Not every fantasy book is awe-inspiring and will keep you hooked to it day-in and day-out.

Some might regulate your nervous system while “bread crumbing” you enough to keep you interested. 🤓 The Northern Lights is one of those books. 

Philip Pullman weaves a moderately rich fantasy fiction with elements of geophysics and quantum physics. The rules of this fantasy world are pretty different – every human having their own “daemon” (pronounced as demon only), multiple realities and parallel universes, and biblical verses modified to suit the plot. 

I have a nasty habit of comparing every fantasy book to either HP or LOTR or WoT. While reading this book, I had the same urge and had to remind myself that every writer is different.

And every story is different.

But not every plot is different! 🤓

Every low fantasy fiction (the likes of HP) will have a “blessed child who brings about a change in destiny around them”. That child will be stubbornly obstinate (the highest degree of obstinacy 🥹), is a rule-breaker and somehow people who do not know this child believe in them from the first go. 

Apparently “the forces of universe move through this child”. 🙈🤓

Lyra Belacqua is one such unruly child. I am aware that children are fearless but the children in fantasy fiction books are fearless raised to the power of infinity. They face “mean-girls” type bullying but somehow emerge victorious without much debate and processing with other kids or even adults.

The plot twists are engaging and I did exclaim “Ohhh” 3-4 times. 

Jokes apart, I enjoyed reading this book and a few elements kept me hooked. There are a host of fight scenes that keep you to tenterhooks but there are passages that unnecessarily drag the book.

Despite my criticism, I am eager to read the next book because the concept of parallel universes has always intrigued me.