Product Description

"What is he? A friend, or an enemy?" "He is a murderer." Will has just killed a man. He's on the run. His escape will take him fa beyond his own world, to the eerie disquiet of a deserted city and to a girl, Lyra. Her fate is strangely linked to his own, and together they must find the most powerful weapon in all the word.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11063 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
At the end of The Northern Lights, Lyra Silvertongue watched in fear and fascination as her father, Lord Asriel, created a bridge between worlds. Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon are now lost in an alternate universe where they meet Will Parry, a fugitive from a third universe. Will has found a small window between Cittagazze--where children roam unchecked, but invisible Specters suck the spirit out of adults--and his Oxford, which, with its Burger Kings and cars, is frighteningly different from the Oxford Lyra knows. Will's father, an explorer, disappeared years ago, but some odd characters have started asking questions about him. Will has managed to accidentally kill one of them and is wanted by the police. Armed with the Subtle Knife, a tool that cuts any material (including that which separates universes) and Lyra's alethiometer, the children set out to find John Parry, with adults of various stripes in desperate pursuit.

Lyra's finest qualities are her courage and her quick mind. She finds she must use them constantly--not to put too fine a point on it, she must lie and steal to keep herself and Will out of danger. However, she must also know when to tell the truth and when to trust. She does not yet know--though her friends the witches do, and so does the reader--what a huge part she will have in the upcoming battle between Good and Evil. (Age 9 and over) - -Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Better Than Harry Potter? Yes!
Let's just get this clear - I will read anything. I am never not in the middle of reading a book. Whenever I know I'm nearly at the end of one book, I go out and buy another. I can't stand not having a book to read. Let's get another thing clear - I'm only thirteen, so adults reading this might not want to read my opinion - that's fine by me. Ok.

I have all the Harry Potter books, and my friend recommended Northern Lights to me because she said it was like a girl power equivalent to Harry Potter. I thought that sounded pretty cool, so I gave it a go. I realised that it is nothing like Harry Potter at all! Harry Potter is a *normal* boy in *our* world doing *normal* stuff with a twist of magic. The "His Dark Materials" trilogy is set mainly in *fantasy* worlds, but I suppose that you could say Lyra is kind of normal. Apart from the fact that she has a little Daemon called Pantalaimon. In fact, to her a daemon is normal - apparently seeing somebody without a daemon is like seeing somebody without a head - that's the kind of thing that makes this trilogy good.

This particular book is better than Northern Lights, in my opinion. There's a boy and a girl (Lyra and Will). They both come from different worlds - but they're kind of like parallel universes - there is an Oxford in Lyra's world, but it has certain features that are different, such as the aforementioned daemons and a certain Jordan College, which is not at the *real* Oxford Uni. Then there's ANOTHER world which is totally different. Things called spectres haunt and drown the souls of the adults, but the kids are unaffected. How creepy? And you can hear angels - and there are witches... It's all very creepy, which is v. cool.

I would recommend this to anybody who enjoyed Harry Potter, but thinks they are growing out of him. There are some really clever twists, and it deals with emotions and tragedy a lot more than Harry Potter does. I don't know why Philip Pullman isn't getting the coverage that J. K. Rowling is. In my opinion he's a much much better writer. It amazes me how he can know exactly how a little girl actually feels - and the books are so imaginative, you'd think he comes from Lyra's world!

And one more thing - look out for some seriously wicked names - Lyra Belacqua (or Silvertongue as she has now been christened) is a lot more exciting than Harry Potter, or Cornelius Fudge.

Ok, I hope you read it, cos I can't begin to tell you how good it is - you really need to see it to believe it!

A superb read
I can say without any doubt, that Northern Lights, together with the other two books in the trilogy (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass)are the best books I have ever read. (And I have read quite a lot!)

Each day, I couldn't wait to get on the tube and read the continuing adventure of Lyra et al.

It is enchanting from start to finish. And for my mind makes anything else you read afterwards seem highly inferior.

You are taken completely out of yourself. Yet you are also able to ponder the wider meanings of it all. And with so many twists and turns, Pullman as a writer is always several steps ahead of where you think things are going.

From the moment I finished the last page of the last book in the trilogy, (yesterday) I wanted to pick up Northern lights and read them all again. I cannot imagine anyone not liking these books. Even for those who have not read fantasy novels before. They are original, profound, gripping and simply breathtaking in places.

Frankly I envy anyone reading this trilogy for the first time!

I can't wait
I picked up Northern Lights (the first book of the trilogy) in a book shop about 7 or 8 months ago, and ever since then I have been hooked. I went on to read thism the Subtle Knife, and have been impatiantly awaiting the arrival of the Amber Spyglass for, oh it seems like years. The books are Harry Potter for older readers, with all of the mystery and adventure of JK Rowling - and a lot more of the same, as well as deceit, wickedness and a plot with no tangles in it - you never get caught up. I am fighting against myself over whether to buy the new book in hardback, so i can read it as quickly as possible, or whether to wait and have all three in a matching set. Arrggghh...decisions! I lent the first two books to loads of my friends and everyone I know loved them! So many people have read and re-read them that they are decidedly tattered and dog-eared - but i still can't stop reading them! Admittedly, Northern Lights is better than the Subtle Knife, because of the pure fantasy (whereas Subtle Knife is set partly in our own world, and partly in Lyra's and Cittagazze, Northern Lights is set entirely in Lyra's world - a distrted mirror view of our own) but both books leave you wanting more. Probably the best books for anyone of any agte from about 13.