The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 2)

Rating:
Summary: I thought this book was a very exiting one!!!!!!!
Review: There is not many books that I really couldn't put down, but this is one of that caliber. I bought the first one at a store and couldn't find the rest of the series anywhere so I had to buy it over the internet and boy I can't wait for the others. Sally is a character that I can relate to.

Rating:
Summary: An imaginative mystery you can't put down!
Review: The Shadow in the North is quite possibly the best book that I have read. It is extremely well-written, and the use of words is outstanding! It is hard to find a book as well-written as it is, and nearly impossible to find one with such an imaginative and intricate plot. You won't believe what the heroine, Sally Lockhart, and her spunky friends discover as they unravel the mystery behind the sinking of Ingrid Linde, a steamship, and "the pride of the Anglo-Baltic shipping line." The ending is very unusual, yet not the least bit dissapointing. Shadow in the North is probably the most exciting book you'll ever get your hands on, so don't miss it!

Rating:
Summary: a good book
Review: This was a good book in most respects. The style is a bit confusing, but overall a well deserved rating.

Rating:
Summary: This is my all time favorite book!
Review: Philip Pullman wrote yet another great book. Sally Lockheart and Fred Garland make a great team! The tragic ending to this book just shocked me. -Sara Doherty

Rating:
Summary: BETTER THAN RUBY IN THE SMOKE!
Review: Sally, now 24 is running a financial consulting firm. One of her clients looses all of her money investing in a booming shipping firm. Sally investigates. Meanwhile Jim meets the magician, Mackinnon who is tring to escape from... Then Sally, her fiance Fredrick and her friend Jim make many starteling discoveries about their mysteries. Then there is a tragedy, and an explosion. I'm being vauge to make you read it. AFTER YOU FINISH THIS BOOK YOU NEED TO READ TIGER IN THE WELL AND THE TIN PRINCESS. THAT SHOULD TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO AH LING AND ADELAIDE BEVAN. =)

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: Seeing the beginnings of a formula
Review: Though Sally, Fred, Jim, etc. are older, the background remains the same. Pullman uses the same devices as in his previous Lockhart mystery including the use of a set of identical twins. The villians are more sinister and the sacrifices are larger. Hopefully the last book will prove to be more sophisticated than this particular episode.

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: 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.