The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust, Volume 1)

PULLMAN, Philip. The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage. Knopf. 2017. 451p. $22.95.Here’s an example of what makes Philip Pullman’s writing so special. It’s early in the first volume of his new fantasy trilogy, The Book of Dust. Malcolm, eleven years old and the son of an innkeeper, is the protagonist. He’s rock solid, good and decent, and observant beyond his years. As in the previous trilogy, His Dark Materials, Malcolm, like everybody in this imagined world, has his own daemon, an opposite sex animal familiar tied to him both geographically (if the familiar moves away from her master, the master must follow) and psychically. The choice of animal for one’s daemon tells something about one’s character. Later in the book, the evil Gerard Bonneville is revealed as having a hyena as his daemon, and unlike the closeness that exists between other masters and their daemons, Bonneville abuses his.Now to the example I promised. Malcolm has just been permitted to see the little baby, six-months-old Lyra, who is being cared for in a nunnery near his father’s inn. Read on."Malcolm had never seen a baby at close quarters, and he was struck at once by how real she seemed. He knew that would be a silly thing to say, so he held his tongue, but that was his impression all the same: it was unexpected that something so small should be so perfectly formed. … Her daemon, the chick of a small bird like a swallow, was asleep with her, but as soon as Asta [Malcolm’s familiar] flew down, swallow-shaped too, and perched on the edge of the crib, the chick woke up and opened his yellow beak wide for food. Malcolm laughed, and that woke the baby, and seeing his laughing face, she began to laugh too. Asta pretended to snap at a small insect and thrust it down the baby daemon’s gaping mouth, which satisfied him, making Malcolm laugh harder, and then the baby laughed so hard she got the hiccups, and every time she hicked, the daemon jumped.“ 'There, there,' said Sister Fenella, and bent to pick her up; but as she lifted the baby, Lyra’s little face crumpled into an expression of grief and terror, and she reached round for her daemon, nearly twisting herself out of the nun’s arms. Astra was ahead of her: she took the little chick in her mouth and flew to place him on the baby’s chest, at which point he turned into a miniature tiger cub and hissed and bared his teeth at everyone. All the baby’s dismay vanished at once, and she lay in Sister Fenella’s arms, looking around with a lordly complacency.Malcolm was enchanted. Everything about her was perfect and delighted him."That’s magical: simply presented but with an aura of wonder to it. And even as the scene is being set –a young boy seeing a baby for the first time—magic (the daemons) intrudes on the scene. You have also a sense of what Malcolm is like and a vague premonition that Lyra’s and Malcolm’s relationship will be important to the rest of the book, probably –possibly? —across the remaining books of this trilogy as well.La Belle Sauvage (the name of Malcolm’s most treasured possession, a canoe) inhabits the same world of magic-physics as the preceding trilogy –sub-atomic dust leaking in through cracks of the world, scientists’ exploitation of the uncertainty principle, a weird but believable instrument that lies half way between astrology and physics and is called the alethiometer, which measures truth but uncertainly. The events of this series take place earlier than the happenings of the previous series but the enemy is the same: a devouring church hierarchy cracks down on heresy, cowing young and old as efficiently as ever did Torquemada. (“How can knowing something be sinful?” Malcolm asks one time.)The first trilogy, His Dark Materials, came close to saving my sanity. It came out when I was leaving for Dubai to take a job twelve time zones away from my family. I was lonely! I needed something all-consuming to read to take my mind off my isolation. I finished the first installment on the plane ride over (twenty-one hours, seventeen on the plane); the second, soon after I arrived; and the third, as soon as it came out --in England, not the United States –it came out there earlier. Like those books, La Belle Sauvage offers small (turns of phrase, particular descriptions of places or people) and large (scary, powerful bad guys, and good guys with interesting characters and pasts; a large-scale, almost cosmic fight for noble goals) pleasures. It will keep the reader reading from start to end with no stop.

I have been waiting sixteen years for this book. If you haven't read His Dark Materials, read those three first. If you already have, all you need to know is that Pullman reaches the same emotional depth, and continues to stare unflinchingly at the pain, loneliness, hope and bravery of the human spirit. I received The Golden Compass as a birthday gift in middle school. I was in Brazil and 14 years old when the The Amber Spyglass came out. I ordered it before the internet made international shipping easy and read it for a day and a half straight. Now I'm 31 and I finished the Book of Dust last night. It was like coming home again. If you, upon discovering The Golden Compass, also felt that you were finally finding answers to questions that rarely get asked, let alone answered, if reading His Dark Materials made you feel more connected to absolutely everything, if you also are disquieted by the extremism that tramples on the cautious, the kind and the considerate, then read The Book of Dust. It won't let you down.

