The Secret Commonwealth

Philip Pullman
The Secret Commonwealth Cover

The Secret Commonwealth

Ann Walker
10/5/2019
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I've seen this book referred to here on Goodreads as "His Darker Materials", and I find that quite apt, because this is, in essence, a political/psychological thriller, set in Pullman's world and peopled by his characters. That's not a complaint, it's a warning that The Secret Commonwealth might not be quite what you expected, or hoped for.

As a political/psychological thriller, it's excellent - seven years after the supposed defeat of the Authority in The Amber Spyglass, the Magisterium/CCD is back and even more powerful, having infiltrated its allies outside the Church to business, academia, and civilian government. (Quite frighteningly and realistically demonstrated, it was like reading today's news.) Despite the darkness and brutality of many aspects of this story, there were also welcome moments of beauty, of grace and compassion.

About our well-loved characters: children do grow up; they may grow up in ways that we wish they hadn't, we might wish they could be spared some of the pain of exploration and discovery of themselves as adults, but we can't, really, can we? We can only watch with our hearts in our mouths and hope for the best. As I watched Lyra, Pan, and, yes Malcolm as well.

I blew straight through La Belle Sauvage both times I read it - still a GREAT story, a gift from a master storyteller; deeply enjoyed my reread this past week of His Dark Materials - perhaps I'm finally old enough to appreciate the ending - but I had to read The Secret Commonwealth more slowly, coming up for air or for pondering or for holding my loved ones close. There's so much beauty, but so much pain in this story as well. Two (or however) many years will be a long wait to see how Lyra, Pan, and Malcolm's tales play out.