🌌✨“We are all subject to the fates. But we must act as if we are not, die of despair.”✨🌌
11-year old Lyra Belaqua and her dæmon familiar, Pantalaimon are thrusted into an adventure after being in a wrong place at a very wrong time. When Lord Asriel comes to visit the scholars of Jordan College to present his finding and appeal for funding, many dark truths are revealed and Lyra, hiding inside a closet, learns about everything- drilling holes in skulls, Dust and a different world in Aurora or the Northern Lights.
This is the beginning of a series of events such as being abducted by Mrs. Coulter, a journey with the Gyptians to the North, to rescue children from the atrocities of Mrs. Coulter’s board and realising her own powers and role in her destiny.
The characters in the novel are well-crafted; Lyra, although is a child is more compassionate, clever and charming than some of the adults in the novel. She befriends Lee Scoresby, the aeronaut and Iorek Byrnison, a Svalbard bear along with many Gyptians on her journey. All these characters have been designed as three-dimensional - various aspects of their pasts have been described to the readers; their goals and ambitions make them likeable.
The story is laden with various fantastical and magical elements such as the Alethiometer or the symbol-reader that foreshadows future, witches and humanoid animals such as Pantalaimon and Iorek. It also has elements of science-fiction - it describes various pieces of absurd technologies and inventions to conduct horrific experiments. It also sheds light on the science v/s religion debate.
Set in familiar Victorian England landscape, but on an alternate Earth, Philip Pullman’s "Northern Lights" is the first book in the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. With a fascinating plot, incredible writing and great characters, the novel is an enthralling introduction to the series and is definitely a must-read.
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