My first experience with Pullman was some years ago, in my attempt to read His Dark Materials series, which I gave up somewhere in the first hundred pages. Right now, I would be able to neither recall what those pages contained, except for a few very vague points, nor why I stopped reading. Back then, it just failed to grip me, I guess. So I was understandably wary about the Sally Lockhart series that my friend Shanra presented me with, despite her noting that this series is quite different. I figured that the Read-A-Thon was the perfect time to try out the first book of the series, The Ruby in the Smoke, and I was delighted to find it the most engaging book among the ones I’ve picked for the event, and the first one I finished after the readathon conclusion.
The events are set in Victorian London, where we follow the series’ title character, Sally Lockhart as she tries to find out more of the mysterious circumstances of her father’s death and, as is often the case when one tries to uncover mysteries, finds more than she had bargained for.
