Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
Advantages:
Gripping, Entertaining
Disadvantages:
You will not want to put it down .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Have you ever been to Oxford? Yes, well I wonder if you have because you know there are at least two Oxfords and perhaps thousands of others all existing at the same time unseen but non the less existing in parallel universes and it is into one of these parallel Oxford's that the story begins.
You see I first became aware of “Northern Lights” by Phillip Pullman while reading a review here on Ciao. Who the writer of the review was eludes me but I owe him or her a great debt of gratitude for introducing me to this the first part of Pullman’s “The Dark Skies Trilogy”. It has to be said that the story is primarily directed at children but many, many adults have become enchanted by it.
The story evolves around a child called Lyra, a child who has grown up without parents, a child whose guardians are academics into whose care she was thrust as an infant. A child who grew up happily in her own world, a world of safety with her friends and a race of Fen dwellers known as Gyptian’s who are destined to play a large part in her future. What makes Lyra and her kind different and alien to us is that she carries with her but not attached to her in the physical sense a deamon (Pronounced Demon) called Pantalaimon (Pan) who can transform itself into any animal it wishes. Perhaps you will understand the deamon better as an analogy of the human spirit, but instead of being unseen it is alive and vibrant sharing and responding to Lyra’s moods and feelings by it’s own emotions and the way it changes it’s physical form to suit Lyra’s needs or emotions. Pan will when Lyra passes through adolescence and her true character becomes apparent, evolve chameleon like to mirror Lyra’s personality.
Now Lyra is an unassuming child a child left alone to do much as she pleases until while playing she comes across and thwarts an attempt to murder, who she believes is her only living relative Lord Asriel (Her uncle). From This point the stage is set for the forces of good and evil to fight a never-ending battle at the very end of the world.
Into this battle come’s the rich and beautiful Mrs Coulter and the Oblation board (A group set up by Mrs Coulter and paid for by the church whose purpose will become apparent later in the story) who steal children from their homes and take them away to suffer a strange and terrifying fate, a fate to horrific for Lyra to comprehend.
Lyra’s best friend Roger becomes one of many children snatched by the Obliation Board and Lyra’s quest to find him leads her through a series of adventures until eventually she finds her way into the frozen wastes of the north where the Northern Lights dance and shimmer in haze of colours and hues across the sky and it is here the story unfolds, not to a climax but to a new beginning.
Into the battle (A fight between good and evil) come a strange race known as armoured bears (and Iorek Byrnison an armoured bear outcast by his own kind) and also a nomadic tribe of witches led by the radiant and yet old in our years Serafina Pekkala.
Northern Lights is a story of strange cities in the sky, a story that is so gripping and magical that you will, no matter what your age not want to put it down. This is a story of truth tellers, of dust and people with holes in their heads a tale to share and enjoy with your children. A story to savour on your own, a story to old for children and yet a story that will fascinate and entertain them in its simplicity and complexity for it is a story that has been told since the dawn of Christianity. It’s strength and beauty lies in the way Pullman draws you into the tale and makes you live the tale.
Do not dismiss this book, take it upon yourself to become entwined and engrossed in the words because Phillip Pullman has created a masterpiece not eclipsed yet equalled by the other parts of the trilogy that you must read. The first chapters are perhaps a little heavy but get beyond them and savour the experience. If you a child at heart do as I did and read this work. My copy came from ebay for £2.95 Asda have it for £5.99.
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