The Secret Commonwealth

The Book of Dust, Volume Two

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Michael Sheen

Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year at the British Book Awards 2020.

Winner of Best Solo Narration at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020

It is 20 years since the events of La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One unfolded and saw the baby Lyra Belacqua begin her life-changing journey.

It is almost 10 years since listeners left Lyra and the love of her young life, Will Parry, on a park bench in Oxford's Botanic Gardens at the end of the ground-breaking, best0selling His Dark Materials sequence.

Now, in The Secret Commonwealth, we meet Lyra Silvertongue. And she is no longer a child....

The second volume of Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust sees Lyra, now 20 years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed. Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right.

Theirs is a world at once familiar and extraordinary and they must travel far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search for what is lost - a city haunted by daemons, a secret at the heart of a desert and the mystery of the elusive Dust.

The Secret Commonwealth is truly a book for our times; a powerful adventure and a thought-provoking look at what it is to understand yourself, to grow up and make sense of the world around you. This is storytelling at its very best from one of our greatest writers.

©2019 Philip Pullman (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Michael Sheen throws himself wholeheartedly into narrating this sequel to La Belle Sauvage and listeners will be rapt. For the ever-expanding international cast of characters, Sheen conjures a multitude of accents and delivers rapid-fire conversations between them. He's in step with the text at every turn; when situations become fraught or dangerous, Sheen ramps up the tension exquisitely. Thanks to Pullman's intricate storytelling and Sheen's propulsive narration, listeners will be on the edge of their seats right up to the cliff-hanger ending.” (AudioFile)

Michael Sheen is marvel and a national treasure

Gripping story, brought to life my the narrator, Michael Sheen. I can’t imagine anyone else doing the story and characters such justice!

epic

another epic story! I cannot wait for the next book in this trilogy nu Pullman

Superb!!!

Simply superb- the story and the narration by Michael Sheen. Can’t wait for volume 3!!!

Excellent and long awaited

Devoured this audiobook in only a few sessions.
Can't wait to hear the next one.
Only flaw: A Pine Marten is a canivore, not a rodent.

Lyra grows up

The book is superbly written and has several protagonists you want to follow further. However, some scenes are not pretty to read…

Thrilling, disturbing story breathtakingly well read.

A thrilling new chapter in the story of Lyra Silvertongue, and one quite unlike the ones that have come before, being far more akin to our world of struggle and political horrors and adult pain, as it must be, being the story of a young woman caught in events far broader and more evil than any she has encountered before. The vast cast is brilliantly given voice by Michael Sheen, probably the best audiobook narrator I have listened to. Every character has their own voice, every scene is described with tenderness, or humour or in breathtaking vivid action.
A triumph whose conclusion cannot come soon enough.

wonderful!

amazing book. totally captured by imagination just as the original northern lights trilogy did. can't wait for the next one!!

Whoever complains about Lyra’s accent

Don’t be fooled by watching too many episodes of Inspector Morse, the accent Michael Sheen uses for Lyra is actually far closer to a local Oxford accent than the usually RP dross. I say this as someone who has lived in Oxford my entire life…so stop complaining about it!

Other than that an entirely absorbing book, one less star but it’s not so much for the story, it’s just hard to give 5/5 for the second book in a trilogy where the ending is still open

A decent piece

But still, I don't understand why does it exist. The original trilogy was perfect to close all the necessary plot questions.

Amazing

This is the best Philip Pullman book I have ever read and I have read all of his dark material s