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A review by libellum_aphrodite
La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
3.0
I spent most of this book excited for when I could finish it and start my umpteenth re-read of His Dark Materials. Immediately inhaling that trilogy (my lovely new copies bought at Oxford itself!) really highlighted how much this book paled in comparison, but it was a decent read.
[very light spoilers]
We learned a few interesting bits of history:
* how Lyra came to live at Jordan under scholastic sanctuary
* the origin of her alethiometer
* early Dust scholarship (Rusakov field / particles) and the various branches of the Church
But the remainder of the book was a tour of more fantastical creatures and phenomena from Lyra's world, largely fairy lore awoken during when the river floods.[0] While an interesting lesson on the fairy branch of magic, readers of His Dark Materials already know Lyra's world is filled with imaginary beings merely fantasy here - witches and armored bears and daemons and more - and adding fairies to the list this late in the game doesn't much contribute much to that world building.
Malcom and Alice have a touching dynamic, but don't come close to Will and Lyra chemistry.
One point that rather enraged me was Mrs. Coulter suddenly described as blonde: "She was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen: young and golden-haired and sweet-faced, …" The original trilogy repeatedly describes her with long, sleek, black hair, but apparently Pullman cowtowed to Hollywood. From https://hdm.fandom.com/wiki/Marisa_Coulter :
If I ever get an edition of His Dark Materials where Mrs. Coulter is blonde, into the donation box it goes (fear not, my new Oxford ones are ok! I triple checked). This sort of retroactive meddling did not turn out well for George Lucas and Pullman should proceed with caution.
An unrelated (to this review or book) but impressive note from that wiki:
[0] It so happened that shortly before reading this book I listened to this Imaginary Worlds episode about fairies, which was an excellent primer on Celtic culture and fairy folklore: https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/don-t-mess-with-the-fairies-1.html
[very light spoilers]
We learned a few interesting bits of history:
* how Lyra came to live at Jordan under scholastic sanctuary
* the origin of her alethiometer
* early Dust scholarship (Rusakov field / particles) and the various branches of the Church
But the remainder of the book was a tour of more fantastical creatures and phenomena from Lyra's world, largely fairy lore awoken during when the river floods.[0] While an interesting lesson on the fairy branch of magic, readers of His Dark Materials already know Lyra's world is filled with imaginary beings merely fantasy here - witches and armored bears and daemons and more - and adding fairies to the list this late in the game doesn't much contribute much to that world building.
Malcom and Alice have a touching dynamic, but don't come close to Will and Lyra chemistry.
One point that rather enraged me was Mrs. Coulter suddenly described as blonde: "She was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen: young and golden-haired and sweet-faced, …" The original trilogy repeatedly describes her with long, sleek, black hair, but apparently Pullman cowtowed to Hollywood. From https://hdm.fandom.com/wiki/Marisa_Coulter :
Although Northern Lights originally described Mrs Coulter as having "sleek black hair", after Nicole Kidman's performance, Philip Pullman has said in an interview that he "was clearly wrong"[9] about her hair colour. All works published after The Golden Compass have described her as blonde and more recent editions of Northern Lights have been amended to describe her as having "sleek fair hair".
If I ever get an edition of His Dark Materials where Mrs. Coulter is blonde, into the donation box it goes (fear not, my new Oxford ones are ok! I triple checked). This sort of retroactive meddling did not turn out well for George Lucas and Pullman should proceed with caution.
An unrelated (to this review or book) but impressive note from that wiki:
Mrs Coulter was named the third biggest villain in the Big Bad Read poll after Lord Voldemort and Sauron.[10]
[0] It so happened that shortly before reading this book I listened to this Imaginary Worlds episode about fairies, which was an excellent primer on Celtic culture and fairy folklore: https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/don-t-mess-with-the-fairies-1.html