#la belle sauvage spoilers

[morphmaker]

The Secret Commonwealth: ~Lyra And Malcolm ArE aDuLtS~

Me:

#Lyra Silvertongue #Malcolm Polstead #The Secret Commonwealth #La Belle Sauvage #The Book of Dust #tsc #tsc spoilers #spoilers #The Secret Commonwealth spoilers #La Belle Sauvage spoilers #The Book of Dust spoilers #His Dark Materials #His Dark Materials spoilers #morphmaker arts

[enilybenil]

The chapter “The Mausoleum” is difficult for me to read in the same way that The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is difficult for me to read--because it so accurately describes the feeling of depression, indeed with its hallmarks: “And everything was saturated, whether with rain or dew or the remains of the flood; everything he touched was heavy and soaked and rotten. His heart was just like that. He would never manage to light any of it” (416).

But Malcolm and Asta resolve that they will not burn any of Bonneville’s notes, knowing that he is a Rusakov scientist on the verge of a breakthrough. They will not destroy the knowledge they have.

I grow concerned that what enables Bonneville to “shadow”/haunt them is the fact that Malcolm is carrying the research.

#philip pullman #the book of dust #la belle sauvage #la belle sauvage spoilers #sylvia plath #the bell jar #malcolm polstead #asta #gerard bonneville

[lostberryqueen]

I had come across some spoilers for La Belle Sauvage, and had mixed thoughts about reading it, but hearing that Mrs Coulter is treated awfully in the book makes me really reluctant to read it. I would be very interested to hear more of your thoughts on Mrs Coulter in the book and how Ruth Wilson and Jack Throne's interpretation of the character relates to the information from the book.

I can’t answer this without spoilers, so don’t read farther if you’d rather be surprised. 

Well, in La Belle Sauvage Mrs.Coulter is pursuing her daughter, much like she is in the TV show. She’s using alethiometers too, and she learns just a bit about the prophecy from an alethiometer. For whatever reason, all of the characters assume that she is only interested in Lyra because of the prophecy, and they also assume that she wouldn’t be a good mother. Malcolm knows where Lyra is but intentionally keeps Mrs. Coulter from finding her. It was really frustrating to read after having read The Amber Spyglass. Knowing what happens at the end of the series makes it hard to relate to the characters who are trying to keep Lyra away from Mrs. Coulter. The possibility that Mrs. Coulter spent 12 years trying to find a way to get Lyra is just super upsetting to me.  

The dialogue written for Mrs. Coulter is very on point in the TV show. For example, in La Belle Sauvage Malcolm asks Mrs. Coulter if she’s a scholar and she replies with “only an amateur” which is a hilarious underestimation of her abilities and reminds me of the line “but I’m not interesting” from the TV show. It makes me think that Jack Thorne studied all of the books carefully before writing, and incorporated things from La Belle Sauvage into the show. 

La Belle Sauvage also mentions the idea of “scholastic sanctuary” which I don’t think is mentioned in the main trilogy but I can’t remember, maybe it was. 

I think the most upsetting part of La Belle Sauvage is that Gerard Bonneville apparently raped Mrs. Coulter although technically it’s only implied. But another annoying aspect of the book is definitely sitting through these old men discussing Mrs. Coulter, and how attractive and evil she is but not getting any chapters that are actually from her perspective. 

In the book, there’s only one scene with Mrs. Coulter actually in it (the rest of her “appearances” are just her being mentioned through conversation). If you’re only reading for Mrs. Coulter content, it’s definitely a disappointment. However, I think that if you like Lord Asriel’s character you will probably be pleasantly surprised by a sweet moment between him and Lyra. Personally, I hated book! Asriel so much because of the way he treated Lyra and Mrs. Coulter that seeing him get to have a moment with Lyra whilst Mrs. Coulter didn’t just made me so angry. Especially because Malcolm trusted Lord Asriel (who really turned out to be a much worse parent) and treated him like royalty whilst assuming that Mrs. Coulter was unworthy. I feel like there’s this undercurrent of sexism running through the book. Lord Asriel isn’t judged as a bad father, or a bad person because of the affair, because he’s a man. If their genders were reversed, I don’t think anyone would have been criticizing Mrs. Coulter’s parental aptitude. The TV show seems to be trying to explore the negative impacts of sexism, to be honest I feel like the books not so subtly support it? Like technically even Mrs. Coulter’s character arc in The Amber Spyglass is pretty sexist, but I have so many mixed feelings about it because I love her arc from the main trilogy so much. I feel like if you interpret her arc generously, you could make the argument that her arc wasn’t saying that women should give up their power to be mothers, it was saying that the world forces women to choose between motherhood and their careers. I think the TV show will go this route (as Ruth Wilson sort of talked about that in an interview recently) but I do think that Philip Pullman definitely villainizes Mrs. Coulter for being ambitious as a woman but doesn’t villainize Asriel in the same way. 

