Extraordinarily good - Rated 
I had wanted to start this series of novels for quite some time now and having just read this first installment I can honestly say that I'm very impressed! It's a wonderful book and one that I highly recommend to adults and young adults alike. Great storytelling, great characters, it's all here in abundance.
Too simplistic - Rated 
The story of Northern Lights is about how a young girl, called Lyra, travels to the Arctic to save her friend Rodger from kidnappers connected to the Church. Lyra is shocked to discover that the Church is performing unpleasant experiments on the children.
This is a cracking read for children. The plot moves at a brisk pace and has just the right amount of dark touches for the 9-14 age group. It is true to say that the setting is confused and cliqued, but a mish-mash of different time periods is common in fantasy, and it is fairly successful in this novel. The characters are not well realised and are, again, cliques. I found the Gyptian (gypsies who live in barges rather than caravans) chlidren very annoying.
Perhaps one of the big faults of this book is the simplistic portrayal of religon. Everyone in Lyra's world worships "The Authority" in a catholic-style pseudo-christiany. No other religeons or sects are mentioned. It is this church which is responsible for every act of state brutality and the oppresion of free-thought in Lyra's world. This is not a "paralell universe". This is the totally, utterly fictional creation of a friend of Richard Dawkins.
So far, so disappointed - Rated
I'm with Mica on this one - I'm persevering, entertained enough, but couldn't say I'm gripped by the storyline or the writing. I, too, found descriptions in Oxford lengthy and pointless, seeing as we move off to other places, I just wanted to get on with it. I'm more than half-way through and I'm wondering when the action's going to start... It all seems a bit easy and obvious so far - but I shall persevere.
Northern 'Lite' - Rated 
The hype surrounding this novel is not justified. It is described as the atheists' version of the Narnia series - if this is the case, then the Christians have little to fear ! The book seldom deals with religious issues, apart from a few back-handed digs at the processes of the Roman Catholic church (but not at anything as deep as God). Typical of such attacks, they are anomalies, much like lazy advertisers still show nuns in full habits when really, such things are from a bygone era. Throwing in a battle between the good guys (ie Lyra and her allies) against the bad guys (ie Lyra's enemies) is not the same thing as delving into the universal battle of Good vs Evil. Much appears to be forgiven in this book - the superficial style of writing, the prevailing lack of really quality descriptions, the weak characters - because it is a kids' book. But CS Lewis and less so JK Rowling have shown that this can be done so much better. Pullman's effort is a shambles - it cannot locate its time period (we have Texans with internal combustion petrol engines on the one hand, but wonder at a slide lantern on the other); nor does he show much scholarship in his settings, instead opting for cliches and wanly defending this approach by setting it in some alternate universe where anything goes. Lyra's escape into the ceiling just seems a passe idea, but typical of how readily the hero always wins easily and the villians wear black hats and trenchcoats, figuratively speaking. I spent the entire 396 pages waiting for some revelation, some jerking of the heart strings, but the writing rarely rises above the mundane. My suspicion when I read something this mediocre which is constantly gushed over (Da Vinci Code takes the cake in this regard), it makes me ponder why - the best theory so far is a cross between PT Barnum and Nero - give the audience whatever they want and they will happily play the suckers. Pullman tries it all here - some anti-church bits, some D&D style fantasy, some Harry Potter type dark settings in 'England' (another cliche in Oxford Uni, of course), a lot of made-up names and inventions to escpae plotting problems, and hey presto - a classic ! One only hopes that more people see the Emperor really is naked but wait, there's the film rights now so it's much too late. Product placement, here we come. Burger King : the Golden Compass Happy Meal, is already released.
Northern lights - Rated
This book was amazing! I read a lot of books and after reading northern lights and the two others that follow i was quite sure that they were among my top ten favourite books. I especially love the way certain things are revealed and the book comes together like a jigsaw piece by piece. Facinating! I highly recommend this book to anyone, old or young, it is a gripping book which has been writen very well.
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