A review by cats_and_bookdragons
The Secret Commonwealth, by Philip Pullman

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This wasn't as well written as His Dark Materials and it took me a few attempts to really get into it. Once I started reading it properly, I was hooked. The relationship between Pan and Lyra had me in tears at one stage because of how dreadfully strained it is compared to their love in the original trilogy. I also thoroughly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes politics. There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered which hopefully will happen in the final book. I give it three stars because of the lacklustre writing and the fact that I feel there needs to be a bit more resolution in some aspects in order for the third book to really get down to the crux of Lyra's and Pan's adventures.