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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Need to stop picking up book series' that aren't published!
Was nice to read this after the latest season of His Dark Materials came out to give us a bit of a cheeky recap between [b:La Belle Sauvage|34128219|La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1)|Philip Pullman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498930382l/34128219._SX50_.jpg|14190696] and this book.
Was nice to read this after the latest season of His Dark Materials came out to give us a bit of a cheeky recap between [b:La Belle Sauvage|34128219|La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1)|Philip Pullman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498930382l/34128219._SX50_.jpg|14190696] and this book.
My only issue is the forcing of the insufferable relationship between Malcolm and Lyra - it’s so obvious the way the plot line is moving towards it. I appreciate that Malcolm is being set up as a hero, and perhaps the objective is to show that everyone grows out of their childhood lives...but personally I can’t stand him!
Other than that, I think Philip Pullman’s done a great job of coming up with a whole new fantastic lore, that remains creative and imaginative, yet ties out nicely to his original 3 works of art. I personally saw the brief period chat, the way Lyra handled the (horrendous to sit through, I still can’t think about it) attempted rape scene, and his description of Lyra’s thoughts throughout, surprisingly modern and representative than you’d expect for a male author of his age.
The whole idea of a secret commonwealth and the challenging of everything you hold true as a child was so perfectly represented by Pan as her childhood self, and Lyra growing up and becoming jaded with these fantasies. I felt like these storylines ran parallel to that of real life, of growing up, and becoming someone you didn’t think you would, from all these external influences.
Other than that, I think Philip Pullman’s done a great job of coming up with a whole new fantastic lore, that remains creative and imaginative, yet ties out nicely to his original 3 works of art. I personally saw the brief period chat, the way Lyra handled the (horrendous to sit through, I still can’t think about it) attempted rape scene, and his description of Lyra’s thoughts throughout, surprisingly modern and representative than you’d expect for a male author of his age.
The whole idea of a secret commonwealth and the challenging of everything you hold true as a child was so perfectly represented by Pan as her childhood self, and Lyra growing up and becoming jaded with these fantasies. I felt like these storylines ran parallel to that of real life, of growing up, and becoming someone you didn’t think you would, from all these external influences.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
It feels like Pullman just picked a random place to stop. The end has zero closure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
always happy to be back into the world of His Dark Materials could have used them skipping the weird attraction between the older man and the just recently adult Lyra, pleas stop, bad Phillip, bad
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I go into this review freely admitting that of the His Dark Materials series, I have only read the first book, and so, perhaps, luckily, unlike many other readers, I am not disappointed in Lyra as a young adult. The Book of Dust series started with La Belle Sauvage, a backstory to how Lyra gets to Jordan College as a baby, and while I enjoyed it, it had a dreamlike quality, a string of events that didn't necessarily have an arc, so much as a flow. Here, we've skipped past the materials of His Dark Materials and Lyra is now a 20-year-old student at St. Sophia's, and she and Pan have grown apart to the point that they can't bear to be around each other.
Many reviews have been unhappy with the book for one of two reasons. One, Lyra has changed. Lyra has become the epitome of the cynical college student, mistaking cynicism for intelligence. In a July 18, 2018 review of a study on cynicism, Ephrat Livni, in Quartz says “Self-identified cynics pride themselves on skepticism and their ability to be wary of other people’s motives as a sign of discerning intelligence.” Of course, the study finds that “cynicism isn’t as smart as we think it is” (the article’s title) and Pullman would seem to agree. Lyra can no longer read her alethiometer without the aid of books, and Pan tells her it is her lack of imagination, her rejection of anything but the concrete, that has changed her and pulled them apart.
Of course there is a load more going on. The Magisterium is not only still running the world, but a man named Marcel Delamare becomes a more direct threat to freedom of thought, and uses the Magisterium for his own ends. There’s another Bonneville; and Malcolm Polstead, Alice and Hannah all make return appearances. Secret relationships are slowly revealed, and the mystery surrounding a simple vial of rose water comes into sharper focus. And that juggling act, and slow burn are the second reason that some reviewers have been unhappy.
But if you are willing to give this book some time, Pullman works his magic. Yes, it is a slow burn, and this is a doorstop of a book, but when all the individual fuses start to burn, they come together in a magnificent explosion of action and understanding. I simply could not put this book down once I got to the last third. Sleep, laundry, family, they all took second place as bomb after bomb went off in my brain. It’s a pretty amazing trick to leave the reader with a cliffhanger, yet feeling satisfied with the conclusion of a middle-of-the-series book, but Pullman has done it. Don’t let the teen/YA marketing throw you off, this is an important book, and an important series.
Many reviews have been unhappy with the book for one of two reasons. One, Lyra has changed. Lyra has become the epitome of the cynical college student, mistaking cynicism for intelligence. In a July 18, 2018 review of a study on cynicism, Ephrat Livni, in Quartz says “Self-identified cynics pride themselves on skepticism and their ability to be wary of other people’s motives as a sign of discerning intelligence.” Of course, the study finds that “cynicism isn’t as smart as we think it is” (the article’s title) and Pullman would seem to agree. Lyra can no longer read her alethiometer without the aid of books, and Pan tells her it is her lack of imagination, her rejection of anything but the concrete, that has changed her and pulled them apart.
Of course there is a load more going on. The Magisterium is not only still running the world, but a man named Marcel Delamare becomes a more direct threat to freedom of thought, and uses the Magisterium for his own ends. There’s another Bonneville; and Malcolm Polstead, Alice and Hannah all make return appearances. Secret relationships are slowly revealed, and the mystery surrounding a simple vial of rose water comes into sharper focus. And that juggling act, and slow burn are the second reason that some reviewers have been unhappy.
But if you are willing to give this book some time, Pullman works his magic. Yes, it is a slow burn, and this is a doorstop of a book, but when all the individual fuses start to burn, they come together in a magnificent explosion of action and understanding. I simply could not put this book down once I got to the last third. Sleep, laundry, family, they all took second place as bomb after bomb went off in my brain. It’s a pretty amazing trick to leave the reader with a cliffhanger, yet feeling satisfied with the conclusion of a middle-of-the-series book, but Pullman has done it. Don’t let the teen/YA marketing throw you off, this is an important book, and an important series.
This felt more like a return to His Dark Materials than La Belle Sauvage