Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

13 reviews

annir's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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alixlowe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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amerikinz14's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The main conflict between Lyra and Pan is alright but there were moments where their arguments seemed too harsh. Yes, coming from the end of “The Amber Spyglass”, their relationship is strained. In the original HDM trilogy, I enjoyed Lyra and Pan’s camaraderie and their interactions were one of my favorite aspects. While in “The Secret Commonwealth”, they spend a good portion of the book either arguing with or being separated from each other. It fits the story but it isn’t how I envisioned the characters grown up.

The characters from “La Belle Sauvage” get re-introduced (since TSC takes place when Lyra is 20 years old; years after HDM ends) and I REALLY enjoyed that aspect! Pullman blended the familiar and new characters well.

The plot itself is somewhat confusing. Since the audiobook is 20 hours long, I found myself tuning in and out (and I sped up the narration) which led to some details being lost. I got the gist of it as the book progressed but I think the author tried to cram a lot into the book (which is basically 640 pages), spending time on flushing out less important details. And knowing there will eventually be a third book is very interesting!

Still docking points for the “Unabridged” audiobook version having some vulgar language and a few triggers.

Overall, I like “The Book of Dust”. I prefer the stories of “His Dark Materials” but “The Book of Dust” fits well as a continuation!

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lucecanon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5


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balfies's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

The HBO His Dark Materials finale had got me down so bad that I purchased and read this 700 page tome in a day. I read the first of the Book of Dust trilogy a few years ago and wasn't taken by it, but this was a more compelling read. 

Feels more akin to Pullman's Sally Lockhart series than the rest of His Dark Materials - it is a balancing act between a magical spy thriller and a philosophical argument for the necessity of imagination and folklore. Also they let Lyra drop the f bomb.

Altogether enjoyed it a lot more, and how it expands on the ineffable relationship we have to our souls. Also every ten pages Lyra thinks about Will and misses him and wants to be more like him and that was DEVASTATING.

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kateships's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I am really glad this sequel exists and am waiting patiently for the next one. This does not feel the same as the original series, but Lyra is different herself so it shouldn’t. Do not read this if
you just want a happy story with some kind of Will reunion
because this is not that. It’s complicated and I found it irritating because I just wanted to shake the characters and tell them to figure it out! But I found it to be a realistic version of events post-HDM and it’s fun to get to see more of Lyra growing up and dealing with life. If you loved the original series and want more, this is a good read. 

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theoreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

5.0


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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0


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the_pysselfia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75


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amehlia's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Evil can be unscrupulous, and good can’t. Evil has nothing to stop it doing what it wants, while good has one hand tied behind its back. To do the things it needs to do to win, it’d have to become evil to do ‘em.

After reading La Bell Sauvage, I was excited to continue my journey through The Book of Dust with Pullman’s second instalment in the series, The Secret Commonwealth. This story reunites us with Lyra, now 20-years old and studying at St Sophia’s College, whose relationship with her dæmon Pantalaimon has become strained by her interest in the works of philosopher Simon Talbot and novelist Gottfried Brande, who both argue that dæmons are merely figments of the imagination and denounce anything that isn’t logical or attributable to pure reason. Meanwhile, the Magisterium remains a powerful enemy, and trouble is brewing further east over a rare rose known only to grow in the desert of Karamakan, and the industry of growing the roses and extracting their oil is under threat from mysterious men from the mountains.

The story opens with Lyra in Oxford, and although Lyra is different in many ways to her child self, it was enchanting to be reunited with her in a familiar setting, and I quickly became immersed in the book. Lyra and Pan’s difficult relationship was portrayed very well, and was interesting to read about because it echoed that relationship you sometimes have with yourself when you’re going through something difficult or a period of change. You feel disconnected and dissatisfied, but you can’t pinpoint why. I thought Pullman portrayed this feeling very well through Lyra and Pan as they begin another adventure that places new demands on each of them. I enjoyed the plot, and whilst others have criticised it for being too complicated or containing too many characters and side plots, I don’t think this detracts too much from the overall feel of the book. I read it quite quickly considering it’s over 700 pages long, so the plot and characters were always fresh in my mind and I didn’t find it too difficult to follow. If you’re taking this book at a slower pace, you might find the plot and it’s sub-narratives quite confusing. Compared to La Belle Sauvage, I felt that the pace and plot was more consistent, but less interesting in places. With the first book, I was hooked in the first half but found the second half a bit of a drag, whereas with this book my intrigue was satisfied throughout the whole thing, but I wasn’t enthralled by it. 

This book started out as a strong 5⭐️, but there are a number of things I really didn’t like about this book. There’s a pretty unnecessary love story underlying parts of the narrative, which I’ll go into more detail here:
I loved Malcom Polstead in the first book, and was excited to see him reintroduced, but why, oh why did Pullman have to make him fall in love with Lyra? She is 11-years his junior, he knew her as a baby, and mentored her as a teenager. This aspect of the book I absolutely hate. Malcom should be a guardian figure to Lyra, more of an older-brother, not someone with a creepy infatuation with, essentially, a child. Pullman has to convince the reader that this sort of relationship would be okay, but if you have to write an extended piece of dialogue justifying why you’ve chosen to make a 31-year old man fall in love with a 20-year old woman, you probably know that there’s something inherently wrong with it. Also, why does everyone else in this book seem to know about Malcolm’s feelings considering he only just recognised them himself? And why does no one condemn them? At least twice in the book someone, totally unprompted, comments something like “you’re in love with her, aren’t you?” as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, as if they actually expected it. What was the point of reintroducing Alice in this story, writing her to be a widow just so that she could be Mrs. Lonsdale, and making it seem as if she and Malcom are involved in some way, just to flip the script and have Malcom develop a completely inappropriate infatuation with Lyra? This facet genuinely irritates me, and left it impossible for me to rate this book 5⭐️.
Secondly, there’s a pretty graphic sexual assault that takes place towards the end of the book. Maybe it’s because I recently finished reading another book with a sexual assault, but this part was upsetting for two reasons. First, it’s a reality many of us have experienced in our lives, and when your form of escapism serves to remind you of such experiences, it no longer serves its purpose. Second, fiction does not always have to reflect reality. Most women do not want to read about other women being assaulted by men. Can we at least let fictional women exist without the threat of violence by the hands of men? 

Apart from those two aspects of the book, this probably would’ve been a strong 4.5⭐️ or maybe even a 5⭐️. Of course, the ending was pretty dissatisfying, but this book is a bridge between the first and the last, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m interested to see how Pullman is going to pull everything together in the final book of the trilogy. Overall, this was generally an enjoyable read apart from a couple of aspects, and I’m looking forward to the final instalment of The Book of Dust. 

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