Mini Review: Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman

Once Upon a Time in the North (His Dark Materials, #0)Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publishing Date: April 8 2008
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Steampunk
Format: Hardcover
Page count: 110

My rating:

3 of 5 hearts

Once Upon a Time in the North tells a prequel tale of the aeronaut Lee Scoresby from Pullman’s fantastic world-wide hit trilogy His Dark Materials and his first meeting with the ice bear, Iorek Byrnison, set in the familiar North.

The book didn’t appeal to me as much as I thought it would – it’s much more of a bloke’s tale than catering to my taste – there’s a lot of page space dedicated to a shoot out that I really didn’t care about and conversation that I cared about even less, although it does give an excellent representation of Lee’s character as a young man and Hester, his daemon, especially shines with her brief time in the spotlight. But hell, I’ve always loved Hester.

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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