The Book of Dust (Volume one of La Belle Sauvage)

Author : Philip Pullman

Review:

This trilogy is the prequel to the much acclaimed ' His Dark Materials' trilogy by the same author. The first book The Golden Compass was also made a motion picture on a very grand scale. Philip Pullman is another author who mixes fantasy with science. He takes up human conscience as a separate entity in matter, and how it is bound to us. 'His Dark Materials' is a masterpiece with extraordinary imagination. 'The Book of Dust' is just part 1 of the new trilogy and nothing much happens in this book. It's a journey of a boy and girl, who try to save the life of the main protoganist Lyra against all odds, because there is a prophecy tied to her that she will change the destiny someday. So, they battle against the great flood, and a psychotic villian who is hell bent on stealing Lyra away from them. Having said this, the main opposition which Pullman faced before and will continue to face with this book as well, is that his main antagonist is the fictitious religion he has created in his plot, which draws a lot of parellels to christianity. He talks about this religion and the magesterium , the organization, which governs this religion as the main powers which try to impede science. It is my humble thought that though at one point of time in the past centuries, religion and science , stood against each other, that period is long gone now. It is easy to mock standing on the other side and derogate the party in question. We can also choose to be neutral and try to understand the other perspective. If science has progressed leaps and bounds, the religious organizations have also become quite accepting compared to what they were before. They stand for what they believe in. In the end, faith moves the world. To summarize, Pullman's books are brilliant in imagination if you can overlook these sentiments. But alas, anyone who is very strongly biased in their opinions are not universally liked.

Recommended : 👍

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