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The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage Book of Dust Volume 1 Philip Pullman Books

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The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage Book of Dust Volume 1 Philip Pullman Books

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.


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The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage Book of Dust Volume 1 Philip Pullman Books Reviews

The Book of Dust, Phillip Pullman's "equal" (both before and after His Dark Materials) is a delight--a wonderfully welcome return to the familiar but strangely different parallel world of Lyra Bellacqua, Lord Asriel and the chilling Mrs Coulter. Like our own planet, theirs is beset by ecological catastrophe--not heating up but dripping wet as they suffer deluge after deluge. As with global warming, nobody believes a catastrophe is nigh (except the water-wise Gyptians) until it strikes. Apparently, when Reason meets Superstition the latter will win no matter where in the Multiverse you reside. The forces of conservatism are stirring and the iniquitous Magisterium is ascendant. Baby Lyra is prophesied by witches to be of vital importance to the future. Needless to say, she is a person of interest to both the forces of Reason and Religion.

Like the author's previous work, La Belle Sauvage is unapologetically political and unabashedly Liberal. There is, for example, The League of Alexander, a club of adolescent religious snitches who squeal on their families' or friends' slightest misdeed (the League's eponymous hero turned his family in for execution). They're little angels compared to the positively terrifying Sisters of Obedience who are running what is essentially a child abuse and slavery racket. Some people of faith escape his scorn but not many. To those who complain Pullman is anti-Religion I say "you're definitely on to something." If it bothers you, you may want to avoid him. In addition to Organized Evil (religion), there is just plain wickedness, personified in the wonderfully smarmy and grotesque character of Gerard Bonneville complete with a leg-gnawing hyena daemon. A former professor and full-time pervert they share some of the creepiest and therefore most gripping scenes.

La Belle Sauvage starts off rather slowly introducing new characters, providing backstory to the main character, Malcolm Polstead and his coterie of friends and newly made enemies. Malcolm reminds one of the adage "still waters run deep" and like Lyra and Will Parry he is young enough to be naive but a bit reckless in his bravery; not classically educated but instinctively intelligent, and always curious. He and his daemon Asta (who hasn't settled into a single form yet) create a character whose depth and humanity is surprising in one so young but entirely believable. He and his motley crew--the scholar Hannah Relf, Gyptian Coram von Texel and Alice the kitchen maid are a formidable force for Good. Their first priority is to save Lyra from the clutches of the Church and her vicious mother. When the flood hits, the action rises with the waters. La Belle Sauvage kicks into a higher gear.

So why not 5 Stars? Frankly, The first book lacks the poetry of His Dark Materials, a brilliant riff on Milton's Paradise Lost. There are no gay angels falling in love or Serafina Pekkalas bashing about on a "broom" of pine branches, no Subtle Knives, peculiar Texans or talking polar bears with a drinking problem dressed in armor. La Belle Sauvage is very Sauvage but not so Belle. Compared to the first trilogy The Book of Dust seemed prosaic. In fact, Malcolm resembles Will a bit too much; one could swap out Coram for John Faa. The Book of Dust feels comfortable rather than electric. That's not to say it isn't entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. It is, however a bit of disappointment. I was hoping for more spark and inventiveness, not the occasional shiver. However, I am very glad the author has revisited his finest creation. I will be waiting in line, eager to read books 2 and 3. So too should you.
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.
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.