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jennybpenny's review against another edition
5.0
"She worked hard all day, and when there was a knock on the front door in the late afternoon, her thoughts had begun to turn teawards."
theglossreview's review against another edition
2.0
I’ve read The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage twice. I see that I originally gave it 4 stars. However, I believe that that rating was inflated by my WISH to like this book. I had high expectations before buying it. For years, I wasn’t able to admit that my expectations were disappointed.
Now, I feel like the story is too insubstantial to warrant such a long book. The plot is drawn out and dreary. Terrible things happen. Apart from the presence of baby Lyra and the prose, there is nothing positive to be found here.
Sadly, my new rating for this book is 2 stars.
Now, I feel like the story is too insubstantial to warrant such a long book. The plot is drawn out and dreary. Terrible things happen. Apart from the presence of baby Lyra and the prose, there is nothing positive to be found here.
Sadly, my new rating for this book is 2 stars.
dromwald's review against another edition
4.0
Not usually a great fan of prequels particularly if they take place only a few years before the original story. However I have to say that I really enjoyed this return to Pullman's Universe; the story draws you in and is full of those same dark elements that were part of the His Dark Materials trilogy.
weirdpotato's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition
3.0
I spent most of this book excited for when I could finish it and start my umpteenth re-read of His Dark Materials. Immediately inhaling that trilogy (my lovely new copies bought at Oxford itself!) really highlighted how much this book paled in comparison, but it was a decent read.
[very light spoilers]
We learned a few interesting bits of history:
* how Lyra came to live at Jordan under scholastic sanctuary
* the origin of her alethiometer
* early Dust scholarship (Rusakov field / particles) and the various branches of the Church
But the remainder of the book was a tour of more fantastical creatures and phenomena from Lyra's world, largely fairy lore awoken during when the river floods.[0] While an interesting lesson on the fairy branch of magic, readers of His Dark Materials already know Lyra's world is filled with imaginary beings merely fantasy here - witches and armored bears and daemons and more - and adding fairies to the list this late in the game doesn't much contribute much to that world building.
Malcom and Alice have a touching dynamic, but don't come close to Will and Lyra chemistry.
One point that rather enraged me was Mrs. Coulter suddenly described as blonde: "She was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen: young and golden-haired and sweet-faced, …" The original trilogy repeatedly describes her with long, sleek, black hair, but apparently Pullman cowtowed to Hollywood. From https://hdm.fandom.com/wiki/Marisa_Coulter :
If I ever get an edition of His Dark Materials where Mrs. Coulter is blonde, into the donation box it goes (fear not, my new Oxford ones are ok! I triple checked). This sort of retroactive meddling did not turn out well for George Lucas and Pullman should proceed with caution.
An unrelated (to this review or book) but impressive note from that wiki:
[0] It so happened that shortly before reading this book I listened to this Imaginary Worlds episode about fairies, which was an excellent primer on Celtic culture and fairy folklore: https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/don-t-mess-with-the-fairies-1.html
[very light spoilers]
We learned a few interesting bits of history:
* how Lyra came to live at Jordan under scholastic sanctuary
* the origin of her alethiometer
* early Dust scholarship (Rusakov field / particles) and the various branches of the Church
But the remainder of the book was a tour of more fantastical creatures and phenomena from Lyra's world, largely fairy lore awoken during when the river floods.[0] While an interesting lesson on the fairy branch of magic, readers of His Dark Materials already know Lyra's world is filled with imaginary beings merely fantasy here - witches and armored bears and daemons and more - and adding fairies to the list this late in the game doesn't much contribute much to that world building.
Malcom and Alice have a touching dynamic, but don't come close to Will and Lyra chemistry.
One point that rather enraged me was Mrs. Coulter suddenly described as blonde: "She was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen: young and golden-haired and sweet-faced, …" The original trilogy repeatedly describes her with long, sleek, black hair, but apparently Pullman cowtowed to Hollywood. From https://hdm.fandom.com/wiki/Marisa_Coulter :
Although Northern Lights originally described Mrs Coulter as having "sleek black hair", after Nicole Kidman's performance, Philip Pullman has said in an interview that he "was clearly wrong"[9] about her hair colour. All works published after The Golden Compass have described her as blonde and more recent editions of Northern Lights have been amended to describe her as having "sleek fair hair".
If I ever get an edition of His Dark Materials where Mrs. Coulter is blonde, into the donation box it goes (fear not, my new Oxford ones are ok! I triple checked). This sort of retroactive meddling did not turn out well for George Lucas and Pullman should proceed with caution.
An unrelated (to this review or book) but impressive note from that wiki:
Mrs Coulter was named the third biggest villain in the Big Bad Read poll after Lord Voldemort and Sauron.[10]
[0] It so happened that shortly before reading this book I listened to this Imaginary Worlds episode about fairies, which was an excellent primer on Celtic culture and fairy folklore: https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/don-t-mess-with-the-fairies-1.html
tarawe's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It isn't as good as I remember the original series being but it compliments the world really well. I'm going to continue reading the series as it comes out.
sians's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
marcia_arguelles's review against another edition
I started ready and everytime I tried understanding what was going on my brain would explode so I just gave up