Northern Lights

Image credit: Amazon

Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award, the opening book in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the few books I remember reading towards the end of my childhood and really adoring. This was a tender time for my literary mind as I had progressed beyond the kiddie's realms of Dahl and moved on to thicker, deeper authors like Rowling, and Pearce, and of course Pullman… and then I completely stopped reading all through adolescence.

But I can recall really loving this book: actually sitting still in one space for hours flicking through its pages with a swiftly beating heart. But re-reading it as an adult has not given me that pleasurable experience. I’ve accredited this to memories of the film they did –which was poorly written and really not good- and this seemed to have dampened the excitement I used to have about this book –though I did get it back a little towards the end.

Northern Lights introduces readers to Lyra Belacqua the vivacious young protagonist who goes on an epic journey when her friend Roger is kidnapped. Determined to find Roger and bring him home, Lyra embarks on a journey that will change everything she thought she knew about herself as she travels across the frozen landscapes to the North where a group of scientists are doing sinister experiments on children. Fighting Tarters, sailing with Gyptians, riding Armoured Bears, and flying with witches are just the beginning in a series of exciting adventures that await this extraordinary girl.

You can’t go wrong with a good quest narrative and this book definitely has that. Over the course of 400 pages there is plenty of excitement and danger and suspense as well as glimpses into a world that is quite similar to ours only with fantastical elements added in –e.g. the alethiometer (or symbol-reader) and daemons (spirit animals attached at the soul to humans). It’s a perfect book for young adults as it wonderfully depicts the world through the eyes of a child: creating different dramas, different villains, and different insights than an adult would see. It’s also wonderfully visual and written with enough complexities as to keep the reader engaged.

Image credit: Phillip Pullman. com

Despite having a bit of a sleepy and slow start shaped by world-building, the book comes into its own as soon as the journey begins and more and more characters are introduced and bonds formed. Even later in the piece comes the true meanings behind the words and the themes of archaic religion, modern technology, innocence and childhood, and free will bring a richer, deeper meaning to everything heretofore read.

By book’s end the hook is in and you’re hankering to grab the next instalment and find out what happens.

Northern Lights is the first book in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and was first published in 1995 by Scholastic Ltd.