Northern Lights vs The Amber Spyglass: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Kidnapping, Missing persons, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction
Northern Lights
“Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen.”
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose…
1 film adaptation
vs
The Amber Spyglass
“In a valley shaded with rhododendrons, close to the snow line, where a stream milky with meltwater splashed and where doves and linnets flew among the immense pines, lay a cave, half-hidden by the crag above and the stiff heavy leaves that clustered below.”
In the astonishing finale to the His Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra and Will are in unspeakable danger. With help from Iorek Byrnison the armored bear and two tiny Gallivespian spies, they must journey to a dank and…
The verdict
- Readers rate The Amber Spyglass highest: The Amber Spyglass 4.3 · Northern Lights 4.0.
- Northern Lights has the widest readership — 1643789 ratings behind its score.
- Northern Lights runs the darker storyline; The Amber Spyglass stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Northern Lights | The Amber Spyglass | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (1643789) | — |
| Hardcover | 4.0 (2) | 2.3 (3) |
| Google Books | — | 4.5 (5) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.5 (449) |
Reception
| Northern Lights | The Amber Spyglass | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 1643789 | 449 |
| Editions | 148 | 87 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 646527 | — |
| Reading it now | 20458 | — |
| Written reviews | 31581 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 11073 | 3881 |
| Pages | 404 | 472 |