Rating: 
Summary: Really Good
Review: "The Shadow in the North" is the second book in the Sally Lockhart trilogy (or quartet, if you count "The Tin Princess", but that's a whole other debate), and begins about five years after the events of "The Ruby in the Smoke". Sally Lockhart, our Victorian heroine who was raised to think more like a contemporary woman, is now self-employed as a business consultant. Her companions Frederick Garland and Jim Taylor are amateur detectives and professional photographers, and despite a growing attraction/animosity between Sally and Fred, all seems well. But then one of her clients, Miss Walsh, comes to her office to inform her that she has lost all of her money after taking Sally's advice and investing in a ship that has since disappeared. The subsequent event of the firm's downfall seems to be linked to a man named Axel Bellman, the richest man in Europe, who is surrounded by scandal and gossip. Sally promises to get her lost money back, and begins her investigation...
Meanwhile, Jim Taylor's work at the theatre throws him into the path of the famous magician Alastair MacKinnon, who begs him for help in escaping two armed men. Jim takes him home, and he and Fred (who is experimenting with capturing seances with cameras) hear his extraordinary story. As well as an amazing talent on the stage, MacKinnon claims to have psychometry abilities - when he touches certain objects, he gains visions connected to them. And recently, he's had a vision of a man killing another with a sword in a snowy forest, and believes that the murderer knows that he knows, and has sent men to kill him.
Filled with magicians, physics, beauties, blackmail, murder and intrigue, "The Shadow in the North" follows on nicely from its previous book, if not quite up to its ingenuity. "The Ruby in the Smoke" just seemed a bit more personal considering Sally's secretive past and her father's murder was involved, and here I couldn't get quite as involved in the story as previously. Despite a terrifying, fascinating villain and a nefarious plot, there were a couple of glitches, such as the unnecessary presence of a giant dog that Sally owns, and at one stage MacKinnon claiming to be related to two other characters - the problem is he isn't, making the passage rather confusing. What annoyed me most however, was the complete lack of Rosa and Trembler, two major characters in the first book who are completely absent here, and only barely mentioned. And these mentions are so brief that a swift reader might miss them completely, and they certainly don't give us satisfactory information on their present lives. Thankfully, they reappear in the next book "The Tiger in the Well," and one has to admit that Philip Pullman is always more concerned with creating a story true to life rather than a formulaic system that is regurgitated every book.
There are some passages that may raise some adult eyebrows, but I think some may blow these out of proportion. Yes, there is violence, death and premarital sex, but Pullman never goes out of his way to explictly describe any of these things. And this *is* classified as a "young adult" book - no one under the age of eleven is going to be reading this book, and anyone over that age is certainly capable of handling what Pullman presents.
Although it's not my favourite book in the series, it's still a great read, and a necessary one if you're going to continue reading the Sally Lockhart books. And as usual, people should be warned that these books are very different from Pullman's more famous "His Dark Materials" trilogy - don't come to these books expecting fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: ... Philip Pullman is probably THE best male author I have ever read, and this series is one of my favorites. It's sort of a more evolved and grown-up Lloyd Alexander and is a very enjoyable read if you just want to escape for an afternoon. Sally Lockhart is a spunky heroine with more than the usual share of intelligence.
The only faults I can find with this book are, one, that she isn't the sort of heroine one can relate to. This didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book, but it did reduce the number of times I'm going to read it. Two, that even in a series, I prefer slightly stand-alone books, and this is not one of them. No respectable reader can tamely accept the ending without reading the last one in the series.
Otherwise, I recommend it for pretty much anyone. Just be sure to read the first book in this series and have the last book ready before you start.
Rating:
Summary: Not as authentic as the 1st Sally book, but a better mystery
Review: By the second book in the Sally Lockhart series Phillip Pullman's characters seem a bit unbelievably contemporary in their attitudes and behavior, but this entry in the series is darker and deeper than "the Ruby in the Smoke." Drawing on Anthony Trollope's THE WAY WE LIVE NOW (which Pullman even mentions during the story), this novel shows Sally in the unlikely position for a young Victorian woman of being an independent financial advisor, and she becomes quickly involved in a plot by an extremely wealthy and mysterious foreign financier. The tycoon's "weapon top end all weapons" is pretty fascinating: almost unbelievably crude by contemporary standards, the rhetoric surroundings its use and justification brings to mind more recent discussions of nuclear and biological weapons in a fascinating way. The characters remain rich and compelling, and Pullman is as wonderfully deft as ever at creating suspenseful situations and cliffhangers.
