I did NOT like La Belle Sauvage. I mentally call it “the pretty sausage” because I don’t like it so much. I am a huge fan of Pullman’s original trilogy, reading His Dark Materials over and over in my youth. I got a Hester tattoo as my first tattoo, but the last time I read all three of the original trilogy back to back was about 7 years ago. Immediately after, like I’m talking the second I put down the Amber Spyglass, I picked up La Belle Sauvage with EXCITEMENT! And then I spent the entire book going “Is this it? That’s it? When’s it going to pick up?”
The original trilogy captivated me with the descriptions, dialogue, interesting world, dæmon lore, and then keeping up with Lyra and Pan’s adventures. But… La Belle Sauvage has zero real stakes. I didn’t care about Malcolm. Not an ounce at all. I forget the name of the girl I was supposed to care about. It’s a prequel, and I know Lyra is going to be absolutely fine 🤷♀️ ok Pullman, give us no real concern for our REAL main character we already love. Not to mention La Belle Sauvage is riddled with references to sexual assault, pedophilia, and general creepiness.
Dæmons washing themselves and showering themselves after being touched by a person- sexual assault.
The 12 year old getting cat called, preyed on, (I think her butt slapped at one point), the patrons of the bar even saying “she’s too young.”
Hyena man (I forgot his name because I loathed him so much) preying, taunting them saying they’re in a mansion where the owner touched kids and did terrible experiments to children and their dæmons.
The secret society telling that one lady from the woman’s college to let them use a little boy as bait, etc etc etc. UGH.
Not to mention hyena man teleporting one step ahead of everyone with a dæmon with two legs missing/split open. Ok?? Go crazy dude, your dæmon makes me mad uncomfortable and I don’t know why dæmons can suddenly pee and have blood but go crazy. I guess everyone with bird dæmons just always have a towel on them or something. God forbid the rabbit ones. I understand that his rancid dæmon is a reflection of his own rancidness, but this guy was just EVERYWHERE way too fast.
And the setting- I was intrigued at first, but somehow Pullman turns his imaginative world into a drag. The ordinary every day life of Malcolm feels more modern than the original trilogy (separating the older, traditions of Jordan with a modern, peasant life is something I considered he might’ve been trying to do) but then the “entire”world floods and they sail around for awhile while making pit stops I was begging for the end. “Is this is? Are they out of the water yet?? Are they finally reaching land??? No? Creepo mansion? Bummer. Oh!!! Is this is? No. Fairy world.”
AND THE FAIRY WORLD!!! Why bring up rampant sexual harassment and then have your infant MC suck on bare fairy breasts? I liked that scene for the cloud of dæmons, but looking back on it now I’m like “???? Ok???” The fairy world was referenced in Dæmon Voices, and the only reason why I know this is because I was flipping through Dæmon Voices at the library and saw the painting that Pullman was inspired by. I put Dæmon Voices down after reading the opening paragraphs and thinking “Woof, this guy seems like he got a big head after the pope looked at him. This’ll be a painful read if I can’t even handle his voice in the opening paragraph”
If the Fairy World with the poor dying children on the other side of the river, all of the sexual predation, and hyena creep are supposed to represent the “elites” destroying innocence, it wasn’t done in a way that the message sticks.
Speaking of things sticking- Malcolm and Asta’s big separation event was so so so so lackluster compared to the build up of Pan and Lyra’s. I don’t care about Asta, not at all, I was actually upset when they separated because it made Lyra’s feel cheap.
I’m not even going to touch on the Coulter and church stuff. I can’t be bothered to whine about it in all honesty.
I’m trailing off now because I’m annoyed and going on tangents. I read a rough description of The Secret Commonwealth and saw it has nothing in it that would interest me. Lyra and Pan drama, Lyra assault, blah blah blah. If Pullman’s writing keeps up the bad trend it did in Pretty Sausage I’m going to end up donating it and pretending the sequels don’t exist.
Anyways, I bought it, I don’t want to read it, but I also do.
by heartsholly
3 Comments
Why force yourself to read a sequel to a book you didn’t like?
sounds like you’ve had enough of the pretty sausage. honestly, maybe just pretend it’s fanfic and dive into it without any expectations. it could be a wild ride or a total flop, but at least it’s a ride.
I disliked the pretty sausage and had mixed feelings on Commonwealth. On one hand, there are a lot of interesting things in it and appreciate what PP is doing in terms of looking at internal conflict, self estrangement, and in general Lyra having to cope with a traumatic childhood. On the other, everything with Malcolm is creepy as hell, made worse by characters encouraging him, and Lyra’s SA is problematic and felt victim blamey.
I haven’t read the third yet. If PP can pull it around and stick the landing, I think it could retroactively make Commonwealth better. But as is, it feels like he missed the mark trying to address some interesting topics within his universe.