Philip Pullman, The Ruby in the Smoke

The Ruby in the Smoke has to be without a doubt one of the worst books I have ever encountered. It lacks interesting, well developed characters and has the most bum numbingly boring plot. I didn't know what was going on half the time because it was just so tedious. I have never read any other of Philip Pullman's books and I am not planning to. How anyone can enjoy this book is beyond me. We read it in class and it was the worst half term of my life. I have three words to sum up this book: Generic, boring and plotless. Could someone please tell me why you like this book? Anyone? I guess not. It is God awful. I give it a one out of five and if I could I would give it zero because it is just that bad.

Ruby and the smoke is a jaw dropping action and mystery film packed full to the rim with murder slaughter hate jealousy and rage. The main character miss veronica Lockhart also known as sally Lockhart who of which had her father killed by the sinking of his ship the lavinia so this starts the whole story of as she investigates the case getting into loads of other insistence and she later runs into ruby story so she tries to get involved in it

I think that the book was absolutely amazing. If people do not like it, or do not understand it, that does not mean that it is not an excellent book. In my opinion, the language was very easy and simple, and the plot was fairly easy to understand. I only got confused with that last bit regarding Hendrik Van Eeden, but after some thought that was all perfectly cleared up. People who do not like the Victorian setting, or who find this type of language difficult, or who do not enjoy such books full stop, should not read it, because they will unneccesarily complain about it.

A think that the characters were all described perfectly. I understood each and every one of them. The plot was very interesting with surprising twists that shocked me, and made perfect sense once a little thought was put into it.

When I was twelve, I hated the book because I was too much of an ignorant twit to understand it. Now I'm fourteen and I read it in a day and loved it! I think both halves of the book are excellent, and I don't think people should complain about the lack of action, because, in my opinion, there was plenty of perfectly-described action.

Many people do not seem to understand the significance of the Ruby. It is very simple: wealth. Wealth leads to power. Any power-hungry or exceedingly poor person would crave it. Anyone who did not have enough money for, let's say opium, would kill for that Ruby. It is very natural that Mrs Holland should want it. (Especially with her insane way of thinking.)

My favourite character was Jim, because he was brave and clever and rude and funny.

Anyone who liked The Ruby in the Smoke should definitely read the Shadow in the North.

Another thing that annoys me is that people are always comparing the Sally Lockhart series to His Dark Materials. Yes, His Dark Materials was amazing and perfect and everything brilliant, but Sally Lockhart books have NOTHING to do with His Dark Materials. It is a different story, with different characters, with different plots, and a different setting. The two stories should be separated: one is fantasy, the other leans more towards mystery. Do not compare the two with one another. That is just like comparing Twilight with Harry Potter. Twilight is a paranormal teenage romance. Harry Potter is a fantasy adventure for children. The two have NOTHING to do with each other; one person may like Twilight more, the other person Harry Potter. Where did this emnity come from anyway? It makes no sense. Anyway, a bit off track there... The point is, two separate stories with nothing in common should not be judged. The only common denominator His Dark Materials and Sally Lockhart share are the author. That does not mean that the stories will be similar, so stop being disappointed when you find that they are not!

In conclusion, people who do not like the Victorian setting,are not fans of mystery, or do not enjoy or do not have the ability to use their brains, should not read this book, because they will give it a bad image which it DOES NOT DESERVE. It was a perfectly decent book and many readers have enjoyed it immensely (including myself).

I loved the Ruby in the smoke, I'm reading it for a school project. Some people hate it and I can see why they would. It does seem a bit confusing but if you just read over what you read then you'll get it. My class mates do seem to enjoy it quite a bit and btw we're only 13. I find the storyline great. I think you just have to have an aquired 'taste' to be able to enjoy the book. Philip pullmans book may be hatd to get into but once you read on past the first chapter it is a real page turner.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, it has a bit of everything; adventure, excitement, romance...

I intend to read the sequel- The shadow in the north.

P.s The shadow in the north is brilliant aswell. There are loads of murders and deaths in the rest of the sequels after the shadow in the north and un expected events. You should definately read on...Something VERY un expected happens.

rubbish, boring and deprrsesing

I would not recommend this book to anyone. I was a huge fan of Pullman; I worshipped the ground he walked on after reading his dark materials. But The ruby in the smoke was one of the most boring books I have ever had the displeasure of reading. Sally is quite possibly the most mundane heroine I have ever encountered in a novel, she's generic and boring. I am still unaware of the significance the ruby had at all, if it was just because everyone wanted it for money that's very lacklustre. Overall Pullman really disappointed me with this, I don't plan on reading any of the sequels.

I really wouldn't reccomend this book. I personally didn't like this, because - although I admit it is good writing in some points, the book itself makes no sense whatsoever. It is extremely complicated and it takes a great deal of concentration and re-reading to get your head around the storyline. I never understood the point of 'the Ruby' and all I really got was something about opium and an evil lady of some sort. I think there are parts of it (like the opium den) that are not bad, but I don't think that when all the scenes are put together it makes a book that is enjoyable to read. We read this as a book project for school, so I don't know if I judged it because of that.

The Ruby in the Smoke was honestly one of the most boring books in my opinion ever (partly because we read it as a group for a project, it still would have been pretty bad though).

Everything is just too dang complicated! The book also made the main point of the story extremely hard to understand. They should have simplified the book a lot.

Even after seeing the movie and reading the book I still don't see the ruby's significance. But that might be because I was too bored to pay attention to such a boring book.

The very start of the book is pretty good, but after you get past the letter (which is like 20 minutes into the book...) the next 2/3 of the book is just a huge dragging amount of facts and facts that you eventually skim because you just want to know what happens.

The problem comes at the skim, as the book is so boring, you don't know a lot of the basic things. When the book starts to get interesting, you have no clue whats going on because the start of the book is just too danm boring!

DO NOT READ. EVER!!

Have a nice day :)

I am reading The Ruby In The Smoke for a group reading project in school and I hate it! The plot is incredibly complicated and the language is complicated. Most importantly you should NEVER READ THIS BOOK AS A GROUP as it goes even more slowly than reading in your head and bores you to death. I would not reccomend reading this book to anyone who does not want to extremely challenge themself.

Philip Pullman, The Ruby in the Smoke was a very good book and it had a good twist to it although there are a few swear words in there..

this is a great book ,although until you get to the end your a bit confused