Not perfect, but worth the wait
Despite a careening second half, La Belle Sauvage an enjoyable read
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage Philip Pullman
Knopf Books for Young Readers
La Belle Sauvage was worth every second of the 17-year wait.
The tome, the first of three new books in The Book of Dust, returns readers to the world Philip Pullman created with His Dark Materials, the epic trilogy featuring the feisty Lyra Belacqua as heroine, joined by sidekick and eventual lover, Will Parry.
La Belle Sauvage is familiar territory. The slightly askew world features “anbaric” lamps instead of electric; daemons (the soulas-changeling-animals are ever present); and tantalizing glimpses of Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel — foundational characters in the original trilogy.
Then, there are the fantasy creatures, sinister villains, murderous violence and the haunting presence of religion. In it, Malcolm Polstead and Alice Parslow rescue the baby Lyra and head off during a major flood (inspired by Pullman’s experience with a flood as a child in Australia) to deliver her to safety.
The essence of these four books, what makes them resonate so strongly with young readers, is that for the characters, two fundamental problems of childhood are solved. Every kid wishes their life were more adventurous than it is — and they wish they could be stronger and tougher than an adult.
But to be the child, as Lyra is, replicating the fall of Eve but with knowledge as a blessing, not a curse, is unbelievably ambitious.
And in La Belle Sauvage, it’s two kids fighting off and fleeing a ghastly villain to save this hero — it’s darker than the originals.
La Belle Sauvage works perfectly in the first half. The second half careens along as chaotically as our protagonists’ journey — deliberate maybe — but it does feel a bit unmoored.
Pullman has said he regrets not having more time to polish The Amber Spyglass, a problem he didn’t have this time, but La Belle Sauvage has the feel of an author rushing to cram in too many ideas in too short a space.
That said, it’s an awful feeling coming to the end.