La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One: From the world of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials - now a major BBC series

Philip Pullman

Oct 2017 · Random House

About this ebook

WINNER- AUTHOR OF THE YEAR, BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED- UK AUTHOR CATEGORY, NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2018

Philip Pullman's magnificent bestseller is now in paperback, with new additional illustrations. A coming of age story like no other . . .

Malcolm Polstead's Oxford life has been one of routine, ordinary even.

He is happiest playing with his daemon, Asta, in their canoe, La Belle Sauvage. But now as the rain builds, the world around Malcolm and Asta is, it seems, set to become increasingly far from ordinary.

Finding himself linked to a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua, Malcolm is forced to undertake the challenge of his life and to make a dangerous journey that will change him and Lyra for ever . . .

Ratings and reviews

I remember the first time I picked up Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. I was nine and staring at the shelves in my school library trying to figure out which ONE book I wanted to check out (it was a rule – only one book) when I stumbled upon the His Dark Materials trilogy. I don’t remember much else but I DO remember rushing back to the library the very next day for the second book in the trilogy because I had fallen in love. So, when I got an email from one of my FAVOURITE humans in the publishing industry, asking me to sign an NDA to get a coveted ARC of one of my most anticipated reads of the year, I jumped around with joy. I’ve taken almost a week to finish to finish La Belle Sauvage and I loved every second of reading it. Let me give you my thoughts: MY THOUGHTS: 1. I fell in love with Malcom, the main character in this book, by the time I had finished the second chapter. He was this PURE SOUL with an INQUISITIVE MIND and a HEART OF GOLD and I loved his story SO MUCH. 2. I also LOVED Malcom with Lyra. In La Belle Sauvage, Lyra is a mere infant, only a few months old and it shows you the story of Malcom’s connection with her and all about how Lyra ended up at Jordan College, which is where Golden Compass opens ten years later. 3. I should warn you that the pace of this book is slow. If you’ve read Philip Pullman’s previous works, you already know what I’m talking about, but just in case you haven’t, it’s always better to be prepared. 4. I loved how this book contained SO MANY CHARACTERS we’d seen in the His Dark Materials trilogy. I probably didn’t remember some of them (blame the memory of nine year old me) but the ones I did, I had FANGIRL moments over. It was AMAZING to see everyone before Lyra’s story and see the pieces of Lyra’s circumstances come to be. 5. I didn’t remember much about the workings of the Althieometer from when I read The Golden Compass, but the way it was explained in La Belle Sauvage was stunning. I felt like I was there, in the midst of the scholars that were talking about it and absorbed everything as best as I could. La Belle Sauvage brought back memories from ten years ago in a way that almost no book can. Reading it was a JOURNEY that I wouldn’t trade for anything. A beautiful new instalment into Philip Pullman’s breath-taking world that I HIGHLY recommend diving into.

Very good! I would recommend rereading His Dark Materials before you read it, as I had to remind myself of what happened. Can't wait for the next one!

Really captueed the spirit of the original books, I probably should have reread them beforehand to refresh myself with the world. I feel the supernatural aspects were stronger here than previously. Overall a great read and I look forward to the next book

About the author

Philip Pullman is one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today. Winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies and the Whitbread Award, Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been acclaimed as a modern classic. It has sold 17.5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. In 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Oxford.