Once Upon A Time In The North - Phillip Pullman

...are underrated. His latest book, Once Upon a Time in the North, revisits the world best known from His Dark Materials Trilogy. It is in fact a sort of prequel to Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), but with only 104 pages, does it have enough substance to capture the attention of his loyal fan base?

This short fantasy story tells the tale of how the widely popular and arguably important characters of Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison ...
...law force in Novy Odense once Poliakov gets into power. Captain Van Barda us being stalled at the harbour and is refused access to leave with his cargo. Scoresby suspects it has something to do with Larsen Manganese, so with the help of the Artic Bear Iorek Byrnison, he sets out to free Van Barda's cargo and show the people of Novy Odense that they too can make a stand against these types of organisations.

At first glance the story ... more

Philip Pullman is a man of great talent. A man so focused on giving his readers something that little bit extra than your average author. His worlds are rich in detail and his characters, greatly developed and life like. Often compared to CS Lewis, he is a man with countless works to his name, which sadly are underrated. His latest book, Once Upon a Time in the North, revisits the world best known from His Dark Materials Trilogy. It is in fact a sort of prequel to Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), but with only 104 pages, does it have enough substance to capture the attention of his loyal fan base?

This short fantasy story tells the tale of how the widely popular and arguably important characters of Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison meet. Texan Aeronaut Lee Scoresby and his Hare Daemon Hester are running out of provisions and so land in the small harbour town of Novy Odense. Upon speaking to a local journalist in the bar, he realises that Novy Odense is in the middle of a mayor election, where favourite Ivan Domitrovich Poliakov is winning the vote by campaigning to exile all of the Artic Bears that 'plague' the city.

As the story progresses he becomes aware that Poliakov however has his own secret agenda and is really just a political puppet for the corrupt organisation known as Larsen Manganese, who plan to become the new law force in Novy Odense once Poliakov gets into power. Captain Van Barda us being stalled at the harbour and is refused access to leave with his cargo. Scoresby suspects it has something to do with Larsen Manganese, so with the help of the Artic Bear Iorek Byrnison, he sets out to free Van Barda's cargo and show the people of Novy Odense that they too can make a stand against these types of organisations.

At first glance the story here may seem a little too rushed to fit nicely inside of the 104 pages, but in places it does pick up quite smoothly, pacing itself along almost melodically until the last page. Unlike Northern Lights or even its two sequels, Once Upon a Time in the North on the other hand does seem insignificant, hiding behind the characters themselves and this is a shame. As the reader, you cannot help but feel that the story, as a stand alone novel, is nothing but a little tiresome and forced.

To be fair though, this is a book that isn't meant to be taken further than really just existing as a small gift to fill the void until Pullman's new major book hits the shelves. It's charming to be re-introduced to some of the elements of daily life fans know so much from past outings. Nonetheless, I've got to be honest. This is a book that is supposed to show how Scoresby and Iorek know each other, how they met. Truthfully it does, it tells a story along those lines, but you feel you should expect something more, something a little more detailed and interesting to say the least. They do make an acquaintance and help each other at the end of the book, but it takes up so little you can't help but feel disappointed.

Despite being very short, the story does give us some very interesting themes. It is these themes that excel the story further in terms of depth and detail. Anyone can write a story, but it takes an experienced author to integrate a whole bunch of themes into it. A topic that stands out is political agenda and scandal. It's a theme perhaps which has been used over and over, but in spite of the unoriginality, it is strong and dynamic throughout. The effect of this particular theme is that it really doesn't enforce certain personalities to the characters, defining them as the main protagonists or antagonists in the story.

Another reference used throughout is that of companionship. This is seen through the relationship between human and daemon and also with the newly built friendship between Scoresby, Van Barda and Byrnison. If this was used in an obvious way the result would have left the book rather light and fluffy, but instead it adds a strong element of emotion which ultimately captivates the reader further into the novel.

Pullman's writing style is often quite formal and lucrative with times of intricate detail and imagery. He uses descriptive sentences to the full to explode his world into all colours and it works extremely well with adjectives, adverbs and contrasts flying all over the place. The result from all of this detail is that you can get sucked into his words and the pages can flow together with ease like a long coherent poem.

The main protagonist is clearly Lee Scoresby and what's great about his character is that he pretty much says whatever is on his mind. He's sarcastic, he's witty and he most definitely can hold his own in the story without the need for other, as strong, characters to back him up. His entire sarcastic approach to the world and indeed his visit to Novy Odense adds a lot of humour into the story, which otherwise would leave it lacking somewhat. At times, Pullman can surprise you with how far he is willing to go in terms of this dark device as at various moments Scoresby's humour is a little rude which questions how it will be taken by children who read this. This leads nicely on to his use of taboo which seems a little unnatural. There isn't many swear words in here, but when they are used it appears a tad bit unnecessary.

Once Upon a time in the North is a book of merit at moments with some satire to capture any age's attention, but Pullman only just manages to hold the magic lingering through the pages. As the reader, you cannot help but feel like you have been duped into reading a second rate novel that came from such a high quality series. The story is short, at times dull, and not very engaging especially for a younger audience, as they will find it hard to associate themselves with Lee Scoresby unlike how they could have done with Lyra or Will. It most certainly is a nice little addition to add to the His Dark Materials collection, one that includes a little bit of extras in the back, such as a copy of the board game (Peril of the Pole) that appears within the story plus some little titbits to get fans excited for the next major release, but on the whole it is a story that cannot stand alone much without the backup of its strong predecessors.

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Price
(as of 15/10/08)

Play.com: £7.49
Amazon.co.uk: £7.49
Waterstones: £8.49

You would enjoy Once Upon a Time is you liked any of the following:

Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman
Airman by Eoin Colfer 

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