Philip Pullman’s “magnificent” new novel is the final volume in his “The Book of Dust” trilogy, which expands on “His Dark Materials”, his previous “unsurpassed” trilogy for children, said Philip Womack in The Daily Telegraph . All these novels are set in the same world − one “tantalisingly close to ours”, but with key differences, such as the fact that humans there are accompanied by souls in animal form, known as “dæmons”.

There were some who thought “His Dark Materials” unsuitable for children, owing to Pullman’s “stringent attacks on Christianity ”. “The Book of Dust” really isn’t for children: Pullman uses the series to delve deeper into various points in the life of his heroine Lyra, whom we first met aged 12, in “Northern Lights”, but who is here a young adult. Mixing eleme

See Full Page