Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman Book Review

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"Lyra's Oxford"
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Review Summaries

"It is now two years since Lyra parted from Will in The Amber Spyglass, the final book of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. She is 14 or 15 and a student at St. Sophia's school in Oxford (the Oxford on her alternate Earth). One day Lyra and Pantalaimon, her daemon, who has settled permanently into the form of a pine marten, are on the roof of Lodge Tower when they see a huge flock of starlings attacking a bird-like creature that turns out to be a witch's daemon. They rescue the creature and it tells them its witch is sick and it has been sent to find an alchemist in Oxford, Sebastian Makepeace, who has an elixir that will cure the witch. So Lyra and Pantalaimon go to look for Makepeace, but when they get to his address and look in, there's a witch there, and a man lying on the floor -- possibly dead. This 2003 book is a very short tale (less than 50 pages) supplemented by a map of Oxford, a reproduction of a postcard from someone named Angela Gorman, and a schedule for the cruise ship S.S. Zenobia (mysterious "evidence" that reminds one of the books of Nick Bantock), which suggests we have not heard the last of Lyra's adventures.

Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. "
David Loftus, Resident Philip Pullman Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 30%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Coming of age Yes
Mental/magical powers focus Yes
magical powers: - clash between evenly matched magical power(s) (fantasy)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - student
Age: - a teen
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - magical being
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant

Setting
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - none/very little science jargon needed
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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