted as being 'for all ages', having made my way through 'Northern Lights' this 40 something has to disagree. My 10 year old daughter loved it, and I'm sure it is a good read for that age group.

However, I found myself slightly bored and irritated with it. Northern Lights is just too simplistic to stand up as a novel for grown-ups. The basic problem is that the world Lyra lives in never fully comes to life. We only get told what is needed for the plot, there isn't enough background detail to turn a sketch into something more substantial. Similarly the supporting characters are one dimensional archetypes rather than fully developed individuals.

All of which leaves a lot to be delivered by Lyra and the plot. I didn't really believe in Lyra - everything comes just a little to easily to her, and her tendency to drop into a mockney accent for no apparent reason didn't help.

The plot starts intriguingly but after a slightly dull middle turns into a series of grandstand action events, perhaps to take the readers mind off the lack of coherence in the story. Finally we get a series of lengthy and dull expositions from Lord Asriel & Mrs Coulter to try and make some sense of what has gone before. To be fair the ending does have sufficient `hook' to make we slightly curious about what happens next, but I won't be rushing to find out.

All in all judged as an adult book this is distinctly average steampunk/fantasy not worthy of the plaudits it has received.

Fascinating Read
I believe, from a fifteen year-old girl's point of view (this is my mother's account), that this book was reasonably exquisite.

Pullman immerses the reader into Lyra's extraordinary world, that is little but a twist of our own, well. The detail is great and tie that binds Lyra's Daemon to her is made clear immeadiately (which I believe is lacked in it's film).

I find, every character are much more than two-dimensional. Mrs Coulter is devious in her own right; Lord Asriel remains elusive, despite how much the reader thinks they know and Lyra is consistantly changing in attitude and belief as the tail is told. These aspects aid in the narrative hook that is placed upon the reader from early in novel.

The plot itself is fairly complex, but simple enough to follow so this book is suited to all ages that read in this genre. It follows twists and trials beyond the imagination and Pullman has successfully conveyed said plot with enough detail to keep the reader gripped.

Conclusively, I gave this book four stars instead of five as I believe the end was rushed a little; the sudden joining of Lyra's parents and the quick demise of Lyra's Oxford friend and seemed all to rushed. Also, I believe that a few a few areas could perhaps be more detailed. All-in-all though, I reccomend this book to anyone willing to read it.