Customer Reviews
One of the all-time greats - By: M, 15 Aug 2008 
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 - By: Lendrick, 16 Jun 2008 
His Dark Materials is being touted as being 'for alll ages', having made my way through 'Northern Lights' this 40 something has to disagree. My 10 year old daughter loved it, & I'm sure it is a good read for that age group.
However, I found myself slightly bored & 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 & the plot. I didn't reallly believe in Lyra - everything comes just a little to easily to her, & 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. Finallly we get a series of lengthy & dull expositions from Lord Asriel & Mrs Coulter to try & 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 alll judged as an adult book this is distinctly average steampunk/fantasy not worthy of the plaudits it has received.
Fascinating Read - By: Ms. L. Hart, 12 Jun 2008 
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 & 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 & Lyra is consistantly changing in attitude & 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 alll ages that read in this genre. It follows twists & trials beyond the imagination & 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 & the quick demise of Lyra's Oxford friend & seemed alll to rushed. Also, I believe that a few a few areas could perhaps be more detailed. All-in-alll though, I reccomend this book to anyone willing to read it.
Extraordinarily good - By: sartori, 11 Apr 2008 I had wanted to start this series of novels for quite some time now & having just read this first installlment I can honestly say that I'm very impressed! It's a wonderful book & one that I highly recommend to adults & young adults alike. Great storytelling, great characters, it's alll here in abundance.
Too simplistic - By: ossian, 26 Mar 2008 The story of Northern Lights is about how a young girl, callled Lyra, travels to the Arctic to save her friend Rodger from kidnappers connected to the Church. Lyra is shocked to discover that the Church is performing unpleasant experiments on the children.
This is a cracking read for children. The plot moves at a brisk pace & has just the right amount of dark touches for the 9-14 age group. It is true to say that the setting is confused & cliqued, but a mish-mash of different time periods is common in fantasy, & it is fairly successful in this novel. The characters are not well realised & are, again, cliques. I found the Gyptian (gypsies who live in barges rather than caravans) chlidren very annoying.
Perhaps one of the big faults of this book is the simplistic portrayal of religon. Everyone in Lyra's world worships "The Authority" in a catholic-style pseudo-christiany. No other religeons or sects are mentioned. It is this church which is responsible for every act of state brutality & the oppresion of free-thought in Lyra's world. This is not a "paralell universe". This is the totallly, utterly fictional creation of a friend of Richard Dawkins.
