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

Great fantasy read

After viewing HIS Dark Materials, I had too many unanswered questions. So of course I researched whatever I could find out about the storyline and author. I read The Book of Dust in a few days time and can't wait to read more in book two of the series. I don't want to give anything away, but, if you want to read about one of the most endearing characters, and I'm not referring to Lyra or Will, then you must read The Book of Dust. I highly recommend it.

I found it hard to get used to the idea of Malcolm, a preternaturally intelligent, curious, resourceful, deeply intuitive, and emotionally mature 11-year-old boy. But he's quite likable, and he's the principle protagonist, so I suspended my disbelief. He dreams of going to college, but as the son of innkeepers and a student at an unremarkable public school, he knows his chances are slim to none. So he contents himself with working for his parents and helping the nuns in a priory located close by. He helps in the kitchen and by doing little odd jobs. One night, three men he's never seen before come to the inn, and as he's waiting on their table, he overhears a conversation about a baby that is being secreted away at the priory. He asks the nuns, but they deny knowledge of the child. He finds an acorn-shaped container with a message inside it, witnesses a murder, and delivers the message to the woman to whom it is addressed. She befriends him and enlists his help as a spy; asking him to report to her once a week all that he sees and hears that might be of interest. Soon he finds himself inextricably involved in a conflict between the Magisterium, which is the conservative religious governing body, and a group called Oakley Street, which seeks to prove the Magisterium wrong. One night, the inn is visited by a mysterious and frightening stranger, who calls himself Gerard Bonneville. He mainly appears in shadows with his foul-tempered 3-legged hyena daemon. Malcolm is warned by a gyptian to avoid him at all costs. The gyptian also warns Malcolm of a flood of epic proportions coming in two days. The flood forces Malcolm to flee in his homemade canoe, called La Belle Sauvage. He makes his way to the priory and rescues the baby, Lyra (known later as Lyra Belacqua/Silvertongue), and his 16-year-old co-worker Alice, and they attempt to make their way to London to deliver Lyra to her father, Lord Asriel. Along the way they have adventures and get help or get in trouble with people and magical beings. Lyra is kidnapped by the Magisterium and delivered to a fortress-like priory, but Malcolm rescues her by climbing in through a drainage tunnel. As they approach London, a boat from the Magisterium bears down on La Belle Sauvage, ramming it and breaking it into pieces, but the boat is challenged by one captained by Lord Asriel. Lord Asriel plucks Lyra, Alice, and Malcolm from the wreckage of La Belle Sauvage and delivers them to Oxford, where he charges the Master of Jordan College to take care of all of them.The story ends rather abruptly, and is continued in the next book, "The Secret Commonwealth," set 20 years in the future and after all the events of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy.

Pullman's unnecessary and fanfic-esque addition to the beautiful and captivating world he created in His Dark Materials should disappoint any reader capable of telling good work apart from mediocre writing meant to generate more publicity in the wake of a television show production. The tone, bland characters, heavy-handed treatment of every single topic, blatant disregard for established character traits, etc... every element combines to form a thoroughly underwhelming and much too long novel. There is very little internal logic to the book--even considering that it's a fantasy book and draws heavily on influence from many genres as well as some classic pieces of literature.To start: the beginning is much too long and slow. Pullman takes hundreds of pages to establish basic character traits and plot lines. Malcolm, our protagonist, is an utterly perfect eleven year old boy whose incredible intelligence, ability to fix everything broken (and explain to highly capable adults how to fix things), inability to lie, and utter lack of depth mean that there is no tension or intrigue generated from character flaws and that the reader cannot expect there to be any appreciable character arc or growth. Where are the Lyras and Wills of the past, the flawed and human characters who we learn to love despite their flaws, the well written and carefully crafted and believable child-protagonists?There are several downright perplexing elements of the book as well: the gratuitous cursing (reads like a freshmen level creative writing workshop), the frequent mentions of rape and pedophilia that are simply not explained thoroughly (and certainly not presented in a way suitable for younger many younger readers), the appearance of beloved characters (Asriel! Mrs. Coulter! Oh such well written and complex villains... reduced to this) in order to keep HDM fans reading... where is the art?The treatment of the alethiometers and Dust--truly I shouldn't even get started. Pullman's subtle and magical treatment of metaphysical, theological, and mystical topics is utterly bulldozed by this book. It reads in parts like a fan written wikipedia page or a thread pondering the finer details of the world of His Dark Materials--details which, when left of the page, actually give the reader a more fulfilling experience than when everyone and their mother is having multiple conversations about the history of alethiometers or writing long explanatory paragraphs about Dust and its connection to consciousness.One must wonder at times if Pullman hired an inefficient and lazy ghost-writer to produce this work. He's a talented and careful writer--so many people have been profoundly affected by his other work, many of whom were utterly ecstatic to learn about this addition to the HDM world. And yet we see none of that care or craft here. Lots of editing would have salvaged the book, but even if we took out the unnecessary and repetitious scenes involving kitchens and cooking, making baby food, changing diapers, fixing things, etc, there would still be none of the magic that infused the original series. What magic elements are present in the book don't even synthesize well with the rest of the book (that fairy on the hill scene... that river god scene... if only I could pretend this were all some fever dream). Where is the magic? Where is the subtlety? If Pullman wanted to write something that would draw in HDM fans and new readers alike, why make it so boring? He could have done so many different things, incorporatedLa Belle Sauvage so much more excitement in the plot, elevated the writing to that level which has led us all to read this in the hopes that it would at least live up to the legacy of His Dark Materials... and yet he didn't.TLDR: Read this book if you like poorly written fanfiction, are willing to settle for mediocre writing, or are attempting to hone your book critique skills.

I am a huge fan of Philip Pullman and have read most of his books. So obviously couldn't resist reading the first of this new trilogy... I really enjoyed Part I of La Belle Sauvage - it's more classic Pullman with scenes from the idyllic Oxfordshire in the backdrop and the protagonist's character, Malcolm Polstead slowly comes to life. It also deals with some of the old, known characters (e.g., Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter) and develops some new ones (e.g., Dr. Relf) to ultimately successfully introduce the prevalent tension between the Magisterium / CCD vs. handful of scholars, located worldwide, researching potential consciousness of matter, the Rusakov field and Dust. I really enjoyed both the character development and slow unraveling of the plot...However, Part II of the book seems a bit light on the story front. It is solely focused on getting the infant Lyra to safety, the on-going adventures in Pullman's writing is greatly entertaining, gets a bit tiring after 8 straight chapters... Perhaps providing an alternative chapter or two about events back in Oxford after the flood could have added the depth to the plot for Part II of this book.Having said that, I am definitely looking forward to reading the sequel in Oct 2019 - the gyptians have already alluded to the secret commonwealth being responsible for the devastating changes in weather / flash flood in Oxford... If you are a Philip Pullman fan - I highly recommend reading La Bella Sauvage, coz you know you cannot miss this fantastic ride!