Les royaumes du nord #1

Based on Philip Pullman's beloved novel, this first volume from Gallimard brings the world of His Dark Materials to stunning graphic-novel form, adapted by Stéphane Melchior with art by Clément Oubrerie. The cover sets an immediately atmospheric tone: a young girl — unmistakably Lyra — sits small and contemplative at the base of a vast, looming vessel, her daemon companion (a sleek, leopard-like creature) curled nearby, while a great airship drifts through a twilit, aurora-streaked sky above a distant cityscape. It's a quietly breathtaking image that perfectly balances the wonder and melancholy at the heart of Pullman's world.