La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One

Hm, maybe 3.5? A warm, affectionate 3.5.

So MUCH IS MADE of Philip Pullman, and I admit that I get swept along by the fansquee. I was excited when I heard this was coming out. I was excited reading it. I've finished it and I'm still pretty pumped.

Even though, lo these 12+ years ago, I remember being disappointed and sort of annoyed by His Dark Materials. I guess I found it all sorts of pedantic, like Richard Dawkins wrapped up in a YA novel? Please, I can only handle one obnoxious Oxford New Atheist preaching to me. Pullman came dangerously close. But, hey, I do think these books are definitely more interesting and better for young readers than boring ol' Harry Potter, what with his Big Bad and blah blah. So maybe I'm just the wrong age for it.

For those that haven't yet read any of the Pullmanverse, I recommend those books (despite what I said above) and I recommend this. This can be read as an intro to it, honestly. This book, like His Dark Materials, takes place in Pullman's vivid visions of a weirdo alt universe Oxford, which has all the charm and romance of THIS universe's Oxford (OH BODLEIAN LIBRARY, KISS KISS) coupled with some pretty awesome fantasy elements like daemons (your spirit animal/externalized soul) and a creepy theocratic church-state of England. It's a little steampunk. There are zeppelins. Finding all the ways the alt Oxford matches this-Oxford, as well as placing its time (I think it's the early 1960s?), was fun. Like His Dark Materials, there are edgy elements of danger and threat and moral uncertainty; it doesn't have squeaky plastic Hollywood Morality, but rather presents a complicated, complex world full of many unresolved tensions. By the end, you have SOME sense of who to avoid (definitely the crazy guy whose cackling hyena daemon has a stump for a leg, that guy's trouble), but you also aren't totally sure of who everyone works for, and what their aims are. Which is good. I liked that very much.

The protagonist of this book is Malcolm, a young (11 years old?) kid who's repeatedly described as stolid and good, and is shown to be resilient, resourceful and intelligent. He works at the bar/inn in (alt) Oxford that his parents own, and lovingly polishes, paints and punts his boat, La Belle Sauvage, on the rivers Cherwell and Thames. At one point, he learns that his nun friends at the nearby nunnery are (secretly?) housing a mysterious infant named Lyra. This is not a spoiler, but Lyra is the protagonist of His Dark Materials, so you know this is important. Thus beginneth the plot. As I said, this can be read as a standalone/beginner to the previous series.

There is a LOT going on in this book; some stuff I loved, some stuff I was just like, “hey huh what now”. Which is fine. There's an extended sequence about Malcolm's school getting coopted into a Stasi state of awful fascist children who report on their parents. This wasn't explored enough! There's a veeery weird bit where we run into a, uh, druid witch of Albion or somesuch. So things swerve from Das Leben Der Anderen to the Grimm Bros!? I forgot how psychedelic Pullman can get (remember God in a box?! gosh, that was weird). There's gore. I forgot about that too! Watch out for that! And there's some uncomfortable bits. Like His Dark Materials, kids are put into real danger - which can be very distressing to read.

A note: I listened to the audiobook, and Michael Sheen - my beloved Michael Sheen! - does a GREAT job. He inhabits all the characters; his accents range credibly from American to Russian to northern English to west country English to posh English to etc. He reads with gusto and passion and, honestly, it brought a tear to my eye at times. I feel like Michael Sheen is horribly under-appreciated, so please (1) watch The Damned United, and (2) can someone please make my SPQR/Boudica idea into a movie and have Michael Sheen play the reluctant Roman general!? Because I'm tellin' ya, it'd be a hit.

Anyway, I rate this 3.5 New Colleges out of 5 Magdalens.