The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth

The Book of Dust, Volume 2

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Michael Sheen

#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

Critic reviews

“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

Great story

I loved this every bit as much as I loved the original trilogy. The story has matured right along with Lyra. I am eagerly anticipating the next book.

I would listen to Michael Sheen read ANYTHING!

Pullman is great, that's a given. When I listened to La Belle Savage, the book that precedes this, I had no idea who Micheal Sheen was, I just thought it was the most beautifully narrated book I had ever heard in my life. He makes the characters live. He puts you in the scene. And it wasn't until after I'd watched Good Omens that I saw him as an actor. Wow. I am a fan.

This book is more difficult that La Belle Savage. Lyra is in her twenties and really struggling with what has to be PTSD. The events in the first trilogy are an adventure for the reader, but horrific for the characters who lived them. Lyra has survivor's guilt, she kind of hates herself and in her world that means she's at odds with her daemon, Pan. She's going through the wringer, he's going through hell, we feel every bit of it.

There's a sexual assault. Male writers see, do this because they think it gives their female characters gravitas. Alan Moore did iit too, in Jerusalem. And while it's better than fridging female characters, I wish these guys would get over it. I'm going to keep reading because, well, Pullman and Moore, but it makes me grind my teeth.

Get this book. But brace yourself. Ending is a cliffhanger.

Don't pull a GRRM on us Philip! I am considerably more invested in Lyra than ever I was in the Mother of Dragons. Get that next book written!

Excellent Addition to the Series

What a great second book for the series! The first was a prequel to HDM, with Lyra as just a little baby. This book she’s 20 and is being led astray by deliberate propaganda. So many parallels to the modern world with the religious right passing laws to suppress free thought and denying reality by law. For those that grew up reading HDM, you’re probably old enough to read this now. It’s definitely more grown up than the YA aimed HDM. Parts are very intense. I can’t wait until the third book comes out!

Phenomenal

One of the best of the Pullman books, read by an excellent narrator. A fabulous sequel to His Dark Materials.

Excellent narration

I think the book is great no matter what, but Michael Sheen is so good it’s impossible to know how it would be without him.