An extract from Philip Pullman's forthcoming novel, The Book of Dust.

May 28, 2017 6:22 PM

The gentleman waiting gave him a start, though all he was doing was sitting still by the cold fireplace. Perhaps it was his dæmon, a beautiful silvery spotted leopard, or perhaps it was his dark, saturnine expression; in any event, Malcolm felt daunted, and very young and small. His dæmon, Asta, became a moth.
posted by Bee'sWing (17 comments total)

Thanks for posting! I can't wait!
posted by peacheater at 7:06 PM on May 28, 2017

Now I have something to look forward to.... Thanks!
posted by njohnson23 at 7:10 PM on May 28, 2017

super excited!
posted by j_curiouser at 7:21 PM on May 28, 2017

DO WANT
posted by bleep at 7:22 PM on May 28, 2017

<Oh, yes. Even this little excerpt sucked me in.
posted by bz at 7:29 PM on May 28, 2017

I think I'm going to have to go re-read His Dark Materials after reading this.
posted by HiddenInput at 7:33 PM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

I don't know what it is about Philip Pullman's writing but it has always been comforting to me even as terrible events unfold in his novels. I am eagerly anticipating this book (and will probably support my local independent bookstore by seeing if they can pre-order a copy for me!)
posted by invokeuse at 7:56 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Damn, it's been a while since I read HDM from grade school. I'm happy the next book is finally out this year.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 8:45 PM on May 28, 2017

Has Tokay wine; upvoted.
posted by adrianhon at 9:00 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Saw title of post, literally gasped out loud. Going to click link now. Wow.
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 9:18 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is great. I didn't like the series when it went off into distant theological universes, but Lyra's Oxford is very comforting and fascinating. There's a bit in the first book which, in a conversation between Mrs. Coulter and Lyra, suggests a gentler history of contact with the New World.

— And the tall man by the window who's just got up is Dr. Broken Arrow.
— Is he a Skraeling?
— Yes. He was the man who mapped the ocean currents in the Great Northern Ocean.

posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:29 PM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

I went to go back to reread The Golden Compass, and I gasped at the internalized misogyny that Lyra learned from the old white male scholars at Oxford for how to view women, and her extremely overly idealistic vision of Mrs. Coulter's dangerous glamour as a counterpart to that. Oh Lyra, do study with some feminist scholars, won't you? lol
posted by yueliang at 11:13 PM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Really looking forward to this one. Pullman's writing hits me in the right spots, despite me being far older than the target demographic.
posted by Harald74 at 6:37 AM on May 29, 2017

I read The Golden Compass to the kiddo, who thoroughly enjoyed it, and then we started on the next one and just sort of gave up half way in... and then it came back to me that I only really enjoyed the first one. Fingers crossed this is more like the first one.
posted by Artw at 2:47 PM on May 29, 2017

Just hope it's a rip banging adventure into uncharted lands with dangerous and subtle animals and peoples of exotic culture and aspect, not so much looking for a pseudo-religious-ish tractatus.
posted by sammyo at 4:06 PM on May 29, 2017

That is a remarkable illustration, the light on the water is perfect.
posted by Oyéah at 7:00 PM on May 29, 2017

Ditto on hoping it's more like Golden Compass than the other two. It seemed like a bad case of failure to plan a trilogy - Subtle Knife was slow and dull, then Amber Spyglass was four different, equally insane books all smashed together.

And the ending of the whole shebang was just icky - two kids discover sex and then are doomed, arbitrarily, to stay apart for all eternity.
posted by skullhead at 12:31 PM on May 30, 2017