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rebekahbexbekah's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
4.5
boris8556's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
laurasauras's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
This was a very strange book. Sometimes I wonder if authors who have got to a certain level of popularity are unable to find editors who are brave enough to say "mate, this could be half the length" or "please reread your previous novels, because there's nothing wrong with playing with style but the only thing this world has in common with that one is some character names". I will say, Michael Sheen did an absolutely amazing job narrating it.
The first part, before the flood, does a lot of set up, and there's not a whole lot of pay off. The Hitler Youth subplot is interesting and tense, but then that just abruptly stops mattering. Oakley Street does absolutely nothing--especially the scenes from the perspectives of the Oakley Street adults, they literally accomplish nothing, not even really exposition. It's weird how each day is accounted for. Malcolm goes and helps the nuns or the handyman or works in The Trout so many times, where surely the events could have been combined.
And then the flood happens and the book straight up turns into The Odyssey. Not just in terms of length, but the heroes get to a new place, they have a little self-contained episode, then they move onto the next island. And it happens again, and again, and again. Not even halfway through I'm jiggling in my seat shouting for Malcolm to just get home and kill all the suitors already! Bonneville as a recurring villain was really strange, because he was just Always There and I know that in a canoe they were at the mercy of the current, but it didn't matter how fast or slow they went, he was always right behind them or waiting for them. Out of all the supernatural creatures that they encountered in the flood, he was supposed to be an ordinary man but he was absolutely the most uncanny. I have no idea what purpose his paedophilic thing with Alice served for the story apart from showing how predatory he was and giving Malcolm a convincing enough reason to separate from Asta to save her from being graphically raped by graphically killing him (which has no emotional impact on Malcolm) and ... that's it? Like, there's still the danger of the CDC or whatever, but it's so anti-climactic. And even more so really, because they never confront the CDC, they just make it to their destination and then Asriel wraps everything up in a couple minutes. Really abrupt ending.
I did genuinely like Malcolm while I was reading (listening), but on reflection he's very much the author's darling. He's soooo brave and strong and he suffers in silence as he sacrifices his body and soul to keep Lyra and Alice safe, and before that he was the goodest student and son, like there's not a child in the world who is as unfailingly good as Malcolm. Alice fell really flat for me for some reason. She's Feisty™️and doesn't want to be the surrogate mother to Lyra, but that's basically the role she's forced into. I didn't get a sense of what she wanted and I think Malcolm was so careful of respecting her privacy and peace and having these moments of quiet understanding or whatever that we never were actually given an opportunity to know who she was. In all honesty, and please know that the His Dark Materials trilogy is one of my favourite series as I say this, characters have never been Pullman's strong suit. None of his characters feel like real people, but that's usually just fine. They feel like storybook characters, larger and yet simpler than life. Every character can be summed up in a sentence and they always act according to that sentence. It's a great way to keep things consistent. But, where in HDM Lyra had to make impossible choices that went against her defining trait and grew as a person because of it, the characters in LBS just kinda do their thing.
I give it three stars because I do love the world and I was at least a little engaged for most of it, just ultimately unsatisfied.
The first part, before the flood, does a lot of set up, and there's not a whole lot of pay off. The Hitler Youth subplot is interesting and tense, but then that just abruptly stops mattering. Oakley Street does absolutely nothing--especially the scenes from the perspectives of the Oakley Street adults, they literally accomplish nothing, not even really exposition. It's weird how each day is accounted for. Malcolm goes and helps the nuns or the handyman or works in The Trout so many times, where surely the events could have been combined.
And then the flood happens and the book straight up turns into The Odyssey. Not just in terms of length, but the heroes get to a new place, they have a little self-contained episode, then they move onto the next island. And it happens again, and again, and again. Not even halfway through I'm jiggling in my seat shouting for Malcolm to just get home and kill all the suitors already! Bonneville as a recurring villain was really strange, because he was just Always There and I know that in a canoe they were at the mercy of the current, but it didn't matter how fast or slow they went, he was always right behind them or waiting for them. Out of all the supernatural creatures that they encountered in the flood, he was supposed to be an ordinary man but he was absolutely the most uncanny. I have no idea what purpose his paedophilic thing with Alice served for the story apart from showing how predatory he was and giving Malcolm a convincing enough reason
I did genuinely like Malcolm while I was reading (listening), but on reflection he's very much the author's darling. He's soooo brave and strong and he suffers in silence as he sacrifices his body and soul to keep Lyra and Alice safe, and before that he was the goodest student and son, like there's not a child in the world who is as unfailingly good as Malcolm. Alice fell really flat for me for some reason. She's Feisty™️and doesn't want to be the surrogate mother to Lyra, but that's basically the role she's forced into. I didn't get a sense of what she wanted and I think Malcolm was so careful of respecting her privacy and peace and having these moments of quiet understanding or whatever that we never were actually given an opportunity to know who she was. In all honesty, and please know that the His Dark Materials trilogy is one of my favourite series as I say this, characters have never been Pullman's strong suit. None of his characters feel like real people, but that's usually just fine. They feel like storybook characters, larger and yet simpler than life. Every character can be summed up in a sentence and they always act according to that sentence. It's a great way to keep things consistent. But, where in HDM Lyra had to make impossible choices that went against her defining trait and grew as a person because of it, the characters in LBS just kinda do their thing.
I give it three stars because I do love the world and I was at least a little engaged for most of it, just ultimately unsatisfied.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
historysworstmonster's review against another edition
4.0
A fun beginning that does a lot of world building. Very well narrated by Michael Sheen.
oceanic_rabbit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
greatheights's review against another edition
3.0
Promising, but really uneven. I would have a hard time describing the through-line of the plot because it is a series of loosely related adventures including fantastical occurrences that are presented so matter of factly that they don't feel as wonderous as they should. It was still fun at times and enjoyable overall. I'll keep reading this series, but it's not on the level of it's predecessor.
cjenkins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
smittenibelieve's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Pedophilia
pikelicious's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
christianholub's review against another edition
3.0
An intriguing new prequel to 'His Dark Materials.' Excited to see what the next installments hold, since they'll apparently swing back around and pick up years after the conclusion of 'The Amber Spyglass' (instead of being set 10 years before 'The Golden Compass' as this one is). I actually did a pretty in-depth review for EW, and I think it sums up all my thoughts pretty well: http://ew.com/books/2017/10/19/philip-pullman-book-of-dust-ew-review/