Northern Lights (novel)
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| Author | Philip Pullman |
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| Cover artist | Philip Pullman & David Scutt |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | His Dark Materials |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Steampunk |
| Publisher | Scholastic Point |
| Released | 1995 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 416 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-590-66054-3 |
| Followed by | The Subtle Knife |
Northern Lights is the first novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by British novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1995.
The superficial resemblance of protagonist Lyra Belacqua's alethiometer (pronounced uh-leeth-e-o-meter) (depicted on the book's cover) to a large compass caused the North American publishers of Northern Lights to retitle the book The Golden Compass[1]. In fact, The Golden Compasses was an early proposal for the name of the trilogy (instead of His Dark Materials), taken from Milton's Paradise Lost, where it refers to a drawing instrument, rather than a navigation instrument.
Northern Lights won the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the UK in 1995.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story begins when Lyra Belacqua—an orphaned, eleven year old girl residing at Jordan College—secretly enters the Retiring Room, despite resistance from her dæmon—an animal-formed, shape-shifting manifestation of her soul. Inside the room her uncle, Lord Asriel, tells the resident scholars of the mysterious golden particles called Dust. Shortly afterwards Lord Asriel leaves to head north, and Lyra continues with her normal life.
However, before long her friend Roger is kidnapped by "the Gobblers", who are the subject of a children's myth. Lyra vows to rescue him, and finds her chance when a visiting scholar, Mrs Coulter, offers to take Lyra away from Jordan College to become her apprentice. Lyra assents, but before she leaves is entrusted with a priceless object by the Master of the College: an alethiometer. Resembling a golden compass, it is a device able to reveal the answer to any question asked by the user. Though unable to use it, she takes it with her to Mrs Coulter's flat; however, before long Lyra discovers Mrs Coulter's rosy exterior is just a façade concealing her cold heart, and decides to flee when Mrs Coulter's dæmon attempts to steal the alethiometer.
After fleeing the flat she is rescued by the gyptians, a group of canal-boat-dwelling gypsy-people, who reveal that "Uncle" Asriel and Mrs Coulter are none other than Lyra's father and mother. She also learns that many children like Roger have been disappearing from among the Gyptians, and that the Gyptians are planning an expedition to the north to rescue the missing children. During her time with the gyptians, Lyra inexplicably learns how to operate the alethiometer without tutorship.
Lyra joins the expedition to the north, and on the journey discovers that the children kidnapped by “the Gobblers” are having their dæmons cut away from them in experiments. Shortly after this revelation the group is attacked, and Lyra is taken to the experimentation facility called Bolvangar.
Inside it she locates Roger and builds up a plan of escape. Lyra once again comes across Mrs Coulter, and discovers that she is in charge of the organisation supervising the experiments. Escaping her clutches once again, Lyra leads the other children out of the facility, and is rescued by Lee Scoresby (an accomplice of the Gyptians) in his hot air balloon, who also takes Roger and an armoured bear called Iorek Byrnison with him.
Now Lyra has found Roger, she wishes to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, who is imprisoned at Svalbard, the armoured bear fortress, because of his heretical experiments on Dust which the Church opposes. On their way to Svalbard the balloon encounters an attack, and Lyra gets thrown out, though manages to land safely. She is then thrown in jail by the armoured bears, but manages to trick and manipulate the bear-king, Iofur Raknison, so she can reach Lord Asriel’s cabin. During this time both Iorek and Roger arrive at the fortress, and accompany Lyra to her father.
Despite being imprisoned, Lord Asriel is so influential that he has managed to accumulate the necessary equipment to continue his experiments on Dust. After explaining the nature of Dust and the existence of parallel universes to Lyra, he takes Roger, along with large amounts of equipment, with him into the snowy distance. Once Lyra realises what has happened, she pursues him, only to arrive a split second too late to save Roger, who is killed when Lord Asriel separates him from his dæmon. This act releases an enormous amount of energy, which, due to Lord Asriel’s equipment, tears a hole through the sky into another parallel world. Lord Asriel walks through into the new world, and after discussing the idea with her dæmon, Lyra decides to follow him.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Lenz, Millicent (2005). His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Phillip Pullman's Trilogy. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3207-2.
[edit] References
- ^ Quotation from Philip Pullman, http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?p=FAQ#4
[edit] External links
- The Golden Compass Reviewed at The Open Critic
- HisDarkMaterials.com Publisher's site
- His Dark Materials | BridgetotheStars.Net fansite
- HisDarkMaterials.org fansite
- Philip Pullman reads a manuscript extract (audio)
| Part of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series |
|---|
| Books |
| Northern Lights/The Golden Compass - The Subtle Knife - The Amber Spyglass Lyra's Oxford - The Book of Dust |
| Films |
| His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass |
| Games |
| The Golden Compass |
| Characters |
| Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon - Will Parry - Lord Asriel - Marisa Coulter - Iorek Byrnison - John Faa - Farder Coram - Serafina Pekkala - Lee Scoresby - Iofur Raknison - The Authority - Balthamos - Baruch - Mary Malone - Xaphania - Roger Parslow - Metatron |
| Other |
| Alethiometer - Dust - Æsahættr - Locations - Dæmons - Panserbjørne |
