Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Secret Commonwealth

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

20 reviews

francisfrancis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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sunandmoon's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

WHY PHILIP WHY do you absolutely want

your 30 something man to fall in love with 21yo LYRA, why did you think it was necessary for her to be assaulted

and then go about her quest almost like nothing had happened? Do you hate her and us that much?
What a disappointment after the beautiful book that was La Belle Sauvage.

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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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thewileyseven's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'll say it: Malcom and Lyra being in love is super contrived and uninteresting. It's giviiiiiing Jorah and Daenerys vibes.

I think Pullman has deftly made the transition from YA to adult with the same characters, which is to be applauded. And I think Lyra's selfhood journey is a smart and realistic one. But I also agree with many of the critiques of this book. Timeline-wise, it feels as though the events of The Amber Spyglass must've been decades ago, when in reality it's been, like, eight years. It feels like the events of those books did absolutely nothing to change the world of Lyra's Oxford, which is bizarre.

Also, I half-agree with some of the discussion around Lyra's sexual assault on the train. Was it necessary? Probably not. But was it handled as badly as some have posited? I don't think so, no.

But despite these critiques, I'll absolutely be picking up the third book, if only because I can't stand not knowing how it ends.

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asourceoffiction's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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? Yes

4.0

I love Pullman's writing and this book was no exception. Despite its length it was not difficult to read and I really enjoyed where the story is going. But I don't think it engaged me in the same way as La Belle Sauvage.

The Secret Commonwealth covers so much ground (geographically and politically, as well as in terms of self discovery). But it has the tendency to feel a little peril-adjacent. For a good chunk of the book the real threat rarely hits the protagonists themselves, and where there is drama it can resolve surprisingly quickly. This very much seems to suffer from being mid-trilogy and it sometimes edges into scene-setting over plot; albeit incredibly interesting and beautifully written scene-setting.

That said, for the last 100 pages or so I was absolutely riveted, there was tension, drama and a hell of a lot of emotion. Some revelations about people with no dæmons intrigued me and I can't wait to read the last installment. But I do feel like I'm not significantly wiser about what's going on than I was at the start, so the third book has an awful lot of gaps to fill.

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