Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
Advantages:
Fantastic, original
Disadvantages:
nothing
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I first heard of this book over three years ago when one of my friends kept on nagging at me to read it. Now I didn't like this friend very much so I decided not to read it but one day when I saw Northern Lights lying around in my sisters room I actually picked it up and decided to give it a go. Since reading the book I had to read the sequels to it which are The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. I have also seen the play version of the trilogy in London. His Dark Materials is legend and has won the author Phillip Pullman the Carnegie Prize for his innovativeness and mystery in the novels.
Phillip Pullman was born in Norwich on 19th October 1946. The early part of his life was spent travelling all over the world, because his father and then his stepfather were both in the Royal Air Force. He spent part of his childhood in Australia, where he first met the wonders of comics, and grew to love Superman and Batman in particular. He has written many other novels for adults as well as children.
Ok so now I guess I really should get onto what the book is all about. This book follows 11 year old Lyra Belacqua, who is a precocious, chatty, tomboy of a girl. She lives in Oxford, in Jordon College where she receives education from the Scholars whenever they have the time to deal with her. She spends her days playing around the streets and roofs of Jordon College with her best friend Roger and her daemon Pantalaimon. Yes, I can already hear you saying 'what's a daemon?' and I will answer that.
Pretty much as soon as you start reading this novel you will realise that Lyra's world is different to our world in many ways but also very similar. It has the same places as our own world but there are many differences such as we have polar bears but in Lyra's world they talk to humans. The most important aspect of these novels is the daemons. Every single human has a daemon which is with them from the moment they enter the world until they die. It is in the form of an animal and each daemon is like each human's soul and they are very important. If a daemon is separated from a human they each feel excruciating pain that doesn't go until they are reunited, almost as if part of you is being ripped away. As a child the daemon can take on any form that it wishes but when they reach puberty, the daemon will stay as one animal for the rest of their life.
Oh yes I will get back onto track now, this story follows Lyra. As she has no family because her parents died in an air accident, she is looked after by the scholars and gets very infrequent visits by the powerful Lord Asriel. One day Asriel visits the college and Lyra overhears a conversation between Asriel and the scholars of Jordan College. She hears talk of a headless man, a mysterious material known as Dust and an assassination plan to kill Lord Asriel by the scholars. She tells Lord Asriel of the plans and he escapes. Not long after this event a strange and exciting woman comes to visit Lyra and Jordan College and the scholars decide they Lyra would benefit from going to live with the beautiful Mrs Coulter. Before she leaves with this woman the master of the college gives Lyra a gift, an item of terrible importance that links Lyra's destiny with that of the world. This gift is the alethiometer that Lyra soon learns has the power to reveal the truth in all things.
It is at this time that children mysteriously began to disappear. Children, and only the children, are vanishing at the hands of what become known as the "Gobblers." Who the Gobblers are and what they want is unknown, but soon, children from far and wide are disappearing with out a trace, even Lyra's good friend, Roger. While Lyra is under Mrs Coulter's wing she soon realises that this woman may not be the great person she once thought, but she might even be involved in the group of people who are known as the 'Gobblers'. Horrified of this revelation and the gained knowledge that Lord Asriel is being held prisoner somewhere, Lyra escapes from the bewitching woman and starts her own adventure, one that will lead her into terrors and delights she has never known, meet people with strange and wonderful stories and even help out a few strangers on the way. Lyra has a long way ahead of her before she can save Lord Asriel and her friend Roger.
I loved all of the characters and thought I could empathise with Lyra and her quest and all her emotions and feelings were dealt with ease. I thought Lyra was an amazing person and I thought her character developed throughout the book exceptionally which is very rare in novels. Lyra is quite a different person by the end of the book and indeed extremely different by the end of the trilogy. Writing as an 11 year old girl must be a tricky feat for any author but Pullman wrote fantastically. I loved Mrs Coulter and she was probably my favourite character. I thought she was devilish and manipulative but sometimes she could be caring and sympathetic which is everything you could possibly want in a character. Indeed I didn't know what to make of her throughout the book, is she a baddy or a goody?
I thought that the most inventive idea in this book was daemons. I think it's a wonderful thought to have everyone to have their own companion who would be part of them. It got me thinking about if we had daemons in this world and what mine would be like. All of the daemons in the novels reflected what the humans characteristics were like. Mrs Coulter had a golden monkey which could be very harsh and was very manipulative of other daemons. Lord Asriel's daemon is a handsome snow leopard, dynamic and powerful. Lyra's Pantalaimon hasn't taken a permanent form in this book but is very stubborn and witty at times, just like Lyra.
I loved Pullman's writing style in this book, I think he is very easy to read and provides a world that is very easy to get lost in. It is in chapter format which are all named and provide an easy way of splitting up the book if you read in sections. This book is classified as children's book very adult topics are frequently evoked throughout the novel and children will probably not understand some of the concepts within the books. He continually provides twists and revelations which had me shocked right until the very end of this book and of the trilogy. I love how the heroine of this novel is a young and plucky girl who doesn't quite know her place in the world yet. It shows a more down to earth view of people and how they deal with the situations they are placed in. Overall I think he is an excellent author and this book never becomes boring and is perfectly executed.
One of the biggest problems that have surfaced from the publication of this book is the religious controversy. As you read this book and the other two it becomes obvious that one of the main themes in the novels are indeed that of organised religions and whether they should dictate what happens in this world and how we live our lives. Many Christian organisations have preached that this book is evil and promotes a bad image of Christianity to the world and have rallied for this book to be banned. Indeed it does breach the subject of the 'evils' of organised religion and some of the ideologies put forward are logically sound and should make people think about the world, but certainly not become obsessed over trivial points.
Overall I loved this book and read it extremely quickly. The following novels are just as good as this but Northern Lights remains my favourite. I love how the world which Lyra lives in is the same yet different to ours and how Pullman mirrors ours in theirs. I love the story and thought it was very original. The characters were all written perfectly and the witches in the novel were fantastic. I also think the length of the book was perfect and it didn't feel rushed and he seemed to get everything he needed to into the first book. An excellent start to a superb trilogy!
Other books by Phillip Pullman The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials) The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials) I was a Rat Count Karlstein The White Mercedes The Broken Bridge The Tiger in the Well and many more.
The trilogy may be made into a feature length film but this will definitely be way into the future. The play version of the trilogy was shown at the National Theatre in London and I can say from experience it was absolutely fantastic. It lasted six hours but it was worth it! It isn't showing anymore but it may in the future.
Length: 416 pages ISBN: 0590660543 This book can be purchased off amazon.co.uk for £5.59 which is a great bargain for a wonderful book so I definitely recommend buying it.
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