'La Belle Savage' by Philip Pullman

La Belle Savage (The Book of Dust #1), Philip Pullman (4.0)

With regards to returning us to the warm fires of Pullman’s alternate Oxford, this long awaited prequel to ‘His Dark Materials’ did not disappoint. My only complaint is that, not surprisingly, it is lacking any new exciting information about this very interesting world. The first trilogy was filled with creative ideas and thoughtful characters. This book begins to describe the backstory of many of those characters and set-up the overall political environment – set about 10 years prior to the start of the original trilogy. The protagonist, Malcolm, is a young, sweet unassuming boy who works at his family’s pub – which happens to be next to the convent where the nuns are caring for the baby, Lyra. At this point, Lyra’s mother and father are estranged and he is already trying to protect her with anonymity. Malcolm’s strong observational and analytical skills drive him to realize that not all is as it seems with the learned people in and around his parent’s pub. And his sense of valor pushes him to protect Lyra at any cost. On it’s own, I think this is more of a 3-star book, but for fans of ‘His Dark Materials’, it is a comforting return to a favorite world.