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Lyra's Oxford
by Philip Pullman David Fickling Books, 2003, 48 pages, ISBN 9780385606998 |
How easy was it to get stuck into this book?
It was very easy to revisit the world of Lyra and Pantalaimon partly because I am such a huge fan of His Dark Materials! I especially like the little bit of prose by Oscar Baedecker (is that a real person? Or is it just Pullman adding to the 'realness' of the story) at the beginning as it just makes Oxford seem so magical.
Who are the main characters?
Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon Pantalaimon. For those of you who know nothing about Lyra (then I suggest you read His Dark Materials before reading this book or you will be utterly LOST), she is girl, of around 13, who lives in a college in Oxford in a parallel universe to ours. Pantalaimon is her daemon. A daemon is a sort of soul, living on the outside of you.
What's the storyline?
Some time after the epic events of His Dark Materials, Lyra and Pantalaimon are back at Jordan college. Some things never change and Lyra is back on the roof tops of Oxford taking an new interest in the birds of the city. But one day she sees them attacking a daemon - a witch's daemon! After helping the daemon escape from the bombarding birds, the daemon explains to Lyra that he needs her help. She agrees to help the daemon find an alchemist called Sebastian Makepeace.
But why is this daemon so desperate to find Makepeace? This is the question that is gradually unravelled in this charming little tale.
How's it written?
Lyra's Oxford only has 48 pages! It is very short compared to Pullman's other books, but along with the story comes a map and various other documents the give more depth to the His Dark Materials saga and I've heard that Pullman has left clues hinting at the plot of his next book, The Book of Dust. This book takes about half an hour to read or even less and gives no real answers to anything but is brilliant all the same.
Other books by the same author that
Stephanie Soh
knows about?
Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, Ruby in the Smoke, Shadow in the North, Tiger in the Well, The Tin Princess, Clockwork, I Was A Rat!, The Fireworkmaker's Daughter
The overall verdict is
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Printed from cool-reads.co.uk | Books for 10-15 year old readers by 10-15 year
old reviewers
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