The Book of Dust, Volume One: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

This book is the first part of Pullman’s new trilogy, which is said to be an “equel” to ‘His Dark Materials’. The book follows Malcolm and Alice, a girl who works at Malcom’s parents’ inn. Malcom goes about his day, minding his own business, assisting the nuns at the nunnery. One day, the nuns are tasked with caring for an infant child, guess who? You guessed it – Lyra (and Pantaliamon of course)! From there onwards, things start to take a slightly odd turn and Malcom finds himself caught up in matters far beyond his imagination. Soon enough, Malcolm and Alice find themselves in rather a precarious situation, while England is hit with severe flooding, stuck in his canoe, La Belle Sauvage.

If you loved His Dark Materials, this novel kind of feels like coming home to the first book, The Northern Lights. We are back in Oxford, in Lyra’s “normal” world. Everyone has a d?mon and goes about life without much fuss. There are alethiometers, scholars, and Lord Asriel & Mrs. Coulter even feature. Also, remember Dr Hannah Relf, the alethiometer scholar that Lyra meets in His Dark Materials? She has quite a part to play in this novel.

I enjoyed the book, because I loved His Dark Materials, and it was great to be back in Pullman’s worlds. However, I couldn’t help but feeling like this novel was just more of the same. It kind of feels like Pullman is trying to milk the series, which I didn’t like. I am not sure where the storyline is going (as it is only part one of three) and Lord Asriel is portrayed differently to how he is in His Dark Materials, but it just feels a little like the novels should’ve just been left as they were. Perhaps parts two and three of the trilogy will have more to offer, but part one seemed a little flat to me. 

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Happy reading!

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