(2) YA Book of Dust series. Don't start here. While bibliographically this second entry in the trilogy follows La Belle Sauvage, biographically it picks up when Lyra is twenty, with the events of the initial His Dark Materials trilogy ten years in her past. The novel is rich in incident but sprawling. Devotees will enjoy the often-surprising but neatly done connections to the previous volumes, however this book provides no resolutions to any of the conflicts and quests it proposes.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Fred Fordham. Intersecting story lines and a large cast of characters swirl around John Blake and his time-hopping ship the Mary Alice. Pullman's first original graphic novel is a narrative of corporate greed, murder, and collusion. Cinematic illustrations, a strong sense of atmosphere, and liberal deployment of panels carry much of the storytelling. Readers searching for a rollicking comic adventure will be thoroughly satisfied.

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017

(2) 4-6 Book of Dust series. This prequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy finds infant Lyra in the care of eleven-year-old Malcolm, an appealingly sturdy hero. Malcolm, accomplice Alice, and the baby make their way to hoped-for safety through flooded Oxford. Although set a decade before The Golden Compass, readers should start there--a good deal of this entry's pleasure comes from familiarity with the world's conventions and characters.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(3) 4-6 Adapted by Stéphane Melchior. Translated by Annie Eaton. Illustrated by Clément Oubrerie. Coloring by Clément Oubrerie with Philippe Bruno. This edition compiles all three sections of the French graphic-novel adaptation (volumes one and two were previously published individually in the U.S.). In part three, Lyra and Iorek dethrone the usurper bear king, then deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel--and young Roger to his sad fate. Oubrerie's illustrations capably convey the starkly beautiful setting, the bears' violent battle, and Lyra's intense emotions.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(3) 4-6 Adapted by Stéphane Melchior. Translated by Annie Eaton. Illustrated by Clément Oubrerie. Coloring by Clément Oubrerie with Philippe Bruno. In the middle volume of the three-part graphic adaptation (first published in France), Lyra and friends, now including armored bear Iorek Byrnison and aeronaut Lee Scoresby, are attacked. Lyra is kidnapped and delivered to a laboratory, where she finds lost friend Roger and learns the terrible truth about "intercision." Dynamic panels and sketchy pen-and-ink illustrations with washes of vivid color keep the energy high.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1996

(3) 4-6 Adapted by Stéphane Melchior. Translated by Annie Eaton. Illustrated by Clément Oubrerie. Coloring by Clément Oubrerie with Philippe Bruno. This French import adapts the first section of the first novel in Pullman's fantasy trilogy, ending with Lyra's departure for the North to search for kidnapped friend Roger. Not much fantastical happens in this installment; still, it capably introduces Lyra and her world (including daemons, the alethiometer, and Dust) and sets up the coming action through accessible dialogue and energetic illustrations in well-paced panels.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1996

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Martin Brown. Readers have a dual romp with two bundled novellas, Thunderbolt's Waxwork and The Gas-Fitters' Ball, first published in the UK in the 1990s. Set in Victorian London, the stories feature a neighborhood band of children fancying themselves detectives. Both madcap adventures contain lots of characters and lots of plot, with all coming together in complicated, satisfying endings.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2012

(2) YA Illustrated by John Lawrence. Before the events of His Dark Materials, twenty-four-year-old Lee Scoresby crash-lands on the island of Novy Odense. There, he's sucked into a political struggle and meets the fearsome, inscrutable Iorek Byrnison. This adventure exudes the breezy charm of an old-fashioned Western thanks to its fast-talking, straight-shooting hero. Engraved spot illustrations add to the tapestry of Pullman's fully realized alternate world.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(3) YA This omnibus edition includes the complete trilogy plus a few pages of the author's musings after each novel. At more than nine hundred pages, this tome isn't as reader-friendly as the individual books, but die-hard fans will appreciate the new material. Reviews 7/96, 9/97, 11/00.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(1) YA His Dark Materials series. These editions of the second and third books in Pullman's trilogy each feature a new appended illustrated section: seventeen pages of Dr. Stanislaus Grumman's papers in Knife and thirteen pages of Mary Malone's papers in Spyglass, which may pique the interest of collectors. Review covers these His Dark Materials titles: The Amber Spyglass and The Subtle Knife.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(1) YA His Dark Materials series. These editions of the second and third books in Pullman's trilogy each feature a new appended illustrated section: seventeen pages of Dr. Stanislaus Grumman's papers in Knife and thirteen pages of Mary Malone's papers in Spyglass, which may pique the interest of collectors. Review covers these His Dark Materials titles: The Amber Spyglass and The Subtle Knife.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1997

(1) YA His Dark Materials series. This tenth-anniversary edition of the first book in Pullman's trilogy features a new appended section: fifteen pages of Lord Asriel's illustrated papers, which may pique the interest of collectors.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1996

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by John Lawrence. Two years after the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and her daemon are home in Oxford, where one afternoon they see a flock of starlings attack another bird. Lyra realizes the bird is a witch's daemon and goes to the rescue. The story, a pendant to the His Dark Materials epic trilogy, is admirably self-contained. Readers get their own puzzles to ponder in the included fold-out map, postcard, travel guide page, and cruise brochure.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2004

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by David Mostyn. Pullman's spoof of Victorian melodramas is back in a new hardcover edition. Pure escapism from start to finish, this rip-roaring adventure will keep the most reluctant of readers turning the pages.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ian Beck. Pullman's lively prose and Beck's energetic illustrations revitalize this classic trickster tale about wily Puss, his good-natured master, and the trials they overcome on their way to fortune and happiness. Although some major plot changes at the book's end dilute the impact of the story, this picture book will find an enthusiastic audience.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. In a narrative laced with satire, Pullman tells what happens to Cinderella's rat-turned-pageboy, who, busily sliding down banisters at the palace, misses the pumpkin-coach ride home and gets trapped in boy form. Young readers will find the story completely entertaining, whether or not they appreciate the playful spoofing of sensational news stories, mob mentality, and the royal family.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2000

(1) YA His Dark Materials series. The conclusion to Pullman's trilogy delivers much of what was promised in the preceding cliffhangers. Most of the characters, beloved or bedeviled or both, return to continue their fateful roles in this saga. The book rollicks with a narrative gale force, and Pullman achieves effects that rival the best accomplishments of the earlier books. It will take us all a while to discern the counterpoints and overtones in this massive symphonic accomplishment.

Reviewer: Grace McKinney | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by S. Saelig Gallagher. Lila has one ambition: to be a master firework-maker like her father. Sent to distant and dangerous lands to gather rare ingredients, the plucky heroine is helped on her journey by her friend Chulak and his white elephant. Most amusing is a comic troupe of losers--sometimes pirates, sometimes restaurateurs, always changing but always failing--that she meets again and again.

Reviewer: Ann A. Flowers

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Leonid Gore. A remarkable fable about time and love is set long ago in Germany. Fritz, a local writer, tells the company gathered at the tavern a story about the magician and clockmaker Dr. Kalmenius. Pullman's Faustian tale, in which every small event is carefully related to another with the delicate precision of the finest clockwork, is deeply absorbing and aptly illustrated with evanescent ink drawings that complement the gothic atmosphere.

Reviewer: Ann A. Flowers | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1998

(2) 4-6 The wicked Count Karlstein plans to sacrifice his two young nieces to save himself from the pact he entered into with the Demon Huntsman, tales of whom circulate widely in their mountainous Swiss village. Lucy and Charlotte, though, are spirited away by a kindhearted maidservant, and the pursuit begins. Histrionic writing complements the exaggerated plot line, which ends satisfyingly with villainy punished and virtue rewarded.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1998