Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
A steady start then a frenzied ending as Lee Scoresby, just recently an aeronaut after winning a balloon in a card game, meets Iorek the armoured bear for the first time. Thoroughly enjoyable romp only marred by one little niggle I had with the text. Well worth reading if you're a fan of Dark Materials.
.full.2712680.jpg)
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Brilliant, but what else was expected. Loved the extra bits like the pictures and newspaper cutting. Also Lyra's letters and dissertation. Only wished it was longer. Also. I can't wait to play the game!
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Got to this brilliant little tale out of the Northern Lights series only today, but it took on all layers of meaning that reading it at the time of writing might not have. There are strong themes of xenophobia, immigration, power and corporations throughout and considering the state of current kleptocracies, totally poignant. Really enjoyed it as I did the whole series.
What a pleasure! I wasn’t even convinced I had to read this, being a little thing, and late to the canon. But I’m being more of a His Dark Materials completist on this reread (in anticipation of the new book coming soon), and I’m finding very little to hamper my enthusiasm.
This sort of felt like a great episode of Firefly, only I guess with no spaceships, and also with daemons. Lee Scoresby is a young man here but exactly as we know him later. In medias res, skilled in some things but bold in all, kind and tough. He’s certainly more jaded and red-blooded than a kid protagonist like Lyra, but I’d still recommend this book as part of the series for older kids (though, warning for plentiful gun violence). Plus, he and his daemon Hester bicker sarcastically all the time, and it is pure heaven. (And when Hester swears, at the end, I outright laughed my behind off.)
Iorek Byrnison is here! They meet, he and Lee, and get up to a shenanigan. The circumstances are a bit interesting, world-building wise, as they’re not directly to do with the Church-based fascism we see happening some decades later in the main story in “Eyngland,” but still portray a kleptocratic corruption with which our author cannot stand. It shows that most parts of this world are vulnerable to populists and dark politics, the stakes have always been raised, and boy it sure is 2019 out there today isn’t it.
This book is framed amongst several pages of ephemera (it even comes with a board game!) that pose it as source material for doctoral research by an adult Lyra. Wonderfully, brilliantly, one of her letters tacked at the end asking for bibliographic advice is addressed to “Dear Dr Polstead.” Having just finished La Belle Sauvage and met our hero young Malcolm Polstead who cares for infant Lyra — and who I know appears in the new book with adult Lyra — readers, I squeed. Exactly as if I’d just heard fantastic news about a dear friend’s kid. Ah, it’s perfection.
I sort of wish there were more books about Lee? Nothing’s impossible.
This sort of felt like a great episode of Firefly, only I guess with no spaceships, and also with daemons. Lee Scoresby is a young man here but exactly as we know him later. In medias res, skilled in some things but bold in all, kind and tough. He’s certainly more jaded and red-blooded than a kid protagonist like Lyra, but I’d still recommend this book as part of the series for older kids (though, warning for plentiful gun violence). Plus, he and his daemon Hester bicker sarcastically all the time, and it is pure heaven. (And when Hester swears, at the end, I outright laughed my behind off.)
Iorek Byrnison is here! They meet, he and Lee, and get up to a shenanigan. The circumstances are a bit interesting, world-building wise, as they’re not directly to do with the Church-based fascism we see happening some decades later in the main story in “Eyngland,” but still portray a kleptocratic corruption with which our author cannot stand. It shows that most parts of this world are vulnerable to populists and dark politics, the stakes have always been raised, and boy it sure is 2019 out there today isn’t it.
This book is framed amongst several pages of ephemera (it even comes with a board game!) that pose it as source material for doctoral research by an adult Lyra. Wonderfully, brilliantly, one of her letters tacked at the end asking for bibliographic advice is addressed to “Dear Dr Polstead.” Having just finished La Belle Sauvage and met our hero young Malcolm Polstead who cares for infant Lyra — and who I know appears in the new book with adult Lyra — readers, I squeed. Exactly as if I’d just heard fantastic news about a dear friend’s kid. Ah, it’s perfection.
I sort of wish there were more books about Lee? Nothing’s impossible.
adventurous
fast-paced