#asks #la belle sauvage #hdm #his dark materials #mrs coulter #gerard bonneville #lyra #hdm spoilers #hdm book spoilers #la belle sauvage spoilers

[buckaroodaydream]

Howdy!

Today I finally finished La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman. I will be giving my review of it, and also a further review of the His Dark Materials series. I started listening to the audiobook of La Belle Sauvage way back in August, and have been listening to bits and pieces of it every so often when I had the chance. I chose the audiobook version specifically for the narration by Michael Sheen. I have to say that it is quite a strange book, because it seems like two or three completely different books in one. As much as I liked Dr. Relf, I thought the espionage parts were all rather uninteresting. Malcolm and Alice are the MVPs, lads. Holy shit. I hope we learn more about Alice in The Secret Commonwealth. Malcolm Polstead is such a good boy. The best boy. I would kill for this kid. What a legend. I named my new cat after him. I wish nothing but the best for Malcolm and Alice. After some time after reading The Amber Spyglass last year, I’ve had some time to re-evaluate my opinion on it. I have decided that I didn’t like the ending. Lyra and Will literally changed the universe. Yet at the end, they literally ended up in more or less in the same or situations than they were in at the beginning of their arcs, worse to an extant. Lyra is sent away from her home to live in a boarding school. Will is now possibly wanted for murder, and becomes a doctor for some reason?? That makes no sense to me. I see him more like a fireman, IDK. I also feel like Lee Scoresby and John Parry should’ve lived. Lee could’ve adopted Lyra and John would’ve returned home to Will and Elaine. I feel like I would’ve found the story way more satisfying that way. I just feel like Will and Lyra got such an unfair ending. Also, there was a similar dilemma to The Amber Spyglass that I didn’t like that was also in La Belle Sauvage. The weird coming of age, sexual awakening in Malcolm and Lyra were both super uncomfortable. That was really the one other thing I didn’t like in La Belle Sauvage, Malcolm’s weird romantic feelings towards Alice in the latter half of the story. Also I have weird feelings about the introduction of gods and faeries. It just seemed weirdly random? IDK. Other than that, it was a fabulous novel. I couldn’t recommend it more. I can’t wait for when The Secret Commonwealth audiobook is available to borrow on Libby.

#la belle sauvage #la belle sauvage spoilers #his dark materials #the amber spyglass spoilers #the amber spyglass #his dark materials spoilers #michael sheen #philip pullman

[liesandarbor]

Was wondering if your discussions about His Dark Materials addressed some of the problematic elements in the work concerning sexuality. Like I saw going around Twitter some annoyance over a kind of creepy way someone thinks of Lyra in the new Book of Dust. Then there's the Amber Spyglass ambiguity... just a thought. Its still a good series but should address this.

Spoiler warnings -(light!)Book of Dust spoilers (but not enough to change the experience):

I very much so enjoyed both Sauvage and Commonwealth, but I did feel like some of the information we’re given are retcons (the truth of Lyra and Will’s sin, some of the Pan and Lyra interaction in Commonwealth was maybe not a retcon but just a surprise considering Lyra’s Oxford) - or even a little forced. In a way, it reflects the systemic experienced regionally (like some of the eugenics in Sweden’s history), and even the violence experienced in her journey through Syria and Turkey. Further than that, there’s even more trafficking that we learn about!

I think that Pullman has definitely not always brought good merit to conversation - or in exploring sexuality - to his public and author life, but there is definitely something to be said about his critique of this. I would finish the books of dust before forming a full opinion, and the existing metacommentary will definitely make you think. I don’t want to spoil anything yet for you, but I have definitive thoughts on the series as a complete piece with the main trilogy connected to both Commonwealth, La Belle Sauvage, and a lot of what’s happening in real life every day.  I think that he tends to err on the side of exploring power, and the dynamics of power definitely exist in this story and the sexuality it does display.

