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La Belle Sauvage
(The Book of Dust #1)
by
Malcolm Polstead is the kind of boy who notices everything but is not much noticed himself. And so perhaps it was inevitable that he would become a spy...
Malcolm's father runs an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his dæmon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, bu ...more
Malcolm's father runs an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his dæmon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, bu ...more
Hardcover, 449 pages
Published
October 19th 2017
by Alfred A. Knopf
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Michelle Cassidy
October 19, 2017. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-wa...
Alissa
You'd enjoy it more if you HAD read it.
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Malcolm tried to remember the fairy tales he knew. Could you bargain with fairies? Did they keep their promises?
It's hard to believe, but I was ten years old when I first read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Along with Harry Potter, it is one of the standout reads of my childhood and, perhaps, my entire life. So, obviously, when I heard about La Belle Sauvage, I simply had to bury my skepticism and read it.
And I think this book digs up the past pretty well. I’ve had mixed feelings about ...more

Mar 10, 2017
Sean Barrs the Bookdragon
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2-star-reads,
y-a
Phillip Pullman is clearly capable of great things. He achieves an absolute mastery of tone, style and plot in The Golden Compass. However, I found none of that mastery in this book.
Admittedly, I had major reservations going into it; yet, for all that, I did approach it with an open mind. I tried to appreciate it for what it was, though sadly that really isn’t much to get excited about. The writing is average, the plot slow and the new characters rather bland and ordinary.
For me, the biggest pr ...more
Admittedly, I had major reservations going into it; yet, for all that, I did approach it with an open mind. I tried to appreciate it for what it was, though sadly that really isn’t much to get excited about. The writing is average, the plot slow and the new characters rather bland and ordinary.
For me, the biggest pr ...more

A wonderful way to start off the new year, especially with the cold and the wet everywhere. I loved the slow pace of the first half, all of the details that brought life to sweet, curious Malcolm's world. I loved the thrill of the second half: its many surreal and threatening episodes, the rise of Malcolm's rage-dogs, the faerie queen and the witch queen, the bravery, and everything to do with grouchy Alice. The appalling villain Gerard Bonneville (and his three-legged hyena daemon) was fascinat
...more

We delve back in to alternate-world Oxford, miles from armoured bears but surrounded yet again by daemons and the mysterious alethiometers, following a young boy named Malcolm who is stuck in a world where young working-class boys are mostly discouraged from learning beyond their schooling and are fervently taught that religion is the only truth.
There is really no great ingenuity here that came previously with His Dark Materials and honestly, that is the only place to start with Philip Pullman. ...more
There is really no great ingenuity here that came previously with His Dark Materials and honestly, that is the only place to start with Philip Pullman. ...more

*Possible spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.*
I cannot believe that I am rating this book 2 stars.
This was my most anticipated read of 2017. After reading His Dark Materials last year and falling in love with the world and having the story shatter me and embed itself deeply into my soul, I was so excited for this book, I would honestly go to bed smiling sometimes thinking about how awesome this book was going to be. I think it's safe to say that how I'm feeling now, after reading it, is a litt ...more
I cannot believe that I am rating this book 2 stars.
This was my most anticipated read of 2017. After reading His Dark Materials last year and falling in love with the world and having the story shatter me and embed itself deeply into my soul, I was so excited for this book, I would honestly go to bed smiling sometimes thinking about how awesome this book was going to be. I think it's safe to say that how I'm feeling now, after reading it, is a litt ...more

A companion trilogy to His Dark Materials series!


This was really good. I liked it better than His Dark Materials. The characters were better drawn, the story was more interesting and it really seemed not to be aimed at the same market. There were references to sexual activity and rape and some of the scenes were quite brutal. Not really appropriate for children at all.
However I enjoyed it very much indeed. I must admit that credit should be given to Michael Sheen, the narrator of the audiobook. His impersonation of the laugh of a rabid jackal ...more
However I enjoyed it very much indeed. I must admit that credit should be given to Michael Sheen, the narrator of the audiobook. His impersonation of the laugh of a rabid jackal ...more

4ish stars.
My first experience with the Pullman-verse. I never read The Golden Compass, but reading this makes me want to. Malcolm is a great character, and the adventure he embarks on is exciting and interesting. There are some great secondary characters as well, particularly Hannah Relf. I wonder if/hope that they appear in the original series?? The tone is dark and adult for a book obviously meant for a younger audience (including f-bombs, sexual assault), but it's still very much a YA/child ...more
My first experience with the Pullman-verse. I never read The Golden Compass, but reading this makes me want to. Malcolm is a great character, and the adventure he embarks on is exciting and interesting. There are some great secondary characters as well, particularly Hannah Relf. I wonder if/hope that they appear in the original series?? The tone is dark and adult for a book obviously meant for a younger audience (including f-bombs, sexual assault), but it's still very much a YA/child ...more

