Review: #30
Title: Once Upon a Time in the North
Series: His Dark Materials - Companian Book
Author: Philip Pullman
Read Before: no
My Comments: An interesting companion book, didn't realise it was all just one story (with the exception of the last six or so pages which is random stuff including newspaper clippings and letters, but it’s nothing special). This ‘huge’ amount of the book for one story allows the story to have some nice action and plot going on, although it’s nothing complex, especially compared to the main books, it’s a nice little tale on it’s own. It’s not really a prequel, but more just a background story that doesn't relate much to the main events of one of the side characters (albeit quite a big and likeable side character), Lee Scoresby, and how he met the king of the bears Iorek Byrnison. It doesn't addict the readers, but for a companion book, it is very excellently done, I’d rather a book like this where nearly every page is used for telling the story rather than school reports, interviews or puzzles which are a waste of time. The book does have an extra, a fold out board game, which is different in the fact that to win, you have to be the last one to the end.
Rating: 6.5/10
Rereadability Factor: 3/10 (hardly likely to reread again)