Book+Review+Northern+Lights+by+Genevieve+Fryer+8G

Title: Northern Lights Author: Philip Pullman Published: 1995 by Everyman's Library =Northern Lights=

Philip Pullman's //Northern Lights// is an intriguing story. It follows the journey of a young girl named Lyra and her adventure to find her kidnapped friend and other children. Lyra lives in a parallel universe set around the elegant eighteenth century. Lyra is brought up in this world where magic and science are entwined and where the practice of experimental theology is regarded as true science. In this world every individual is born with a daemon. A daemon will take the form of any animal that represents their human and has the ability to change forms until the human reaches adulthood. A daemon is very much a part of them as is their arms or legs; they are connected with an invisible bond and cannot travel apart without feeling unbearable agony and isolation. Their daemons are their lifelong companion. The story starts in Jordan college.Jordan college is an extravagant university draped with rich interior. While Jordan College contains warmth, Lyra learns many dark secrets hidden beneath its beauty. Lyra learns of an elementary particle called dust and soon realises that many people are afraid of it and this makes her curiosity grow as she tries to find out what dust is and why is it causing such a phenomenon.

Lyra is a rebellious young girl. She runs on rooftops and occasionally steals people’s boats just for fun. Lyra is led by her curiosity in to many places she shouldn’t be. Lyra has no knowledge of her parents and is under the guardianship of her uncle Asrial. Although her uncle is her guardian Lyra feels no love towards him, only a high level of respect. Lyra grows bored of being kept within the walls of Jordan College and longs for adventure. This leads to all sorts of trouble as she begins to explore forbidden parts of the college. She finds herself in the master of the college’s retiring room and learns of a plot to kill her uncle and she has to make a choice; risk being caught or watch her uncle die. Lyra is destined to save her planet but she can only achieve this through her ignorance, if she knows of her future then all hope is lost. But one part of her destiny is something she shouldn’t be proud of, that is the betrayal of her best friend.

Lord Asrial is an indomitable character. Whenever he walks into a room, everything in it looks as if it only contains his possessions. If there are people in that room, no matter how high they are on the hierarchy, Lord Asrial will act as if he was the most important. Lord Asrial is a clever man and values his desire to discover overall. He has a no nonsense personality and comes across as a heartless character at times. Lyra look ups to her uncle Asrial with a great amount of respect, but even the most admirable of people have their dark castings.

This story starts with a feeling of suspense and mystery as it follows Lyra sneaking around in a room she shouldn’t be in. Lyra has lived in Jordan college for as long as she can remember but there are many rooms that she has never seen. //Northern lights// is written in third person but focuses on Lyra and her journey to save the kidnapped children. In this story children start disappearing for purposes that are unknown. Lyra doesn’t think much of it until her best friend Roger disappears into the hands of the kidnappers known as the //Gobblers//. Lyra fears for the safety of Roger as she hears tales of children being eaten and experimented on and this fuels Lyra’s ambition to go out and adventure. Lyra soon finds out the true goal of the Gobblers and she journeys to save Roger and the other children from a fate worst then death.

In this story the most important relationship are those between humans and their daemons. Lyra and her daemon named Pantalaimon have an unbreakable relationship. They cannot be apart from each other as they consider each other as part of them; they are each other’s souls. Pantalaimon usually reminds Lyra of what the right thing to do is and often tells her off when she gets side-tracked by her curiosity. Pantalaimon acts like Lyra’s conscience and they are able to communicate through their minds.

This book influenced me to think about how adults make many decisions for us (children). This book deals with the issue of how adults control what’s best for us without our opinions or insights. In this book the children are used as experiments and are told that what is done to them is for the best .It shows that we as children don’t have much choice over our upbringing or what choices we make.

As soon as I started reading this book I knew that I would not be able leave it until I finished reading it. It was captivating and an extraordinary literary achievement .This book never failed to make me use my imagination and I often found myself daydreaming about its mysteries and adventures. The author made many twists in this story and I found that with every new page I felt compelled to keep reading until I found out more. I especially loved the part in this book where Lyra tricked Iofur Raknison, the king of bears. I found this part well thought out and pleasantly unexpected. Overall I would recommend this book to ages thirteen and up.

By Genevieve Fryer 8G