Serpentine (His Dark Materials #3.6)

Jayson

Rating: really liked it
(B+) 77% | Good
Notes: Rife with reminiscing, neither dire nor complicated, it's a pleasure ride, with warmth supplied, and nicely illustrated.

Lisa of Troy

Rating: really liked it
She's back! Lyra and Pantalaimon that is! Check out my video on this book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgI-...

This is a short story written by Philip Pullman captured with beautiful illustrations. Lyra and Pan are back up North once again, and Lyra has a question.

This book is only for those who have read His Dark Materials Trilogy and specifically the last book, The Amber Spyglass because this book is filled with references to the last book.

The illustrations are gorgeous and add a stunning visual element to the book. The only downside to this book is that is like eating a half Fun size candy bar after eating a King size candy bar. The Amber Spyglass had so many pages to feel at ease and bonded with the characters. With this book being so short, it felt like sand running through my hand. I wanted to hold onto to it for a bit more.

Overall, an enchanting work and my favorite piece by Philip Pullman.

2022 Reading Schedule
Jan Animal Farm
Feb Lord of the Flies
Mar The Da Vinci Code
Apr Of Mice and Men
May Memoirs of a Geisha
Jun Little Women
Jul The Lovely Bones
Aug Charlotte's Web
Sep Life of Pi
Oct Dracula
Nov Gone with the Wind
Dec The Secret Garden

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Henk

Rating: really liked it
A charming if brief return to the world of Lyra Silvertongue
You know, it isn't really surprising that there are things about ourselves that still remain a mystery to us, he said. Maybe we should be comforted that the knowledge is there, even if it's withheld for a while.

Serpentine has us return to the work of His Dark Materials. Firmly set after The Amber Spyglass (I don't think this story is readable without intimate knowledge on the trilogy) we follow Lyra and her companion in the far North. There is no real adventure, but introspection about what can and can't be known about oneself (which could be argued to be life's real adventure). For such a short story Philip Pullman packs in quite some more heavy, more mature themes, like how one can build a relationship even if it's not easy. The banter between Pantalaimon and Lyra is definitely a highlight, as are the illustrations from Tom Duxbury, and I am moving up The Secret Commonwealth up on my reading list.

Paromjit

Rating: really liked it
A short dark materials Philip Pullman story I listened to on audio….covers the complex relationship between Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon.

Jenna ❤ ❀ ❤

Rating: really liked it
Serpentine is sweet story about Lyra and Pantalaimon, exploring their relationship after their separation. It won't make sense to those who haven't read His Dark Materials trilogy, so I recommend reading those books before any of the short stories.

Ms. Smartarse

Rating: really liked it
Back in The Amber Spyglass Lyra and Pantalaimon had to weather through their biggest trial yet: separating from each other in the Netherworld. For all that it's been quite a while since, our heroine still worries about the best way to approach her daemon about his trials during the separation.



I'm struggling with how to write a coherent review opinion on this short story. It starts out promising enough, leading the reader through a number of guilt-ridden musings, only to have them end up exactly where they've started. I suppose this is a children's story with the moral of respecting others' privacy. Even if that other... is one's own soul?

There is one interesting tidbit to be learned from all the over-analyzing that Lyra does, namely that some people can be at odds with their daemons. An aspect that I feel would've made for a far more interesting story.

Score: 2/5 stars

The best way I can sum things up is: an overambitious mix of philosophical reflections and comedic banter aimed at children. The simplistic language feels rather at odds with the seriousness of the subject matter being addressed, making it seem as if the author needlessly limited the amount of in-depth analysis he could do.

Trin

Rating: really liked it
3.5 rounded up because daemons.

The negatives are easy: this is very short (very short for $12.99). The woodcut-style art is lovely, but since the story is mostly Lyra having an extended conversation with Dr. Lanselius, then an extended conversation with Pan, the artist clearly struggled with finding new ways to depict this at times -- there's lots of faces drawn from slightly different angles. And there's too much use of the word lover. (Ugh, even just writing it there was too much.)

But: daemons! Lyra and Pan actually talking to each other! -- which, after The Secret Commonwealth, I mightily miss.

This also sets some of that book up in an interesting way, so it's cool it's been widely released: it was written long before The Book of Dust trilogy but privately auctioned (wild). Curious to see Pullman having ideas in this direction all along...

I do very much wish he would write one of these little books about Will, though. Would gladly pay $12.99 for that.