On a more mellow level, we did talk about the uber-sexualization of the witches and their ancient wombs that just give to men apparently (they’re not like other witches) in two of our recent episodes (seven and six) of His Dark Materials at GGC. I do recommend it; the witches feel a bit compulsory, and I wish they weren’t the hybrid “scorned woman” trope every five minutes.  Hell, there’s a woman of supernatural origin in La Belle Sauvage that hits some of those weird tropes as well.  Not his strongest stuff.

#his dark materials #la belle sauvage #his dark materials spoilers #la belle sauvage spoilers #the secret commonwealth spoilers

[tony-buddenbrook]

I watched the first episode of His Dark Materials and decided to give La Belle Sauvage a try. And like immidiately I remembered why I didn’t like the books that much as a kid. Pullman likes Lyra waaaaay more than I do. An eleven year old boy sees Lyra (6 mounts old) and goes: I love this child more than anything in the world, I am her humble servant. Seriously??? It’s so annoying and it’s so unnecessary.

Such a shame because I love the world, but can’t manage to read the books till the end.

#his dark materials #la belle sauvage spoilers #ish? #hdm #why is he like this? #why does everybody has to adore Lyra #also i checked the ending #that rape scene? weird as fuck

[at-the-crossroad-of-worlds]

❥started: December 26th 2021

❥ended: December 30th 2021

❥title: The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman, 2017

❥ pages: 419

❥ genre: Fantasy fiction

❥ rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

❥ opinion: I did not expect to finish this book in 3 days, honest! It was unintentional, I just kept reading. However the original trilogy was way better in my opinion. Pullman was correct when he said this trilogy would be a “His darker materials” hahaha! It’s the first novel I’ve read that has a more darker/mature undertone and I ended up liking it, despite the minor differences it has with the action in the “His Dark Materials” universe.

One thing that bothered me with the story was Malcolm’s character in general. Don’t get me wrong, Malcolm was a good protagonist. I really liked reading in his perspective(an eleven year old Inn-keeper’s boy was a very interesting perspective to read from, very different from Lyra, who grew up in a college and was a prophecy child.)

While his behaviour for someone his age was questionable, I also noticed that around chapters 20–25, Pullman gave him somewhat of a plot-armour, I believe? He sneaked Lyra out of the priory way too easily, I would’ve thought that he’d at least get the wrong baby, or even run into a staff member while he was holding Lyra. But, the biggest question was: how wasn’t he exhausted as hell after rowing for all of those days????

The second thing that confused me was the whole Fairytale subplot of the story. I’m sensing it was a metaphorical or something like that? There was no way they could’ve actually met a fairy woman, do they even exist in Lyra’s world? Around chapters 21–25, the characters use some metaphorical fairy stories to trick a clearly insane lady that wanted to keep Lyra from them.

Then, they end up on an island with a castle and a giant, I did not understand whether they were being for real, or if they were high on alcohol or smth(they drank some on la belle sauvage many times), but it just did not make sense to me what the hell was happening during those chapters?

The last issue I have with this story was the fact that Gerard Bonneville was a shit antagonist. (Literally and figuratively.) I thought at first that I was being biased due to my clear favouritism towards the HDM antagonists.

But the way Bonneville was written was just...awful...no further exploration to his motive of chasing after Malcolm and Alice aside from “Give me the baby in the priory because i want to take revenge on her mother for putting me in jail all those years ago.” That’s just...not a good excuse, man. Let’s remember that his character is extremely creepy to young girls, he sexually violates them without their consent. (A sort of character I never thought I’d read about in Pullman’s novels, not gonna lie.) Not to mention, what he does to Alice is absolutely sickening...(thank the Authority that Malcolm stopped him in time.)

About Bonneville, Pullman doesn’t even try to make us explore his character more in depth like he allowed us to with Asriel and Marisa(again, I’d say they’re not really the villains themselves. Though their actions pry at Will and Lyra so..).

Bonneville doesn’t even seem nor try to have a true personality deep down aside from being a (and I excuse my language but I really don’t like this guy lmao) fucking perverted brute with an ugly ass three-legged hyena dæmon with the most annoying of “Haaaa haaaa haaaaaa”.

