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_chubby_bunny_ 's review for:

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
3.0

I'm ashamed that it took me sooo long to finish this book, but at least I did finish it.

You have to be in the right mood to read this book. Philip Pullman is a linguist genius and that shows in his writing - you cannot dive into his work half-present.

When I started reading this book 2 years ago in the middle of summer, I was pulled into it, but the moment Lord Asriel disappeared, it became suuuch a drag for me. Lord Asriel, for all that it's worth, is such an intelligent, magnetic and intimidating character, and I suppose, I'm just naturally drawn to characters like that.

What made me return to this book was the fact that I wanted to watch the new series. So many people told me that it does the book justice, but ofc, me being me, I wanted to read the book first and then be a judge of the series. And James McAvoy is Lord Asriel, who could possibly resist that?!

Towards the end, the book got incredibly intense. I would procrastinate with my studying in order to advance in this book, and I don't do that very lightly - that's how you know I was really into the second half of the book.

The book is mostly a slow burn, I'd say. A lot is happening, but... at the same time, it takes the reader forever to get somewhere. Until the polar bear fight I was confused and bored with everything that was going on. But after that polar bear fight, the plot really took flight for me, and even though this book and I got off on the wrong foot, I'm quite happy I read it, and I'll definitely be moving onto the rest of the trilogy.