Northern Lights (Cover to Cover)

Rating:
Summary: Northern Lights
Review: "Northern Lights" by Phillip Pullman is thankfully the first of the Dark Materials trilogy. Within the first five pages its adventurous plot captured me totally. This book combines elements of fantasy, thriller and an adventure story into a novel that can be enjoyed on many levels.
This book is set in a parallel universe where the idea of human is to have a "daemon". Daemons take the form of animals, they and their human are intimately, including telepathically, linked. Human and daemon can never be more than a few feet apart, but can both think and act independently. The daemons of children can change themselves to and from any animal whilst those of adults are fixed at puberty into a permanent form.
Northern Lights takes the classic form of a quest where our heroine, 12 year old Lyra, as always accompanied by her daemon Pantalaimon, must battle overwhelming odds to save her world.
Lyra is a wild, spirited girl who charges through this book on a foolhardy mission to rescue her friend Roger, the kitchen boy. She delights in mischief and lies like a champion. Lyra is helped on her mission by many different characters. Amongst these characters is the Master of Jordan- torn between his genuine love for Lyra and his priority of preserving the college against a background of serious political and religious intrigue. Another major part of the plot is Lord Asriel a proud, arrogant man set on achieving nothing but his own goals which will change Lyra's world irrevocably. Lyra's chief supporters are Lord John Faa, the king of the Gypsies, a people who were once her enemies, and a solid good man.
Starting from an alternative Oxford College, the fictional Jordan college, the plot moves us through London to the frozen wastes of the Arctic.
This book grips you from beginning to end and leaves you desperate for the next book in the series. Although it is set in a parallel world unlike our own it is astonishingly convincing and strangely moving. Reading this book leaves readers, of all ages, eagerly awaiting book two.

Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: Adult fans of young-adult fiction have had something of a Garden of Eden lately, with such wonderful novels as the Harry Potter series, Artemis Fowl etc. crossing the line between the genres of young adult and adult. Somewhat less well-known (and, in my opinion, more deserving of credit and praise than either Harry or Artemis) is this series of books by hitherto-unknown Philip Pullman - the 'His Dark Materials Trilogy', the first book of which is this, 'The Northern Lights'.

To synopsise: Lyra is a strange orphan girl living in a version of London not-unlike our own. She accidentally uncovers a plot to rid people of their Daemons (spirit-like creatures that accompany everyone everywhere, like an extension of one's soul) and sets out to rescue her friends from the clutches of a sinister church-based organisation. Along the way she makes some unusual friends and discovers that her ultimate goal will take her far beyond the reaches of her own world.

What I can't praise enough about this book is the imagination and originality with which it is written. A comparable revalation in terms of ingenuity would have been the original release of the JRR Tolkien novels. However, unlike Tolkien, Pullman has imbued his characters and worlds with such a lack of pretension and sense of dry wit that we can't help but become totally enthralled by the events that shape their lives. For the first fifty pages you won't understand what's happening, so different is Lyra's world from our own - but then all becomes much, much clearer, and quite unapologetically, Pullman uses insanely clever puns and vivid imaginative descriptions to force us to draw our own conclusions about the strange world occupying this book.

His characters are wonderfully-realised. Lyra is a tough, spare little thing, but the clever inclusion of Daemons is Pullman's unique way of illustrating her humanity and little-girlness to us. Mrs. Coulter is menacing and terribly cold, the Gyptians are a beautifully-concieved and su[erbly-executed race of people. It's impossible to touch on each amazing character, suffice it to say that Pullman's imagination is given free reign, tempered with his uncanny knack to edit his own ramblings into something convincing and captivating.

The first in a trilogy of books, I can only advise you to buy all three together, as each one finishes rather abruptly, leaving you gasping for more. You won't be able to escape Pullman's imagination, and more importantly, you won't want to. 'Harry Potter' is the paste-jewelry, 'Northern Lights' is the Hope Diamond. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: Northern Lights - I loved it! ^_^
Review: For Lyra and her dæmon, Pantalimon, a dream of going to the North sets in motion an incredible adventure in a fantasy world parallel to our own, yet vastly different. Her journey takes her in search of stolen children, the discovery of her real parents and encounters with strange creatures.