He was very bland as an antagonist, which was a bit of a let-down from Pullman, because he is very capable of writing really fleshed-out antagonists.(clear example goes to the “parents of the year.”)

On a side note, I do appreciate Asriel and Lyra’s relationship being fleshed out a bit more, since during the main trilogy, he was so busy with his planning of the rebellion against the Authority that we didn’t get to see much time with the two of them together(nor back in Jordan College so our headcanons had to be made ourselves); Asriel loves his research, yes, but he loves Lyra deep down but he doesn’t like showing it.

❥ quotes:

“on which Malcolm had painted the name ‘la belle sauvage’. A witty acquaintance thought it amusing to scrawl an ‘s’ over the ‘v’. “

“Malcolm laughed, had that wine the baby, and seeing his laughing face, she began to laugh too.”

“He never would have dreamed, after those few minutes, of doing anything to upset that little child. He was her servant for life.”

“His leopard dæmon stood up to put her fore paws on his waist, and Asriel held the baby down so she could whisper to Lyra’s dæmon.”

“At one point, he seemed to be showing the moon to Lyra, pointing up at it and holding her so she could see, or perhaps he was showing Lyra to the moon.”

“La belle sauvage had never gone so fast.”

“If that monkey had a name, it would be malice.”

“I’m not old enough for this!”

“They called the flood and all its effects part of the secret commonwealth.”

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥crossroad reviews #bookblr #book reviews #la belle sauvage #the book of dust #la belle sauvage spoilers #philip pullman

[yoyo-inspace]

Are you enjoying the book of dust

Immensely! 

I still have a few chapters left, so I haven’t finished, but I love it. 

It’s very different from His Dark Materials. It’s much more of a political thriller in parts, and the politics and religious commentary is much less “metaphorical” than it was in say, Northern Lights (it wasn’t even metaphorical in that either, but you get me). While HDM focused much more on the grand, “fantasy” and theological aspects of it all, The Book of Dust is more about the organisations, the interpretations and the abuse of power on a human level. We’re not dealing with a great war between dimensions, but the takeover of government and influences in politics. And that there are both good and bad people on “both sides” really. And I for one am definitely here for that.

At the same time, it’s fascinating to get a closer look at Lyra’s world. There were parts where I had to remind myself that yes, fantastical elements do exists in Lyra’s world (witches, ghosts), and a lot were mentioned in the original trilogy - I don’t know why my mind is just set on making Lyra’s world almost too alike ours that the mention of different magical forces and such threw me for a loop. 

On top of that, we go a bit deeper into the scientific side of things as well, and I was delighted at that - the ideas of Dust and elementary particles have always fascinated me. Though one has to keep in mind that this book takes place before HDM, so they can’t get ahead of that in terms of where the research is - I think that more answers about the nature of Dust will emerge once we get to the two other books in the trilogy. The characters are all amazing, the good and bad ones. And the ones in between. It’s lovely to encounter so many recurring faces, but the new characters are fantastic as well. Some of them make me laugh, some of them make me want to hug them and some of them absolutely terrifies me. Like. Makes me physically recoil and being disturbed. 

There’s also so much more exploration about daemons in this, and it answers so many questions that I’ve had for years. And some questions I didn’t know I have. Of which some of the answers have disturbed me greatly. I really need to write an essay on some of the stuff in this, about the History of Ideas, conscious matter and how that influences the shapes of daemons, because this book made me have so many revelations. 

There’s definitely a more “adult” feel to this book in parts, there are some really heavy and dark topics being dealt with in a much more straightforward way than they ever would be in a “kid’s” book. But these books have always had a tendency to break away from age-categories, just as Pullman wants it. 

I don’t really have any negatives, except for the fact that maybe the first half/middle of it occasionally went a bit slow, but I didn’t really mind that because of all the world-building and fantastic characters. 

But yeah, still a few chapters to go. Once I’ve finished it, I’ll definitely gush about it in a more spoilerific manner. 

#the book of dust #his dark materials #philip pullman #la belle sauvage #la belle sauvage spoilers #the book of dust spoilers #but not really?? #tbod spoilers #Anonymous

[hedonistbyheart]

I have such complicated feelings about Lord Asriel, I mean, on the one hand I remember what he did to Roger which is unforgivable obviously, but also, he’s so cool and the image of him showing baby Lyra the moon is too precious for my poor heart to handle.

