The Book of Dust The Secret Commonwe..., Philip Pullman
The Book of Dust The Secret Commonwe..., Philip Pullman
11 Rating(s)
List: $30.00 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $15.00

The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2)

Author: Philip Pullman

Narrator: Michael Sheen

Unabridged: 19 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2019


Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • DON’T MISS THE EPIC FINALE TO THE BOOK OF DUST: THE ROSE FIELD, AVAILABLE NOW!

Return to the world of His Dark Materials and discover what comes next for Lyra, “one of fantasy’s most indelible heroines” (The New York Times Magazine).

“A big novel full of big ideas, big characters, and big sorrows . . . This book feels like a response to the darkness in our time.”—NPR

Lyra Silvertongue thought that the adventures of her youth were long behind her, but when her daemon, Pantalaimon, witnesses a brutal murder, they are suddenly caught up in crimes that carry unsettling echoes from their past.

But Lyra at twenty is very different from Lyra at thirteen. The lies she used to spin with ease no longer come, she and Pan are at odds, and her ability to trust—most of all in herself—has been shattered. On the run, Lyra finds a surprising new ally in Malcolm Polstead. Lyra and Malcolm will travel far beyond the confines of Oxford, across Europe and into the Levant, searching for a city haunted by daemons, and a desert said to hold the mystery of Dust.

To find the truth, Lyra will have to reconnect with the girl she once was and face dangers that will challenge everything she knows about her world.

Look for the entire trilogy of THE BOOK OF DUST:
La Belle Sauvage • The Secret Commonwealth • The Rose Field

And Lyra’s adventures begin in HIS DARK MATERIALS:
The Golden Compass • The Subtle Knife • The Amber Spyglass

About The Author

Philip Pullman is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. He is also the author of another trilogy set in the same world, The Book of Dust (La Belle Sauvage, The Secret Commonwealth, and The Rose Field) as well as numerous other much-loved novels, a collection of fairy tales, and a volume of essays and speeches on writing. He has won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread (now Costa) Award, Parents’ Choice Gold Awards, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Pullman was knighted for services to literature in the New Years Honours 2019. He lives in Oxford, England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rachel on October 08, 2019

Hey this review has spoilers so. I was really wanting to love this book, and His Dark Materials is basically still my favourite series ever. I don't really know where to begin, so I'm just going to make dot points. - I'm pretty disappointed - Why did chapter 31 even need to exist- why is it necessary t......more

Goodreads review by Emily on February 07, 2020

I can't believe I'm giving this book 2 stars... His Dark Materials shattered my heart as a kid... I've been dreaming of a book about adult Lyra ever since but this was one of the biggest disappointment of 2020 already. It took me 3 months to finish this book. A book I had been dreaming about for years......more

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on December 06, 2023

Here is my video review: [URL not allowed] His Dark Materials and La Belle Sauvage have been such an immense delight. They have brought lightness into dark times. It was with much delight that I opened this book. Lyra, Pan, Malcom, and Alice are all back in this book. However, the book is......more

Goodreads review by Sara on October 17, 2019

The Secret Commonwealth continues Lyra's story, many years after the conclusion of His Dark Materials, with a young woman adrift from her deamon and starting to understand who she really is in the world. It's a story about acceptance, challenging the rules left by the old, and self discovery. As alwa......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on January 31, 2020

11/17/19 - FINALLLLLY! I finished this chunker! Time to tell you my thoughts. Alright, so it's no secret that the book that I am most bitter about not enjoying in this world is La Belle Sauvage. It's my most liked and commented on review on this site out of the hundreds upon hundreds that I have read......more


Quotes

The Secret Commonwealth is a majestic return to Lyra’s next chapter with all the magic, folklore, and fantasy only Philip Pullman can provide.” –Hypable
 
“A big novel full of big ideas, big characters and big sorrows. . . This book feels like a response to the darkness of our time.”—NPR

Pullman’s best novel so far. A work of extraordinary depth and humanity.” —The Observer

“As always, Pullman’s writing is simple, unpretentious, beautiful, true. . . . the conclusion to the Book of Dust can’t come soon enough.” —The Washington Post
 
“The novel gallops forward, full of danger, delight and surprise. Pullman is a staggeringly gifted storyteller.” —New Statesman

“Engrossing.”Financial Times
 
“Exhilarating.”Kirkus Reviews
 
“Enthralling.”Readings
 
“Mr. Pullman’s writing is clear, clean and forceful, never striving for effect and all the more effective because of it. He’s also a man of ideas, which gives great savor to his work.” – The Wall Street Journal
 
Coming back to [Lyra] after all these years is such a profound pleasure that I can do nothing but sit back and watch her charge forward into the night, ready as she always was to remake the world in her own image.”—Vox

“Profound and provocative.”Bulletin

The Secret Commonwealth reasserts Pullman’s affection for the wondrous and those pieces of reality which can be seen only by those willing to see.”—Newsweek

“These books, and the intellectual debate they produce, make Lyra’s world feel more lived-in than ever before.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Not only is it worthy second installment in The Book of Dust trilogy, it continues to prove this sequence will be every bit as excellent as His Dark Materials.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer