Northern Lights

[karohemd]

Just finished part one of the book and I must say I'm very impressed.
It's got atmosphere, intrigue, interesting characters and a number of cool concepts (like the dæmons). Lyra's world is just like ours but different (as the intro says). It's a bit like steampunk but later, so maybe more electropunk ;o) with a bit of magic thrown in.
I also like the way Pullman uses language and makes it easily recognisable what kind of character is speaking or names and describes things. The Chthonic (I hate this word) Railway, for example, for the London Underground, combustion engines run on coal-spirits, etc.

The storyline has had so many twists and turns already that I'm sure it'll fascinate me for a long time.

Addendum
While surfing the net for some background info, I found out that the book is actually called "The Golden Compass" in the US. That's just stupid. I assume it refers to the Alethiometer, but that is made of brass.
Funny thing is, the US cover has some northern landscape on the cover and the UK edition has the Alethiometer...

Comments

[con-2002.livejournal.com]

if you thought the first book was good, wait till you read the next two :)

[kinkykay.livejournal.com]

Northen Lights gooooood....as is Subtle Knife. I need to get my mits on The Amber Spyglass now though..