A Canoa Selvagem
Quem se deixou encantar por aquele mundo de fantasia inebriante de Lyra Silvertongue, irá certamente apreciar este reencontro nostálgico com os génios, o explorador Lord Asriel, o aletiómetro, a malévola-glamorosa Mrs. Coulter, o misterioso Pó, etc, etc...
A acção decorre 10 anos antes da época de “Reinos do Norte” — o primeiro volume da trilogia “Mundos Paralelos” — o que deu azo a alguma confusão, pois houve quem intuísse erradamente tratar-se duma prequela. Erradamente, porque ...more
Quem se deixou encantar por aquele mundo de fantasia inebriante de Lyra Silvertongue, irá certamente apreciar este reencontro nostálgico com os génios, o explorador Lord Asriel, o aletiómetro, a malévola-glamorosa Mrs. Coulter, o misterioso Pó, etc, etc...
A acção decorre 10 anos antes da época de “Reinos do Norte” — o primeiro volume da trilogia “Mundos Paralelos” — o que deu azo a alguma confusão, pois houve quem intuísse erradamente tratar-se duma prequela. Erradamente, porque ...more

I'm not sure how much is nostalgia for His Dark Materials, but I really liked this book.
I wish that I could remember more of The Faerie Queene
I wish that I could remember more of The Faerie Queene

The flood changed everything.
... extreme weather had its own state of mind ...
I'm usually weary of prequels of any kind. It often sounds like a movie company, author or whoever wants to cash in on past successes. In case of Philip Pullman, I was a bit more optimistic - especially after reading His Dark Materials only last month (I had only known the very first book up to that point). Also, Pullman was indeed asked if this was a prequel, to which he gave the perfect answer, calling it an "eque ...more

objectively speaking, if you divorce it from HDM, it's probably a 5 star. however, considering how utterly superb HDM is, and considering this a prequel, giving it the same score would imply that i found them to be on a par, or at least nearly so. and i did not.
i liked it a lot, but it just wasn't, y'know, His Dark Materials. typically good pullman-esque character building though, and i am very excited to see where the story goes next.
i liked it a lot, but it just wasn't, y'know, His Dark Materials. typically good pullman-esque character building though, and i am very excited to see where the story goes next.

May 28, 2017
Bettie☯
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
bbc radio listeners
Shelves:
autumn-2017,
published-2017,
series,
eng-oxford,
fantasy,
winter-20172018,
oochi-coochi-baby-aaw,
floods


Description: Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon, Asta, live with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford. Across the River Thames (which Malcolm navigates often using his beloved canoe, a boat by the name of La Belle Sauvage) is the Godstow Priory where the nuns live. Malcolm learns they have a guest with them, a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua . . .


We return into the world of Lyra Belacqua and His Dark Materials with The Book of Dust, a companion triology that begins with La Belle Sauvage, taking place during Lyra's infancy. As with the original trilogy, The Book of Dust shines when it comes to world-building and classical adaptation. Anyone who has started The Golden Compass will be drawn in by daemons, animal-like creatures that represent your soul. Your daemon shape-shifts throughout your childhood before settling into one form, a lifel
...more

‘La Belle Sauvage’ (2017) is the first part in Philip Pullman’s ‘The Book of Dust’ – companion trilogy and prequel to his much revered and critically acclaimed ‘His Dark Materials’ series (1995-2000). As such, ‘Belle Sauvage’ is set in the same parallel world(s) of an alternative Oxford, London, England et al, where we find ourselves again in the realm of daemons, alethiometers, witches and of course Dust.
The story of ‘Belle Sauvage’ centres on Malcolm and Alice, their relationship, the quest or ...more
The story of ‘Belle Sauvage’ centres on Malcolm and Alice, their relationship, the quest or ...more

For everyone who hasn't yet heard the news and is desperate to dive back into Lyra's Oxford: this trilogy is going to be a thing.
Find more of my books on Instagram
Find more of my books on Instagram

A prequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy, with Lyra as an 8 month old baby? I've waited nearly 20 years for this book, and the anticipation during the countdown to release nearly killed me. I also knew going into this that I shouldn't compare it to the trilogy, and for that reason alone I put off reading it. I shouldn't of though, because as with everything Phillip Pullman writes I fell in love with these characters and this world.
The tone of the novel is much darker, I feel, than His Dark Ma ...more
The tone of the novel is much darker, I feel, than His Dark Ma ...more

What a joy it is to return to the world of daemons and alethiometers! The original His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the greatest reading experiences I have ever known, and I could not have been more excited at the prospect of a new episode. I am delighted to report that it did not disappoint.
Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead is the hero of this tale. A kind, intelligent boy, he lives above The Trout inn, which is owned by his parents. Malcolm spends his evenings serving guests at the pub, alo ...more
Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead is the hero of this tale. A kind, intelligent boy, he lives above The Trout inn, which is owned by his parents. Malcolm spends his evenings serving guests at the pub, alo ...more

