The Book of Dust, Book 1: La Belle Sauvage
By Carrie R. Wheadon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Nail-biting start to trilogy in His Dark Materials world.

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Based on 2 parent reviews
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A great story with adult themes
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What's the Story?
In THE BOOK OF DUST, BOOK 1: LA BELLE SAUVAGE, Malcolm is an 11-year-old who helps out in his parents' pub and across the river at a convent. When the nuns get a new charge at the convent, a 6-month-old baby named Lyra, Malcolm is fascinated with her and asks to see her whenever he's there. He's not the only one who's bent on seeing her. A creepy man named Bonneville comes to the pub one night asking about her. When Malcolm catches Bonneville beating his own daemon (animal extension of the human spirit that accompanies all humans in this world), he knows something is very off about him and vows to keep Lyra away from him. And then there's Lord Asriel, Lyra's father, who's forbidden by law from seeing his daughter. Asriel convinces Malcolm to help him, though, and they sneak over in Malcolm's canoe La Belle Sauvage. After Asriel visits Lyra, he makes his escape in La Belle Sauvage and promises to return the boat. The boat comes back by way of a Gyptian friend of Asriel's, and it's fixed up better than it ever was. Malcolm is thrilled until the Gyptian issues a warning: A massive flood is coming, and he should prepare La Belle Sauvage for the disaster. Not long after the warning, it starts to rain and rain. And in the chaos, Bonneville makes his move to kidnap Lyra.
Is It Any Good?
As with the His Dark Materials trilogy, this "equel," not prequel, fascinates with its mixture of theology, philosophy, mystical fantasy, and those cool talking spirit daemons every human possesses. If it has one fault, it's that it builds up layer upon layer of mystery and then solves very little of it beyond who killed a spy near the beginning. Readers will want to know more about Bonneville, the villain, right away. The children are constantly stalked by this nightmarish man with few answers as to why. And why is he beating his daemon? And how is he almost controlling people's thoughts and opinions of him? It's so fascinating -- you can't say the word "fascinating" enough when describing this book -- yet we get no closer to understanding Bonneville in this first installment.
When the flood hits, La Belle Sauvage takes a surprising turn into the world of faeries, river gods, and the undead. Almost everywhere the canoe stops, the journey gets stranger, the stakes get higher. And your nails will get shorter and shorter. An abrupt finish promises more nail-biting until Book 2.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the League of St. Alexander in La Belle Sauvage. What happened when kids in the school were given the power to report on their teachers and friends? How did Malcolm's friendships change? How did the teachers' behavior change? How did the school as a whole suffer?
Were there any violent parts of the book that were hard to read? What makes Bonneville a particularly fearsome villain?
Did you read His Dark Materials before reading La Belle Sauvage? How do they compare?
Book Details
- Author: Philip Pullman
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More, Adventures, Cats, Dogs, and Mice, Great Boy Role Models, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires, Science and Nature
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Knopf
- Publication date: October 19, 2017
- Number of pages: 464
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: November 7, 2017
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