The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘When Lyra's friend Roger disappears, she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him.

The ensuing quest leads them to the bleak splendour of the North, where armoured bears rule the ice and witch-queens fly through the frozen skies - and where a team of scientists is conducting experiments too horrible to be spoken about.

Lyra overcomes these strange terrors, only to find something yet more perilous waiting for her - something with consequences which may even reach beyond the Northern Lights...’

The Northern Lights is the first instalment of the His Dark Materials trilogy written by Philip Pullman. The story follows the adventures of a teenage girl named Lyra Belacqua, an orphan living in Jordan College in Oxford. Though orphaned, she is from an influential family and her uncle is the well-known politician and researcher, Lord Asriel. This world created by the author has certain other aspects too – while most locations that are talked about are in the real world, there are some elements of fantasy, such as humans having their souls visible, in the form of a daemon, taking the form of an animal, representing their personality (thus, daemons of children could frequently change their form, but not of adults).

The story starts with Lyra listening to a conversation that she was not to, while hiding in the Retiring Room of the college and sabotaging an attempt by the Master of the college to poison Lord Asriel, and listening all about this new phenomenon in the North, about Dust – mysterious particles which Asriel wishes to research further. On the other side, there are also a lot of children missing, never to be found again. The most affected were the Gyptians, who were a nomadic group mostly travelling on boats and they are desperate to get the children back from the group who are colloquially known as the Gobblers. In the meantime, Lyra is given an alethiometer by the master of Jordan College before she leaves on her long journey – a device that could tell the truth if one has the capacity to read the symbols in them.

I liked the world built by the author – the idea of the soul of a human being manifesting as an animal visible to everyone was interesting and that was integral to the life of every human in this world. Despite the fantasy elements of the book which comprised armoured fighter bears, witches and mysterious phenomena; it was also happening in the real world in places like Oxford or Svalbard – and with peoples whom we are familiar in real life, such as the Tatars or the Germans. The character of Lyra was also someone whom I really enjoyed when I first read this book as a teenager, considering I was off a similar age – it was good to see someone that bold, going any lengths to help people who are close to her or challenge the adults when she felt something was not right, qualities many wished that they had (I certainly did). I also liked the portrayal of the Gyptian people and their culture, and how, though they were largely seen as ‘outcasts’ and seen negatively – they were people with principles who would not bend them despite offers of money or fame.

The author maintained a mysterious element throughout the novel – why was the alethiometer given to Lyra – and why did she have to take up the journey to go Svalbard to give it to her uncle Asriel? Moreover, what was Dust, the particle that everyone is researching on and willing to perform some of the most gruesome acts to advance further on researching these particles? Why are the children missing and why are they being taken away?

Amidst all these questions, the author also introduced aspects to the world, such as the relationship that the armoured bears had with other bears and humans, the factionalism within the witches, the different alliances people had (for instance, Gyptians felt grateful to Asriel as he was the only politician who had fought for their rights).

When I read it a second time now, in my thirties, I still enjoyed this novel, partly to do with nostalgia and also partly to with the fact that I could observe a lot more nuances this time around. Some of it bothered me, such as the stereotyping of the Tatars – while one could say that this was common perception during the period of this novel, barring once, these views were hardly challenged by any of the characters. Moreover, while the Gyptians were an interesting people, I would have liked to know more on them – I am sure that the author is inspired by the Romani people while conceptualising them, however, I was unsure why they had Dutch names or were even speaking Fens-Dutch as their first language and this history could have added more depth to the novel and the world that the author had built.

Overall, this is a great fantasy novel, I enjoyed it as a teenager, and I am sure that it could still be read by young adults to this day – particularly for the world built by the author, the different human relationships and unlike many young adult fantasy novels – there was not a clear split between good and evil, several characters were grey, such as Lord Asriel, the Master of Jordan College or the armoured bear Iorek Byrnison; often doing things that are morally questionable. Lyra’s own character was equally enjoyable and the end of the book certainly made me want more of it and I shall elaborate further on the review of the sequel – The Subtle Knife. On that note, I would award The Northern Lights a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,
Andy