I'd like to say, right at the top of the review, that a three-starred review does not mean I didn't like this book.
Pullman's original His Dark Materials trilogy made an immense impact on me when I was younger, maybe 12 or 13, and there's much of the same to be enjoyed here. Yet, for all the joy I had in returning to a world filled with daemons, religious tyranny, and Dust, La Belle Sauvage does not land with the same impact as I remembered all that time ago.
I'll admit that this is partially my ...more
Pullman's original His Dark Materials trilogy made an immense impact on me when I was younger, maybe 12 or 13, and there's much of the same to be enjoyed here. Yet, for all the joy I had in returning to a world filled with daemons, religious tyranny, and Dust, La Belle Sauvage does not land with the same impact as I remembered all that time ago.
I'll admit that this is partially my ...more

Dec 11, 2017
Fuchsia Groan
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasía,
infantil-juvenil
He leído este libro por nostalgia, sabiendo que lo más probable es que no me gustase. Por mucho que llevásemos años esperando, no. No era necesario.
Mis padres me regalaron Luces del norte cuando tenía 10 años, en una edición preciosa de El Círculo de Lectores, con una ilustración de portada en la que se podían ver las luces, y una ciudad de otro mundo suspendida en el aire. Por aquel entonces ya leía mucho, pero esta fue diferente. Me introdujo en el mundo de la fantasía, a veces me parecía algo ...more
Mis padres me regalaron Luces del norte cuando tenía 10 años, en una edición preciosa de El Círculo de Lectores, con una ilustración de portada en la que se podían ver las luces, y una ciudad de otro mundo suspendida en el aire. Por aquel entonces ya leía mucho, pero esta fue diferente. Me introdujo en el mundo de la fantasía, a veces me parecía algo ...more

From the moment its existence was announced, there hasn’t been a novel I’ve looked forward to more than La Belle Sauvage, the first volume in The Book of Dust, Philip Pullman’s prequel trilogy to His Dark Materials. I had little doubt the book would be good; the pleasant surprise is that it turned out to be great, if not quite the unparalleled classic that is The Golden Compass/Northern Lights. Set a decade or so before, La Belle Sauvage is the story of eleven-year-old Malcolm, who, with the hel
...more

Stellar storytelling (as you'd expect), thoroughly immersive.
Words cannot describe how profoundly I adored the His Dark Materials series. Reading them as a teen, I remember being so relieved that here was an author who didn't pander to his young audience; who wasn't afraid to show brutality and fear; but also who gave his characters such depth and personality that they'd stay with the reader forever.
So, as you can imagine, I dived into this book with huge excitement, but also trepidation. Would ...more
Words cannot describe how profoundly I adored the His Dark Materials series. Reading them as a teen, I remember being so relieved that here was an author who didn't pander to his young audience; who wasn't afraid to show brutality and fear; but also who gave his characters such depth and personality that they'd stay with the reader forever.
So, as you can imagine, I dived into this book with huge excitement, but also trepidation. Would ...more

Wonderful! It feels simpler than Northern Lights, but that may be because we are already used to this alternative Oxford. There are a few new elements of fantasy that I hope will come into play in the sequel. Happily the sequel is already written and should be published later this year. Pullman said in an interview that this was neither a prequel or a sequel, but an equel. But it read like a prequel to me. Malcolm was a most endearing character. I read this with whispersync and the audio was abs
...more

One of my favorite trilogies I’ve read is ‘His Dark Materials’. It was such a brilliant series. This is the prequel trilogy to the original. I wonder if there really needed to be a trilogy. I do know this book needed to happen. What a wild ride it is. It starts off one way and in the middle it becomes a completely different book.
Lyra is a baby in this book and she is vulnerable here. Luckily she has Malcolm to look after her interests from afar. The book has fairies and nuns, conspiracies and fl ...more
Lyra is a baby in this book and she is vulnerable here. Luckily she has Malcolm to look after her interests from afar. The book has fairies and nuns, conspiracies and fl ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Unfinished plot lines | 9 | 137 | Dec 08, 2018 03:33AM | |
I only just noticed something | 4 | 105 | Dec 06, 2018 09:23PM | |
Hume-Fogg Readers: La Belle Sauvage | 1 | 3 | May 14, 2018 05:48PM | |
"For later use" - Cleverness & Knowledge in La Belle Sauvage | 1 | 55 | Feb 20, 2018 02:01AM | |
Around the Year i...: La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman | 3 | 29 | Jan 26, 2018 12:56PM |
In 1946, acclaimed author Philip Pullman was born in Norwich, England, into a Protestant family. Although his beloved grandfather was an Anglican priest, Pullman became an atheist in his teenage years. He graduated from Exeter College in Oxford with a degree in English, and spent 23 years as a teacher while working on publishing 13 books and numerous short stories. Pullman has received many awards
...more
Other books in the series
The Book of Dust
(3 books)
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“Words belong in contexts, not pegged out like biological specimens.”
—
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“He was liked when noticed, but not noticed much, and that did him no harm either.”
—
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