After the Flood

Twenty years ago, long before I started this blog, I was engrossed in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) (1995) The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000) told the story of Lyra Belacqua, a smart young girl and her daemon Pantalaimon as she journeys through the multiverse. The fantasy series was clever and thrilling; exploring deep questions about morality, religion and science.

Pullman has now embarked on a new trilogy called The Book of Dust, Dust being the mysterious Rusakov particles attracted to objects formed by consciousness. The Magisterium (Church) is obsessed with Dust, seeing it as evil and corrupting, akin to the concept of Original Sin. Dust permeated the first trilogy and does so again here.

La Belle Sauvage is the first book, named after a canoe owned by young Malcolm Polstead. Set ten years before Northern Lights, here Lyra is a baby being cared for by nuns at an Oxford priory. Malcolm helps out at the inn his parents run, alongside a teenage girl named Alice. Malcolm sees and hears many things from the customers who stop by for a pint 'n pie. One day, a group of men arrive at the inn and start questioning Malcolm about Lyra. But when creepy Gerard Bonneville and his hideous hyena daemon arrive in town, Malcolm knows for sure that Lyra is in danger.

Flood waters are rising in Oxford as the Thames threatens to break her banks. Taking advantage of the inclement weather, Bonneville attempt to steal the child, but Malcolm and Alice are able to flee with Lyra in La Belle Sauvage. The three children, pursued by Bonneville and various others, undergo all sorts of ordeals as they try to find sanctuary after the flood.

I loved being back in the world of Dust, daemons and alethiometers - in fact whenever the story mentioned anything related to His Dark Materials (like Lord Asriel, Mrs Coulter, gyptians or Jordan College), I immediately became nostalgic. The mysterious 'Oakley Street', extremist Magisterium, and disturbing League of St Alexander kept the story moving along. While Malcolm is a great protagonist, feisty Alice is the one who interested me most, and I liked how their relationship changed over the course of their journey.

So far, I haven't found The Book of Dust as engrossing as the first trilogy.  The flood was a drag on the story; so many pages take place in the titular boat that it became a bit dry. The tone was also considerably darker than the first trilogy - which, admittedly, I kind of liked, but made me wonder what younger readers might think. To enhance my reading, I also listened along to the audiobook with Michael Sheen narrating the story. This enlivened the tale and I particularly loved his portrayal of Bonneville's hyena.

The second volume of The Book of Dust will be released on 3 October 2019 and from what I understand the story will fast forward to Lyra as a young woman. So I will be intrigued to see where this series takes us! But what I am really excited about is the new BBC series, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials which will air in early November with James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda among the cast.