Rating: 
Summary: Nowhere near as good as Dark Materials
Review: I guess I thought that after reading the Dark Materials trilogy that it would be safe to buy anything by Pullman - but I was disappointed in this book. The writing was good and there are some very moving moments but overall I didn't feel I could award it more than 3 points. For a start the historical period felt wrong - the book didn't feel like it was set in Victorian times and Sally was just unbelievable - she just felt like a modern heroine transported there in a time machine(perhaps he should stick with fantasy). There is a sense of political correctness running through the book which seems more in tune with the 21st century than the 19th ... The books just seemed too childish for an adult and way way too brutal for a teenage reader. OK the same could be said of the DM triology (it took me weeks to get started on the second volume after the end of the first) but there at least I felt it was worth it. Here I was just really gutted and upset by the events of the novel and I felt the ending didn't make up for it ... There is one marvellous moment when Pullman seems about to pull (pardon the pun) out one of his incredible surprise twists - but no - he plays it safe after all and the book has a conventional ending. I guess I'll read reviews before buying any of his other stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: better then the first one
Review: i had a very great difficulty relateing to sally lockheart. i loved "his dark material" and those books seem to lacking the great mystical-philosophical-physical level, and are somhow, though dealing with other importent theams, are more about telling a cool detective story, then about delivering a meaningful massage.however, i have to say, that as a litural creation, this book's more balanced, put together and built well then the first one in this series. sally lockheart grow up, and her world has grown up with her, as she discovered the harshness and unfairness of govoments and corporations. as she start a quest to discover what happend to one of her investor consoltent's business money. in the same time other aspects of the same story are discovered by jim and fred, her loyal freinds. the book, though being a great detective story, touchs interesting theam, such as women's right, classes, spiritualizm, the connection between corporations and political authority, love and power. i enjoyed it a lot, hope you will to.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I read Ruby in the Smoke and was really confused. When my dad brought me Shadow in the North I didn't even want to give it a chance, but I did and soon I couldn't put it down. It was a little confusing but still a great story. The only reason I was about to give it four stars was because the ending was really sad, but I won't say. I have Tiger in the Well and am planning to read it soon.
Rating:
Summary: A touch of James Bond, but otherwise great.
Review: I, personally, enjoyed the Shadow in the North even more than the Ruby in the Smoke. It is a continuization of the young victorian heroine Sally Lockhart (now 22), who certainly seems to attract shady business wherever she goes. Pullman's chracterizations are amazing, and his descriptions of everything make you feel like you're watching it as a movie.
However, I do feel like throwing something sharp and heavy at his head right now, like perhaps a big book about subliminal aggression towards love; as the end of this book and the end of the Amber Spyglass have similarly disturbing endings concerning romance. Also, the machine at the climax of the book is a bit far-fetched for the setting. It sounds like something out of a James Bond movie.
The plot is perfectly paced: Beggining with the sinking of a ship and ending with a diabolical plot to control lots of whatever (in the grand tradition of slimy, psychopathic villains) . The way all the characters are interconnected is clever and actually plausible. Of all the colorful characters, the best one is Jim, Sally Lockhart's cockney-type friend who spends his time reading and writing melodramas and working in the theatre. I never wanted to stop reading this book, and I will definentely get the Tiger in the Well. Strongly recommended, despite the far-fetched moments.
***Post script concerning sex in this book: For all you parent-type people who are worried about how appropriate this is for your Young Children, you can relax. It's nothing graphic, so it would probably be appropriate for anyone 5th grade or up. But my friend read it in the third grade and said it kind of freaked her out then.***
Rating:
Summary: Weakest (but still good) book in a fine trilogy
Review: In this book we meet Sally settled in life, with a job as a financial adviser. She advises a client to invest in a company that goes bust, because its ship is sunk. She decides to investigate. At the same time, one of her friends is trying to track down a genius magician... Although, like the other books in this series, this book is hard to put down, and very entertaining, I didn't like it as much. The plot is a bit far-fetched and the politics and the inventions go a little too far in altering the past. I also found some of the characters hard to believe, too. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book, I just didn't think it was up to the same standard as the other two. Moralists may disapprove of Sally's behaviour in this book - yet another case of the modern intruding into a historical novel, but then again, her behaviour is in keeping with her character, so I didn't mind it. Plus, it is pretty much the norm today. Just a warning to prim parents who worry about book characters as role models. Otherwise I have no problems in recommending this book, along with the rest of the series, which is even better.
Rating:
Summary: Continuing mystery and suspense
Review: The Shadow in the North follows on from Philip Pullman's 'The Ruby in The Smoke'. Sally Lockhard is no longer 16, she's a young, fiercly independent woman with a mystery to solve. As before, Pullman draws on his knowledge of Victorian London (and, almost certainly, his interest in photography). The Shadow in the North is one of Pullman's masterpieces of characterization. He has the phenominal ability to make his readers fall totally in love with his main characters - even to the point of infatuation and, at the end of SITN, you know Sally Lockhart as well as you would know your own daughter. You're proud of her. You even wish you could be like her. Exquisitely written, The Shadow in the North is packed tight with diverse, often terrifying characters. The plot takes dark, unexpected twists. The story-telling is amazing. Pullman is one of the few authors who succeeds on both sides of the Atlantic. When you read his books, you know why. The Shadow in the North is entirely impossible to put down until you've turned the final page... then you want more.
Rating:
Summary: best in the trilogy
Review: This is by far the best book in the Sally Lockhart trilogy. The first and third are very good but don't have the emotional intensity of this. The plot is well written and horrifying while being a lot easier to follow than The Tiger in the Well. The ending is heart-wrenching but without it the third wouldn't work and it is a tribute to Pullman's writing skills that this is only the second book that has ever made me cry. Although the plot is full of tension and makes you want to read on and on I feel that the main focus of this book is Sally's relationship with Fred and her battle to interpret her feelings for him. The character's are what makes a book and this is no exception. The goodies are vivd, funny and lovable and the baddies, although ultimately evil manage to throw in a few shocking twists. I think it is essential to read the books in order. Reading the third before this would remove the horror of the ending and most of the plot since it is summarised in the Tiger in the Well. All in all one of the best books I've read. Thrilling and heart breaking.
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