Northern Lights is the first part of the trilogy "His Dark Materials" a wonderful series written by Phillip Pullman. The main characters are Lyra Belacqua and the physical manifestation of her soul, her dæmon, Pantalimon. They live in a world parallel to ours. When a series of child kidnappings, that include her best friend, Roger occur, by the feared "Gobblers", Lyra sets out on a quest to help rescue them. In the doing this, a greater task is revealed, although she does not yet realize it. Along the way she encounters, tragedy, loyalty, and friendship with many loveable and unlikable characters. All the while never knowing for certain who is good and who is evil.

Despite Lyra's immature behaviour at times, she learns to makes wise decisions and ultimately begins grows up
With the help of her friends. Her friends are a little unusual: The armoured bear; Iorek Byrnison, The Witch Queen; Serafina Pekkala, The aeronaut; Lee Scorsby and her dæmon. Dæmons are the physical form of a person's soul. Every person has a dæmon; they reflect the emotions, feelings and personality, by form and actions of their host. They also act as our conscience. A Dæmon is able to take the shape of any animal. Even the people in our world have Dæmons (referred to in later books), though we cannot see ours.

Northern Lights is not always a happy adventure, there are tragic and shocking events and even deaths.

These tragedies and betrayals make the reader question their own beliefs, you're not sure as to whether a character is good or evil. The author encourages the idea that the world is not just black and white, but many shades of grey. Most people between the ages of ten and thirteen will enjoy this.

I wrote this for an english assignment. I got an A- for it too. @^_^@ Though I'm not sure as to wether this is my final copy. ^_^; Any way I hope you enjoy what I have written. My spell check stopped working about halfway through doing it so I hope there's no errors. That's all. Cya. ^_^

Rating:
Summary: Nothern lights- a book for stary-eyed readers
Review: I read Northern lights, because my aunty who is a school librarian told me how good the book was. She certainly was not wrong. This book offers drama, action, love, hate and a gripping storyline.
The book is all about Lyra, a 12-year-old girl who goes on an amazing adventure up in the north to rescue her friend Rodger and her uncle Lord Asriel. I think this book has a brilliant story line, because as the book goes on new adventures unfold for Lyra that keeps any reader with an imagination involved in this delightful fantasy book.
Throughout the book you join Lyra through her adventures to save the world from original sin. I thought that the clever twist in the book really makes it interesting and an enjoyable race against time to see whether the world shall be destroyed or saved. You will have to read the book to find out, because I am not going to tell you!
Phillip Pullman is a very clever and talented writer and deserves much appreciation from his readers that have discovered a whole new universe inside a little book.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good fantasy read and something to stimulate your imagination.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely spectacular!
Review: Northern Lights is one of the best books I've ever read. Philip Pullman is an amazing writer and has the power to control you through his books. Lyra Belacque is a young girl who lives in Jordan Colledge, Oxford. Her daemon's name is Pantalaimon and together they discover many things. Her friend, Roger, is kidnapped and Lyra goes North determined to find him. Her journey itself is marvelously described and very exciting. The North has armoured bears, with-queens with their clans and a charming, beautiful young lady with more than that to her personality. But what Lyra doesn't know is that her coming to rescue Roger will cause a lot more things to happen, including betrayel...
This book is brilliantly written and charmingly gripping. Truly a writer's masterpiece!

Rating:
Summary: Simply... WOW!
Review: This book is just... WOW! It is the story of Lyra and Pan, in a world similar to our own, yet vastly different. However, Pullman is clever and subtle in revealing this world to us, and by the end of it, it feels like this world could be our own, because we know it so subconsiously. The thing that really captivated me about this book, however, was Pan and daemons. It made me feel so lonely, like I wanted to have a daemon all of my own (and it wasn't til the next book that I found out I have!).