Also Stelmaria cuddling Pan I just - 

#la belle sauvage spoilers #book of dust spoilers #hdm #all dem asriels all dem complicated feels #i don't trust him but I LIKE him

[lyrasilvertongve]

la belle sauvage spoilers

man with hyena daemon : stalks farder coram and has a vicious fight w him, looked like he was going to kill him

farder coram : i am curious about him

#la belle sauvage spoilers #spoilers #idk this cracked me up id be freaking the fuck out #la belle sauvage

[sundiscsandemptyciphers]

It's funny how rare this "daemon and human tag team in conversation" kind of thing is in these books.

#daemonism #daemons #his dark materials #the book of dust #hdm spoilers #la belle sauvage

[ssmhhh]

forgive me but i am feeling particularly smug about snatching this person’s wig so spectacularly lmao

ʅ（◞‿◟）ʃ

#hdm reddit #hdm redditors #malcolm polstead #the book of dust #the secret commonwealth #la belle sauvage #hdm #his dark materials #will parry #lyra x will #will x lyra #surrounded by idiots #philip pullman #the book of dust speculation #the book of dust spoilers #the book of sus #the floor is malcolm polstead #malcolm polstead is the floor #malcolm polstead still sucks ass #fuck malcolm polstead all my homies hate malcolm polstead

[enilybenil]

The resin they find (hello, Amber Spyglass) is golden in color (396). They need it to patch a crack in the hull of their boat.

It can’t be that they’re in the land of the dead, because this description doesn’t remind me at all of the one from His Dark Materials, and there are no shrieking harpies that I’ve noticed. It reminds me a bit more of Chihiro, beginning to fade at the beginning of Spirited Away before Haku makes her eat the food of the spirits.

Oh no wait, it is the land of the dead. Malcolm and Alice have stumbled into heaven, and across the way is Bonneville in hell. Hello, Calvinism.

Their escape from the land of the dead (and Bonneville in a wheelchair, because I guess the land of the dead is more accessible than present-day America) is blocked by iron doors. If only they had a subtle knife?

Oh no wait, it’s not the land of the dead! It’s the garden of Eden! How interesting. The gardendwellers can’t see Malcolm and Alice because they can’t remember who they are, and they can’t “take stock of theirselves” (405). I wonder if this means that Bonneville had no choice but to take stock of himself, and that is why he lives in the scrub outside the garden.

#philip pullman #the book of dust #la belle sauvage #la belle sauvage spoilers #his dark materials #the amber spyglass #electrum #spirited away #ogino chihiro #nigihayami kohakunushi #gerard bonneville #the subtle knife #the garden

[ellynnever-sweet]

Update

I’ve finished HDM (reread for the first time in like, twelve years?) and read La Belle Sauvage for the first time, and I’m feeling a quite bit warmer towards PP than I did working through Golden Compass. There are still some language and character choices I’ll give serious side-eye to, but the horror scenes are, well, authentically horrifying, and Alice and Malcolm are just perfect. Alice is I think everything PP tried to pack into the whole ‘little girls are terrible gremlins, see exhibit A, Lyra’, and frankly I’d die for her if Ben didn’t poison whoever needed killing first.

#hdm #book of dust spoilers #la belle sauvage spoilers

[esperantoauthor]

It’s interesting reading La Belle Sauvage while watching season two of His Dark Materials because it really makes the common themes stand out. There’s always a young person who murdered someone out of self defense and struggles with their guilt.

Hold up...yo, I think Phillip Pullman might’ve killed someone as a teen 😧

#his dark materials #the book of dust #la belle sauvage #phillip pullman #this is my new fan theory #spoilers #a bit #not glee #phillip pullman did a murder

[its-funnier-in-elvish]

Some wallpapers from the opening titles, please share!

#his dark materials #bbc #hdm #hdm spoilers #philip pullman #dafne keen #james mcavoy #lyra silvertongue #lyra belacqua #lee scoresby #the northern lights #the subtle knife #the amber spyglass #la belle sauvage #the secret commonwealth #daemonism #daemons #daemon #pantalimon #wallpaper #alethiometer #lord asriel #marisa coulter