Northern Lights
Philip Pullman, 1995
★ 4.04 from 1.7m ratings on Goodreads
A girl in an Oxford of daemons and airships overhears a word—Dust—and follows it north into a mystery about consciousness, authority and other worlds. A cold, bright current of wonder runs through an adventure that turns philosophical, with melancholy edges and a steady, vivid voice.
Feels like wonder, curiosity and longing. About adventure, morality and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy brave young heroines, daemon companions, Arctic landscapes and stories that take ideas seriously. Be warned that some readers find the opening stretch slow and the later philosophical turns uneven or dark.
Why read it
It offers a richly imagined world and a mystery that grows from childish curiosity into questions about consciousness and authority.
A page from the book
A gift that looks like a compass but measures something else entirely.
It lay heavily in her hands, the crystal face gleaming, the golden body exquisitely machined. It was very like a clock, or a compass, for there were hands pointing to places around the dial, but instead of the hours or the points of the compass there were several little pictures, each of them painted with extraordinary precision, as if on ivory with the finest and slenderest sable brush. She turned the dial around to look at them all. There was an anchor; an hourglass surmounted by a skull; a chameleon, a bull, a beehive... Thirty-six altogether, and she couldn’t even guess what they meant. What readers say
Readers say it is an immersive, melancholy and hopeful experience, with vivid nature, deep friendships, grief and moral tension; some find it slow or uneven, and not all connect with its darker, more philosophical turns.
Philip Pullman.Pullman was a schoolteacher for years before writing His Dark Materials; Jordan College is a fictional Oxford college, drawing on the real city where he studied.
Books that feel like this
More by Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman, 2000
In a cosmos where every soul has an animal shape, two children carry a knife between worlds while heaven and rebellion collide.
The Subtle Knife
Philip Pullman, 1997
A boy inherits a knife that cuts doorways between worlds, a girl can read the truth, and a war is gathering over both. Read for the pace and the doubt.
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman, 1995
A girl and her shape-shifting daemon leave Oxford for a frozen north of armoured bears, stolen children and a compass that tells the truth.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Northern Lights for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy brave young heroines, daemon companions, Arctic landscapes and stories that take ideas seriously. Be warned that some readers find the opening stretch slow and the later philosophical turns uneven or dark.
- What is Northern Lights like?
- A cold, bright current of wonder runs through an adventure that turns philosophical, with melancholy edges and a steady, vivid voice. Feels like wonder, curiosity and longing. About adventure, morality and love.
- What should I read after Northern Lights?
- If you liked Northern Lights, try Eragon (Christopher Paolini), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling) and Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson).
A taste of the feed
Advice that sounds like freedom and costs almost everything to keep.
Let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered, one may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don’t follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen. Of the affairs of love, my only advice is to be honest. That’s your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness.
Eragon · Christopher Paolini
The story we invent to keep friends from seeing what we are.
Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth...
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban · J. K. Rowling
A litany for anyone who has ever needed to aim without trembling.
I do not aim with my hand; He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand; He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun; He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.
The Dark Tower · Stephen King
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