It's hard to write a review of a book that left you conflicted, even if you enjoyed that book. And I did enjoy Philip Pullman's LA BELLE SAUVAGE. In fact, I was overjoyed about revisiting his Victorian-inspired world of steampunk technology, witches, fairies, and (my favorite element by far) daemons. (I still want my own daemon, by the way!) It did take me a couple chapters to feel at home with the world again (then again, it's been 9 or 10 years since I read the Dark Materials Trilogy). But once I did, I quickly grew to like the characters, especially resourceful and helpful Malcolm. What a sweetheart. I admire him for his courage and selflessness in placing infant Lyra's safety above his own, and for his strength in continuing on despite his fears for his family.I think my seesawing feelings about LA BELLE SAUVAGE come from the fact that the first half of the book was stronger than the second half. Watching Malcolm become an amateur spy was both fun and suspenseful, since every minute I was worried whether he'd be found out. It was also gripping to see how the Magisterium operated in the years before Lyra's adventures began, including how they persuaded young children to report alleged acts of heresy. The tension was mounting, and the mysteries surrounding Dust, the Rusakov field, and the world's strange interest in baby Lyra grew more interconnected and layered - and then the flood happened.Actually, the early flood chapters were still thrilling, since Malcolm, his acquaintance Alice, baby Lyra, and their daemons were constantly in danger. But after a while, the plot began to feel episodic, as if Pullman was throwing an obstacle per chapter at the youngsters. So even though a lot is happening, it doesn't feel like the plot is building to a clear climax. And when the climax does come, it's messy and rushed. A few plot threads are left hanging, too, and we never learn the fates of certain characters. Given that Book #2 of the Book of Dust Trilogy will take place about 20 years in the future, with Lyra as the main character, I'm not sure we'll learn all the answers - and if we do, I have a feeling I'll be angry about having to wait that long to find out.So... yeah. I wanted to love LA BELLE SAUVAGE. I probably would have if the ending had been better crafted and more satisfying closure-wise. Here's hoping that Book #2 won't suffer from the same pitfalls.

Was this really Philip Pullman’s work? It seemed so... uninspired. There were moments of life, but l found it so disappointing. Others here have named the problems - characters are rehashed or flat; the villain’s continual resurrections and reappearances; the weird fairy tale interruptions; story gets drawn ouuuuuuuut; unnecessary profane language... I tried so hard to enjoy it but it felt like pastiche, and l wanted a world (Lyra’s.) So if you are up for a patchwork, with some squares made of a wonderful fabric, and quite a lot of squares made of faux liberty... go for it.

Like many other readers, I awaited this book with huge anticipation and pre-ordered it at the first chance. I felt a little underwhelmed and disappointed. It still holds the Pullman style of excellent character building, intrigue and richly detailed descriptions, but I found the story quite dull. It actually took me a little while to read the Book of Dust as I found myself switching to others (something that never happened with the other books). There were some very enjoyable cross-references to the His Dark Materials trilogy, and certainly it seems that an interesting story is building, but I felt this book was just a necessary precursor to the coming two books.

So lovely to be back in the other Oxford completely fallen in love again with the idea of daemons. Love the characters and the introduction of faerie . Couldn't quite get to grips with the idea of Lyra being a baby with a stinky nappy(ugh) but the thought of baby Pan made up for the baby stuff I'm not keen on. Didn't mind the strong language I thought it was in keeping with Alice's character and if you don't want your pre teen to read it because of a few random F' s that's their loss(in my opinion anyway).

La Belle Sauvage has an awful lot to live up to. It's the first of a planned trilogy of prequels to Philip Pullman's rightly celebrated 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. It's been many years since the final novel of that series was published, so for fans like me it was extremely exciting to hear we'd get another chance to inhabit the world created by Pullman for the books. But there's always an element of nervousness about such prequels - will they match the quality of the originals, or somehow undermine them?The answer for this book at least is somewhere in between. The hero is Malcolm, a boy working at his parents' inn and helping out with oddjobs at the local nunnery. Malcolm is a nice, unassuming lad who makes a good central character as he is immediately sympathetic. He reminds me of Will, the hero in the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. Some of the characters from the main series appear here, including Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter, although not in major roles. Lyra, the star of the original novels, has plenty of page time but is only a small baby so doesn't get to shine in her own right.The novel is exciting and bowls along at a good pace. The problem is that, as with any prequel, you know where it is heading. That takes away some of the tension because you know things have to turn out in a certain way. To really succeed, these books would need to find some sort of compelling subplot that doesn't have an immediate link-through the original series and thus hasn't already been spoiled for readers. There isn't that here. However, it is only the first book of three and it's quite possible the story will build and improve throughout the series, which was the case in the original as well.It's certainly a good fantasy adventure and one you'll enjoy reading if you like this genre. It isn't outstanding and it isn't in the same league as the original set of books - but there is potential. I'll certainly want to read the next ones.

I'm guessing that nobody would buy this without having read His Dark Materials Trilogy....... because without having read them, this book won't really mean a great deal.It's OK, but for me, it wasn't great. It is undoubtedly well written, but I wonder if I was expecting too much from it after having enjoyed His Dark Materials so much.Maybe I need to wait for the other books that are yet to come..... its hard to say.What I do know is that at the moment, I'm not planning to re-read this, whereas​ I've read His Dark Materials numerous times.

Too much exposition, too much tell and not enough show, nothing like enough plot, and even less character development, and for extra squick points a very dubious rape (attempted rape? It isn't clear) scene. Bot above all Puillman's otherworld continues to be disjointed and illogical, born of the school of making it up as you go along. What is the tech level, exactly? How come they have speedboats and helicopters but no telecommunications? How much power does the Magisterium actually have? At one point they seem entirely above the law, disappearing citizens at will, yet at others to have no power at all: agents sent to appropriate a baby are foiled by being shouted at by a nun.And what was that really stupid fairy all about?Shoddy, in a word.