The Ruby in the Smoke

An intriguing and characteristically dark mystery formed by Pullman here of his brand new heroine: Sally Lockhart. Potentially more likeable than Lyra, but not with as much depth.
It definitely resonates with readers who enjoy mysteries, detective novels and the fantastically named 'whodunnit' stories, but its style at times feels inaccessible at times. I would re-read, even if just to give the style another shot, but the reading experience felt a little too much like work to figure out what will happen. The major twist wasn't obvious though, which can often happen with these sorts of stories.

It was a bit slow to get to the exciting bit and I did struggle to understand the language used, though it was written in English, at times. But I feel once you get to used to the way characters speak and the book has picked up some pace, it is rather a mysterious, secretive, and detective book.

Happy Reading!

Quite good but you have to read to the very end to understand it all.

This book was really good but Phillip Pullman in an excellent author so I expected it would be. Sally is a very interesting character and very unique, which is obvious from just the first paragraph. It even mentions that she is no ordinary girl. The mystery and adventure in this book is very entertaining and tou are constantly on the edge of your seat. I would reccomend.

Loved this - loved all the mystery and the strong female leader

It's a sad mystery book and some parts of it don't make sense to me. Maybe better for an older child - 11+

I like this book because it is very puzzling and perplexes you.
It is fiction and my favourite character was Sally as you would never know what she would do next.
I would recommend this book.