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.
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: 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: Not as good as the other two ...
Review: THE SHADOW IN THE NORTH is the second book in the Sally Lockhart series, and in my opinion, the worst (not that the others were bad - it's just that this one wasn't as good). The overall layout wasn't as well worked, thought the plot is exceedingly complicated: Six years after THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE, Sally has established herself as a financial consultant. Her friendship with Frederick Garland has blossomed into something more, though Sally refuses to acknowledge it, arousing conflict between them. However, a new case soon brings them together again ... one of Sally's clients loses a great amount of money, which she had invested in a shipping firm that collapsed. As Sally investigates this, she finds it to be all part of a bigger scheme; Fred meets a magician who is in danger because he has seen a murder. Soon, they find that these two apparently irrelevant cases are interlinked in an intense enigma. This book is a must-read for Sally Lockhart fans, even though it lacks the fascination found in the other two, it's a good transition from the first book to the third. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Series
Review: Philip Pullman pulled off yet another wonderful tale of London. Sally Lockhart is a young women starting her own consulting business, and lost a clients large sum of money. When this happens her friend and fiance Frederick Garland, photographer and private detecive, is looking into another inquire. As the story continues the two become more connected. I will not spoil the end for it is sad and wonderful. This one was favorite because of Fred. What a life like and dynamic character. Although I enjoyed Sally just as much. It is one of the best books ever, and I recomend start with Ruby in the Smoke and go in order. The first is wonderful, but I found the last less believeable. This is great book everyone should read it.
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: 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: 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: Wonderful!
Review: This was by far one of the best books I have ever read. It was very emotional- but I think that just shows how well Pullman writes. He pulled me into the book so much, I actually cried! I would reccommend this book any time.
Rating:
Summary: Good book...but for children?
Review: This is the second book in the Sally Lockhart series. I thoroughly enjoyed The Ruby in the Smoke and I though it was good for my daughter to read about a strong heroine. I am all for "girl power" and Sally seemed to be an intelligent young woman. In this book, however, I changed my opinion of it's appropriatness for children. Sally and Fred finally know that they love each other and go discreetly to her bedroom. Next thing we know, she is pregnant. I realize that this happens in real life and in the story, it was very subtle and far from any sort of smut, but I just don't think that it is appropriate reading material for young girls. Can't some things wait? If the story needed to be written this way, it should not have been published and marketed to children.
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