Book #198 of 2019: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman (The Book of Dust #2) I hate to foreground the matter in my review, but I think every prospective reader of this much-anticipated His Dark Materials sequel should know that it’s a book in which returning heroine Lyra Silvertongue gets sexually assaulted by a group …
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Book #185 of 2019: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials #3) Author Philip Pullman takes some odd plotting shortcuts in this trilogy’s conclusion — like offering practically no motivation for a pivotal trip to the world of the dead — and it’s easy to see how his populating a traditional Christian theology …
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Book #156 of 2019: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials #2) I really like how this sequel deepens the worldbuilding of the original His Dark Materials book, expanding the action from the alternate reality of that story into a universe more like our own and one other besides. And the character moments …
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Book #128 of 2019: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials #1) Another old favorite that I’m revisiting, this time in anticipation of the upcoming TV adaptation. This trilogy ultimately goes in some odd directions (and I was underwhelmed by its recent prequel), but the first novel is a masterful piece of fiction, …
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Book #243 of 2017: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (The Book of Dust #1) A fairly underwhelming prequel to Philip Pullman’s classic His Dark Materials trilogy, La Belle Sauvage consists mainly of characters trading custody of the baby Lyra Belacqua like a tiny squalling MacGuffin. There’s too much focus on setting up the events …
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