La Belle Sauvage

Yesterday I finished reading Phillip Pulman's 'Book of Dust', and I have to say, I had a lot of conflicting feelings about this book. When I started reading, I was looking forward to an expansion on the universe of His Dark Materials, and more about the daemons and dust that had captured my interest when I was reading the trilogy as a teenager.

It took me a long time to finish reading this book. I picked it up the day it was released, and only finished it yesterday. It was a hard read - I knew of the protagonist already, and recognised him from the trilogy. Because of that, I struggled with being invested. I know that Malcolm is ok in the end. I know that he achieves his dreams. So for me, as a reader, there was no tension.

I loved Lyra and the twists and turns of His Dark Materials. I loved how rooted in the science of the world it was - but with La Belle Sauvage I loved the magic of the story. The contrast was very present for me, but once I got a few chapters in, my imagination was captured.

If I haven't ruined it a little bit for you, you should go and pick up a copy (if you haven't already). It's a great book, and a real adventure.