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annir's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Classism, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Rape
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Religious bigotry
bookishwondergoth's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I actually kinda loved this. The Book of Dust isn’t a patch on the original His Dark Materials trilogy, but this instalment still had bags of intrigue, magic and philosophy; it was definitely quite significantly better than book 1 in the trilogy, ‘La Belle Sauvage’.
It was really lovely to be back with Lyra and Pan again and to explore their relationship in a whole new way after certain events in ‘The Amber Spyglass’. I also really enjoyed how all the rationality and atheist leanings in the first trilogy were explored and deepened to order to take into account things like spirituality, imagination and faith.
The pacing for this book is very slow and at times a bit plodding, especially Malcolm Polstead’s chapters. I also thought it was a bit… hmmm… 🚩🚩🚩 what Pullman has decided to do with Malcolm and Lyra in terms of where their relationship is going. These are the things that brought my rating down.
I love both Lyra and Pan very much and I want nothing but the best for them. They both went through the wringer in this book, but it was so well done and felt necessary.
After avoiding reading this book for so long given how disappointed I was with ‘La Belle Sauvage’, I’m really happy I’ve read this now and can genuinely look forward to the release of the final book in this trilogy.
It was really lovely to be back with Lyra and Pan again and to explore their relationship in a whole new way after certain events in ‘The Amber Spyglass’. I also really enjoyed how all the rationality and atheist leanings in the first trilogy were explored and deepened to order to take into account things like spirituality, imagination and faith.
The pacing for this book is very slow and at times a bit plodding, especially Malcolm Polstead’s chapters. I also thought it was a bit… hmmm… 🚩🚩🚩 what Pullman has decided to do with Malcolm and Lyra in terms of where their relationship is going. These are the things that brought my rating down.
I love both Lyra and Pan very much and I want nothing but the best for them. They both went through the wringer in this book, but it was so well done and felt necessary.
After avoiding reading this book for so long given how disappointed I was with ‘La Belle Sauvage’, I’m really happy I’ve read this now and can genuinely look forward to the release of the final book in this trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Gun violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Cursing
Minor: Classism and Torture
Additional content warning not listed:crufts's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Arghh! What a frustrating book... Firstly, it basically ends on an unfinished cliffhanger. Secondly, it started off superbly only to divebomb at the end.
The Secret Commonwealth is the second book in this trilogy by Phillip Pullman, following La Belle Sauvage, which I reviewed here.
Twenty years after the events of the first book, our previous protagonist Malcolm Polstead is now 31 years old and a college professor. Our deuteragonist Alice has also grown up and gone to work at the college. But most of the book instead follows Lyra, who is no longer the baby that Malcolm and Alice rescued, but a 20-year-old college scholar.
Having experienced the events of the His Dark Materials trilogy in her youth and sworn against the religious Magisterium, Lyra has grown into a cynical, skeptical adult. Without religion, she feels like the universe is cold, uncaring and meaningless - the "random jostling of atoms". Her romantic forays have turned into dead ends and her studies with the aleithiometer are a struggle. She even starts to believe a popular author's thesis that dæmons are "just imaginary".
Alienated by this cynical Lyra, her dæmon Pantalaimon begins to argue with her. The passages about their conflict are some of the best in the book: they not only reveal Pan and Lyra's feelings but also the philosophical discussions that we love to see in a Pullman novel. The audiobook narrator's performance elevates these sections even further.
Lyra's troubles continue when she discovers that the Magisterium knows about her existence at the college, and they are still trying to hunt her down. This made for a great inciting incident. And the bad guys involved are such slimy bastards, likethe new head of the college , that I was seething on Lyra's behalf.
The novel continued on strongly until, bizarrely, Lyra andMalcolm develop a mutual unspoken crush on eachother. Putting their difference of age aside, I just didn't see the point of this mutual crush since it doesn't go anywhere. I would have understood it if it was used to show that Lyra is still pining after Will (because Malcolm has parallels to Will), but ultimately realizes she has to move on and "build the Republic of Heaven where she is" . But that's not what happened - the two are separated at a certain point in the story and that's it. No conclusion.
The other bizarre plot event was the attemptedsexual assault on Lyra. This came off as really weird and inappropriate.
Most annoyingly, the ending of this book feels just as incomplete as the previous one. It's very much a "To Be Continued". For a book that's just under 700 pages, you would expect to have accomplished some kind of conclusion in that time, but no. This problem colours the entire ending of the book, which has Lyra still investigating secrets in an anticlimactic fashion rather than engaging in a showdown or final conflict.
Overall, I did enjoy the book and was interested to know what would happen next, but these issues definitely marred the narrative.
The Secret Commonwealth is the second book in this trilogy by Phillip Pullman, following La Belle Sauvage, which I reviewed here.
Twenty years after the events of the first book, our previous protagonist Malcolm Polstead is now 31 years old and a college professor. Our deuteragonist Alice has also grown up and gone to work at the college. But most of the book instead follows Lyra, who is no longer the baby that Malcolm and Alice rescued, but a 20-year-old college scholar.
Having experienced the events of the His Dark Materials trilogy in her youth and sworn against the religious Magisterium, Lyra has grown into a cynical, skeptical adult. Without religion, she feels like the universe is cold, uncaring and meaningless - the "random jostling of atoms". Her romantic forays have turned into dead ends and her studies with the aleithiometer are a struggle. She even starts to believe a popular author's thesis that dæmons are "just imaginary".
Alienated by this cynical Lyra, her dæmon Pantalaimon begins to argue with her. The passages about their conflict are some of the best in the book: they not only reveal Pan and Lyra's feelings but also the philosophical discussions that we love to see in a Pullman novel. The audiobook narrator's performance elevates these sections even further.
Lyra's troubles continue when she discovers that the Magisterium knows about her existence at the college, and they are still trying to hunt her down. This made for a great inciting incident. And the bad guys involved are such slimy bastards, like
The novel continued on strongly until, bizarrely, Lyra and
The other bizarre plot event was the attempted
Most annoyingly, the ending of this book feels just as incomplete as the previous one. It's very much a "To Be Continued". For a book that's just under 700 pages, you would expect to have accomplished some kind of conclusion in that time, but no. This problem colours the entire ending of the book, which has Lyra still investigating secrets in an anticlimactic fashion rather than engaging in a showdown or final conflict.
Overall, I did enjoy the book and was interested to know what would happen next, but these issues definitely marred the narrative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Murder and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Religious bigotry
erinwolf1997's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Sexual assault
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, War, Vomit, Abandonment, Gore, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Stalking, and Child abuse
hanathemah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Xenophobia
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