Once Upon a Time in the North (His Dark Materials, #0.5)

by Philip Pullman

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Welcome back to Lyra's world.

Once Upon a Time in the North is a fun little novella that gives fans of His Dark Materials a little peek into the life of aeronaut Lee Scorseby, his daemon Hester, and the armored bear Iorek Byrnison.  This story is definitely more of a snapshot than a complete story, and frankly, it just left me with more questions about Lee's history!  But it was still loads of fun to read a little about these characters outside of their roles in His Dark Materials.

While this book is short, it's bloody.

Even in his youth, Lee Scorseby has that cowboy-vibe and he's not afraid to pull out his pistol for the right cause.  This is definitely true of Once Upon a Time in the North, and I say this because the full second half of this book is a gunfight.  The physical copy of the book with its illustrated cover and lightweight pages and generally small size looks a lot like a early reader's chapter book - I think it's important that parents know that this is probably not well suited for a seven or eight year old, unless they want to be reading about bulletwounds?  Be ye warned.

One thing that I loved about this novella was Lee's daemon, Hester.  In the other books, Hester is a relatively quiet little daemon - especially compared to Pan - and we don't hear a lot about her.  Once Upon a Time in the North starts out much the same way, only Hester begins to unfold, ending in her own fight.  I thought she was very brave, but also delightful.

And, as a little bonus:

If you look through this book, there are loads of scraps and tidbits... shipping ledgers, handwritten notes, and the like.  At the VERY end, there are a few handwritten letters and a certificate of dissortation, which I nearly didn't read... READ THEM!  The source of this story made me smile.

Read more reviews like this and find other bookish goodness at The Literary Phoenix.