Reviews with content warning for Blood - La Belle Sauvage

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

10 reviews

montereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

As a fan of His Dark Materials, I loved this prequel—from the disparate buts of familiar information trickling in, to the delight of baby Lyra, to the dreamlike (and at times nightmarish) wonder of the flooded world. Malcolm’s calm, steadfast character also shone.

However, on its own merits, the book is in many ways lacking. Alice is spirited, but doesn’t really contribute anything to the journey except childcare, a kind of pigeonholing I didn’t expect from Pullman after as phenomenal a protagonist as Lyra. This irritated me throughout, as she had such potential. Beyond that, the purpose of the whole narrative relies entirely on who Lyra is established to be in the central trilogy. I’m not sure what reading this is like if you aren’t already invested.

Overall, seriously worth the read for big fans of HDM. However, if you’re new to Pullman and wondering if his more recent work is the better place to start, I don’t think I recommend these.

Content Warnings

tifftastic87's review

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was such a quick and good read and it was wonderful to go back into the world of Pullman.

Content Warnings

angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I've been very generous with the hig ratings lately, but I can't help it when so many books are good.

It's been a while since I read His Dark Materials, but I absolutely love this return of the universe. It's obvious how Malcolm Polstead influenced Lyra's subconsciousness.

However, I must admit that this book starts off so incredibly with so many amazing areas to explore, and it really raises your expectations on the story-to-come, but in the second half most of these things are pretty much just dropped? The League of St. Alexander, for example, was something I really really liked and wanted more explored in the book.

I have to leave off a note on how amazing the names in this book are, though. I will never seize to fall in love with Pullman's choices on character names. Malcolm, Asta, Asriel, Sophonax, Pantalaimon, Coram van Texel??? So sexy. Not to mention the beautiful image of the Trout you get in the first chapter—with the terrace over the water and the two peacocks.

I absolutely recommend this book.

Content Warnings

idailf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

moonybombadil's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

katie_345's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline, however it was too dark for me I especially didn’t like the animal cruelty - it made me feel uncomfortable and a little bit sick reading it.

P.s this book left some stuff unresolved as it’s a first of three, also this book doesn’t really talk about Dust or get into it in nearly as much detail as it does other topics ... the title could be misleading but we might find out more about dust in the follow up novel (not that I’ll read it for fear it will mentally scar me!😂 😳)

“This was all very difficult “- Malcolm - I hear ya Malcolm, me too!

“Then there was the word Dust, with a capital D as if it wasn’t ordinary dust but something special.” - Malcolm

“The weather office, so highly regarded by some of the drinkers at the trout and disdained by others, did what they always did and told their attendants exactly what they could have seen by looking at the sky.”

“It’s a nice life being a baby!” - Malcolm

“Nothing she had ever seen or heard , had pleased her more then this crazy plunge down a waterfall in the total darkness” - Malcolm

Content Warnings