Short version: Tedious and utterly unnecessary prequel to the brilliant Dark Materials series. DO NOT READ.Long version:(view spoiler)[Where to even begin with this turkey? The first half reads like Pullman had a word count he wanted to meet and he would write anything to reach it, knowing that fans would lap it up regardless. Even writing about what characters were having for dinner. Or breakfast. Or lunch. Or snacks. Or to drink. So much repetitive, unnecessary text! So many characters sitting...

A wonderful way to start off the new year, especially with the cold and the wet everywhere. I loved the slow pace of the first half, all of the details that brought life to sweet, curious Malcolm's world. I loved the thrill of the second half: its many surreal and threatening episodes, the rise of Malcolm's rage-dogs, the faerie queen and the witch queen, the bravery, and everything to do with grouchy Alice. The appalling villain Gerard Bonneville (and his three-legged hyena daemon) was fascinat...

4ish stars. My first experience with the Pullman-verse. I never read The Golden Compass, but reading this makes me want to. Malcolm is a great character, and the adventure he embarks on is exciting and interesting. There are some great secondary characters as well, particularly Hannah Relf. I wonder if/hope that they appear in the original series?? The tone is dark and adult for a book obviously meant for a younger audience (including f-bombs, sexual assault), but it's still very much a YA/child...

EDIT 29/05/2017: TITLE TITLE TITLE. IT IS SO LOVELY. AND THERE IS A BLURB TOO!EDIT 15/02/2017: This comes out in October -do you know what that means? It means that Simona is going to re-read all three books of His Dark Materials before then! Yay!

must a book be good? Is it not enough for me to just enjoy the daemons and get excited when a character from the original trilogy appears??rtc

We delve back in to alternate-world Oxford, miles from armoured bears but surrounded yet again by daemons and the mysterious alethiometers, following a young boy named Malcolm who is stuck in a world where young working-class boys are mostly discouraged from learning beyond their schooling and are fervently taught that religion is the only truth.There is really no great ingenuity here that came previously with His Dark Materials and honestly, that is the only place to start with Philip Pullman.

Philip Pullman is my hero. He is the pinnacle of how an author can make you care about a character. He took a HUGE risk by not relying on established fan-favorite characters to sell this new book. Instead, we have a new character named Malcolm who meets Lyra as an infant. We have a front row seat as Malcolm embarks on many new adventures. This book was page-turning. I caught myself up at 3:30 am reading this book. It was very captivating. Here is the link to my more in-depth review (admittedly o...

objectively speaking, if you divorce it from HDM, it's probably a 5 star. however, considering how utterly superb HDM is, and considering this a prequel, giving it the same score would imply that i found them to be on a par, or at least nearly so. and i did not. i liked it a lot, but it just wasn't, y'know, His Dark Materials. typically good pullman-esque character building though, and i am very excited to see where the story goes next.

3.5? I was excited to read more from that world. I have to say the book left me a bit... unsatisfied? I wanted more and I will continue reading this series but it mostly felt like an intro, not a full book.However, it made me want to reread His Dark Materials ASAP!

*Possible spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.*I cannot believe that I am rating this book 2 stars.This was my most anticipated read of 2017. After reading His Dark Materials last year and falling in love with the world and having the story shatter me and embed itself deeply into my soul, I was so excited for this book, I would honestly go to bed smiling sometimes thinking about how awesome this book was going to be. I think it's safe to say that how I'm feeling now, after reading it, is a litt...

This was really good. I liked it better than His Dark Materials. The characters were better drawn, the story was more interesting and it really seemed not to be aimed at the same market. There were references to sexual activity and rape and some of the scenes were quite brutal. Not really appropriate for children at all.However I enjoyed it very much indeed. I must admit that credit should be given to Michael Sheen, the narrator of the audiobook. His impersonation of the laugh of a rabid jackal

I'm not sure how much is nostalgia for His Dark Materials, but I really liked this book. I wish that I could remember more of The Faerie Queene

We return into the world of Lyra Belacqua and His Dark Materials with The Book of Dust, a companion triology that begins with La Belle Sauvage, taking place during Lyra's infancy. As with the original trilogy, The Book of Dust shines when it comes to world-building and classical adaptation. Anyone who has started The Golden Compass will be drawn in by daemons, animal-like creatures that represent your soul. Your daemon shape-shifts throughout your childhood before settling into one form, a lifel...

Malcolm tried to remember the fairy tales he knew. Could you bargain with fairies? Did they keep their promises? It's hard to believe, but I was ten years old when I first read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Along with Harry Potter, it is one of the standout reads of my childhood and, perhaps, my entire life. So, obviously, when I heard about La Belle Sauvage, I simply had to bury my skepticism and read it.And I think this book digs up the past pretty well. I’ve had mixed feelings abou

Phillip Pullman is clearly capable of great things. He achieves an absolute mastery of tone, style and plot in The Golden Compass. However, I found none of that mastery in this book. Admittedly, I had major reservations going into it; yet, for all that, I did approach it with an open mind. I tried to appreciate it for what it was, though sadly that really isn’t much to get excited about. The writing is average, the plot slow and the new characters rather bland and ordinary. For me, the biggest p...

The flood changed everything. ... extreme weather had its own state of mind ... I'm usually weary of prequels of any kind. It often sounds like a movie company, author or whoever wants to cash in on past successes. In case of Philip Pullman, I was a bit more optimistic - especially after reading His Dark Materials only last month (I had only known the very first book up to that point). Also, Pullman was indeed asked if this was a prequel, to which he gave the perfect answer, calling i

For everyone who hasn't yet heard the news and is desperate to dive back into Lyra's Oxford: this trilogy is going to be a thing.Find more of my books on Instagram

reread September 2019Pure magic.Wonderful! It feels simpler than Northern Lights, but that may be because we are already used to this alternative Oxford. There are a few new elements of fantasy that I hope will come into play in the sequel. Happily the sequel is already written and should be published later this year. Pullman said in an interview that this was neither a prequel or a sequel, but an equel. But it read like a prequel to me. Malcolm was a most endearing character. I read this with w...

‘La Belle Sauvage’ (2017) is the first part in Philip Pullman’s ‘The Book of Dust’ – companion trilogy and prequel to his much revered and critically acclaimed ‘His Dark Materials’ series (1995-2000). As such, ‘Belle Sauvage’ is set in the same parallel world(s) of an alternative Oxford, London, England et al, where we find ourselves again in the realm of daemons, alethiometers, witches and of course Dust.The story of ‘Belle Sauvage’ centres on Malcolm and Alice, their relationship, the quest or...

BABT http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b099xz23Description: Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon, Asta, live with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford. Across the River Thames (which Malcolm navigates often using his beloved canoe, a boat by the name of La Belle Sauvage) is the Godstow Priory where the nuns live. Malcolm learns they have a guest with them, a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua . . .1/10: We open in Oxford, at The Trout Inn, with a pot boy named Malcolm Polstead, and t