Once Upon a Time in the North

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Philip Pullman, Nigel Whitmey, Sean Barrett, John Chancer, Andrew Branch, Tim Bentinck, Hayward Morse, Teresa Gallagher, Paul Panting

Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Another mesmerizing episode from the universe of His Dark Materials set in the far frozen Arctic, including the very first meeting of those two legends and friends - Lee Scoresby, the Texan balloonist, and Iorek Byrnison, the armored bear.

The full list of narrators includes: Philip Pullman, Nigel Whitmey, Sean Barrett, John Chancer, Andrew Branch, Tim Bentinck, Hayward Morse, Teresa Gallaher, Paul Panting, Jane Collingwood, Garrick Hagon, Liza Ross, and Jo Wyatt.

©2008 Philip Pullman (P)2008 Random House, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Pullman is as fine a writer as there is for young people, and this book is a small gem." ( Booklist)

If you like His Dark Materials....

You should listen to this. It offers the same charm and delightful characterizations but has many of the same problems (mainly plot related, and in this case a bit dreary in the middle) as his other books. Worth it for me, as I love escaping into this universe.

Great story, voice actor OK

I was hoping to get the same voice actors as in the his dark materials trilogy, but alas, we can't always get what we want. I was hoping, at least, to get someone who actually knows how people from Texas actually speak to play Lee Scoresby, but they couldn't seem to get that either. I'm from Texas and his fake accent was so painful to my ears I almost turned it off. But I powered through. The writing is great, as expected from Philip Pullman.

Love His Dark Materials, this was OK

So, this was OK, but I admit I was disappointed at the end. I know it's a short story and I probably expected too much, but Lee S. isn't that interesting of a character to me, and his interactions with the women in the book were ... very... weird to me. Like we gt that he's a 'cowboy' but... no. And Lyra is just a mention at the end... and the story itself isn't terrible complicated and pretty predictable so it was just OK.

great fun

Very good reader...hey, It's the author!!!

I dug it...and any fan of the trilogy it leads to must listen...

missing lyra too much!

performance just as great and professional as the trilogy. story is just not as interesting without Lyra and Will. the plot was just ok, although it IS nice to hear from Lee and Iyorek (sp?) again!

Great Fun

This was a fun "origin" type story for Yorik and Leif, great background and I enjoyed spending more time with two of my favorite characters.

Puts You in the Story

Full cast readings mak you feel like you are there. even when your not. This book opens up doors into the series that are not there normally until after this. Phillip Pullman created a very beautiful world.

A new adventure with Lee, far north

Great for all fans of His Dark Materials . New story with Mr Lee Scoresbey.

Lee and Lorek

I liked how it tells the meeting of Lee and Lorek met. would like more stories of Lee or Lorek

Great story just didn't like some of the narration

I didn't much like the voice of Lee Scoresbe, It didn't seem to match what I imagined his character to sound like. I was expecting it to be lower. I also didn't enjoy how they had Iorek talk.