The Shadow in the North (The Sally Lockhart series) by Philip Pullman

2010-02-09T14:44:43Z

"This was what love ought to be like: Playful and passionate and teasing and dangerous too, with sharp intelligence in it. They were equals, these two--tigers, at the very least.
They could do anything in the world if they worked together. Why did they have to fight?"

OH. MY. GOD. I have been bawling my eyes out while reading this. The Sally Lockhart series is... AMAZING, and completely deserves all-cappery. I mean, sure, the technical parts made my eyes glaze over, but that's just Pullman showing off a bit that he knows his research, yo. I've read His Dark Materials, but this is heaps more exciting. You have this unflappable Victorian feminist heroine, who reminds me a bit of Veronica Mars/Nancy Drew, being all feisty and smart-assy and blonde, but you also have other likeable characters and the cliffhangers at the end of each chapter will have you biting your nails to kingdom come and not sleeping because you want to finish the book, or delaying reading because it is just SO. GOOD that you don't want the ride to be over and this is seriously some fine storytelling, with mind-blowing twists.

I admire Pullman for creating such well-rounded characters, feminists who regard women as their equals and actually making me care for the characters he killed. No offense, J.K.Rowling, but I wasn't that emotionally invested in the people who died, sorry. Except for Gandalf. I jest.

This might be the best series for ya that I've ever read, and adults looking for smart feminist characters and a fast-paced, exciting read will devour this one.

What I think: 10 unicorns

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