The political intrigue was interesting to consider, as Lee landed on Novy Odense which just discovered oil.  A candidate for mayor - Ivan Dimitrovich Poliakov - campaigns on anti-bear sentiment, but it's really just a front  for a big oil  company. Ah, what makes the world turns round.

As part of Iorek's background is related in His Dark Materials trilogy, I do like how this focuses more on Lee and parts of his life prior to Novy Odense and Lyra. It has been a while since I read the second and third book of HDM, but I think Once Upon a Time in the North has a lot more fabrications made by Lee in order to get out of things, and humor between him and Hester. (We find out Iorek tells them Hester is an arctic hare while she thought she was a "damn jackrabbit!" I laughed out loud at that part.)

Since HDM was set on the blooming of puberty and sexual feelings for Lyra and Will, whereas Lee's already in full blossom, so this book seemed a little more geared towards readers who know what sex is and how casual it can be between humans. There are no actual sex scenes in this book, but Lee's yearning when he meets some women is pretty obvious. There are also a lot more guns in book (I personally don't like them) so the climax is a bit violent, depending on people's tolerance.