Paperback, 368 pages
English language
Published Sept. 9, 2003 by Laurel Leaf.
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped …
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called "Gobblers"—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
La trama scorre via tranquilla, le situazioni sono ben descritte e non ci sono parti affettatamente sentimentali.
È un bel libro che offre qualche colpo di scena, anche se solo uno secondo me è ben riuscito.
Spero mi abbia risvegliato dal letargo di lettura!
Un ottimo modo per iniziare una saga fantasy.
Dopo aver visto il film, qualche puntata del telefilm, ed aver notato un generale disinteresse nel pubblico, mi sono parecchio incuriosita, perché a me le premesse sembravano davvero buone (dai, chi non vorrebbe sapere che forma prenderebbe il proprio daimon?).
L'ho letto in italiano, ma lo stile sembra scorrevole, le descrizioni non si dilungano inutilmente ed i dialoghi sono adatti anche ad un pubblico di ragazzini. Non c'è nulla di troppo complicato, ma non c'è nulla di troppo banale.
L'ho adorato.
Molti dicono che la bellezza della saga si perda nel secondo e nel terzo libro, ma a metà del secondo ancora non mi trovano d'accordo.
That was superb.
I wasn't too sure when I started reading this, but Northern Lights works on multiple levels. On one hand, much of the plot revolves around a chase through an increasingly mysterious fantasy tinged environment which, even with the darkness of the ending, is clearly aimed at a YA audience.
However, embedded in the world-building and in the motivations of the various characters is a deeper exploration of the way in which religion -- when given too much power -- both corrupts and harms those who fall under its influence.
It's a shame this was the only book of the series to get made into a movie. That said, the book has, perhaps unsurprisingly, more to it than the movie did. I read this to see if it's appropriate for my 8-year-old to read - I don't think it is, in that although she has the vocabulary and comprehension I don't think it would hold her interest. It's definitely a potboiler up there with harry Potter but the writing is richer and more complex in tone and structure. I'd say it's more appropriate to a 10-year-old, minimum. The story itself was engaging, and painted a compelling world with very well-developed characters. I'm going to read the other two.
This ripping yarn of a Victorian fantasy almost appears to be a fusion of C.S. Lewis and Jules Verne, but the story is uniquely Pullman's. The writing was strong enough that I was drawn completely in within the first few pages, given no chance to set it down for long.
The young woman Lyra is thrown into political intrigue from the moment the story starts, and her travels from Oxford College to London to the great snowy north parallel her growth from young girl to an adult, and she emerges from being a pawn in others' designs to taking control of her own destiny and others'. As we follow her, the dazzling world slowly unfolds around us, in thoughts, memories, and dialogue, rather than expository infodumps. In large part the reader is left on her own to figure out what's going on and why, given hints and pushes; we are …
This ripping yarn of a Victorian fantasy almost appears to be a fusion of C.S. Lewis and Jules Verne, but the story is uniquely Pullman's. The writing was strong enough that I was drawn completely in within the first few pages, given no chance to set it down for long.
The young woman Lyra is thrown into political intrigue from the moment the story starts, and her travels from Oxford College to London to the great snowy north parallel her growth from young girl to an adult, and she emerges from being a pawn in others' designs to taking control of her own destiny and others'. As we follow her, the dazzling world slowly unfolds around us, in thoughts, memories, and dialogue, rather than expository infodumps. In large part the reader is left on her own to figure out what's going on and why, given hints and pushes; we are whirled along with Lyra, barely a moment given to see into other people, and the story is significantly stronger for it.
This book never stops moving. That is probably the most addicting part of it; no matter where you stop, there's always something peeking right around the corner that makes you have to come back just as quickly as possible. At the same time, it's too fast for a single sitting; you just have to take a breather here and there to let things settle in your mind. There are many fascinating threads here, tied together in a world very like our late-19th century England. Daemons that are almost a physical manefestation of the soul; armored bears who are barbaric knights; a gizmo that speaks knowledge; the Aurora with the strange city inside it; and the mysterious Dust that everyone is so interested in. Yet it is all handled deftly, with easy aplomb. Even the more fantastic events and items turn out to have believable and grounded histories.
Unlike the sequel, the religious aspect of the story is buried beneath the characters themselves. Mrs. Coulter's connection to the Church is often mentioned, but never really showing how it affects others except indirectly. To Coulter, is it simply a vehicle to power, or is it a deeper faith that coincides with her ambitions? Instead, it focuses mainly on the external spirits as a visible soul: Children whose daemons are malleable and chaotic, adults' that are more fixed and sturdy; just the idea of being without it is horrifying to anyone. Thus the plot twist is pretty easy to see. Witches can send their daemons much further than others, and they are thus more autonomous. Then you have the bears, whose armor is practically their soul; they can make more if they have to, unlike humans. When people are seen without souls, mentally enfeebled or apathetic, it becomes the subject of a bit of overdone philosophizing, though.
Highly recommended to anyone with an imagination and sense of wonder. This is something that will be as fresh and wonderful every time you read.