Dannii Elle

Rating: really liked it
This is an illustrated novella following the events that occur after both the His Dark Materials trilogy and the other short story that follows it, Lyra's Oxford. This focuses on the series' central character, Lyra Belacqua, but her daemon, Pan, also shares equal focus. Other characters from the preceding books also feature, either physically or in speech, and much of what has previously occurred between them is mentioned.

This didn't provide the reader with a whole amount of new information about this world and focused, instead, on bringing emotion rather than knowledge to reader. It was just a pleasant little story to experience that left with a big silly smile on my face, after reading it. The gorgeous black and white imagery that featured throughout also enhanced the warmth I felt emanating from it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Philip Pullman, and the publisher, Penguin Random House, of this opportunity.

Connor MacNeil

Rating: really liked it
This book was like a Starbucks drink. It's beautiful, it's delicious, but it's gone in five minutes and it's $13.

Sara

Rating: really liked it
A small novella that bridges the gap between Lyra's Oxford and the The Secret Commonwealth, it's a short examination into the changing relationship between Lyra and Pantalaimon and the start of their struggles and doubts moving into adulthood.

We also see a return of the witch's counsel and uncover a few secrets along the way. It was a nice bridging moment between the two books series, that offers hints of more to come, but doesn't feel particularly essential to read about.

Dave Schaafsma

Rating: really liked it
I like the little side stories along the way as we journey for years through Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, now expanded to five full books and heading to (maybe) the finale. Serpentine is a short story Pullman wrote to help raise money for The National Theater, who had mounted a hugely successful theatrical production based on the initial series. He had the story in his head since the months he had finished the third book, he says in 2004, so it now serves as a kind of sweet moment that takes place between the events of the original trilogy and The Secret Commonwealth, the second part of The Book of Dust. It is published in 2020, 16 years after Pullman said he conceived it.

In Serpentine, we join the undergraduate Lyra on an archaeological expedition to the melting Arctic; she returns to a place we recall we met some of the story's most memorable characters. But the heart of this little story is the severed relationship between Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon Pantalaimon that happened when she was twelve and how to mend it finally, now that she is twenty. Okay, there's not much here, but it is nice moment, told a little serpentinely, featuring a serpentine daemon that shares the beginnings of some dark knowledge that gets expanded in The Book of Dust. It makes perfect sense to see it as a slim but emotional transition between the two series, bringing Lyra and Pan back together, and it's a terrific artifact, with superb linocuts by Tom Duxbury. If you are a fan of this world, you have to have it.

Rachael

Rating: really liked it
This has made my year! A new short story set in the His Dark Materials world.
I am a massive fan of this series so despite Serpentine being teeny tiny I was very excited to read it. It is definitely worth it if you want to know how Lyra and Pan are coping after the events of The Amber Spyglass and hints at things past and hopefully more things to come.
If Philip Pullman wrote what Lyra had for breakfast I'd read it but what I really want is more about Will. (I am crossing all my fingers and toes that he appears in the final volume of the Book of Dust trilogy)

Trish

Rating: really liked it
This is the companion book to the The Book of Dust trilogy. Chronologically, one should have read it right between the two series. Considering the publication dates, that wasn't possible (it also doesn't matter too much since La Belle Sauvage takes place before the first trilogy).

As readers of the series know, Lyra's and Pan's lives have changed significantly due to the events in His Dark Materials (their forced parting on the shores of the world of the dead). And not really for the better. In short: she and Pan are either not talking to each other at all or only very politely / distantly and never about what it felt like to be separated.
This alienated, broken-up union comes to a head during their return to Trollesund (the town where they first met Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison) due to a dig funded by Jordan College. They also go to see Dr. Lanselius again.
More shall not be said about the content.

I've seriously loved the previous two companion books as they are little treasure-troves. Sadly, this one was not designed in the same, lovely way. What I mean is that this book only contained black-and-white illustrations such as these:





I was already disappointed when it arrived and it wasn't the same cloth-bound goodness but a simple/cheap hardcover with a dust jacket (which means it also won't fit with the other two on the shelf, which in turn has my OCD scream like one of the women in Hitchcock's movies).
What is far worse, though, is that it completely lacks the interactive elements and ephemera the other two companion books have that make them extra special.

Therefore, while this wasn't bad and while the tale itself is quite significant for the events in The Secret Commonwealth as well as the third and last book in the trilogy, the book as a whole was just not the same level of awesome.

Lata

Rating: really liked it
A short story about Lyra and Pan after the end of the first trilogy. Their interaction is a little prickly but it’s interesting after the changes they went through in book 3.

Deborah

Rating: really liked it
A short tale of Lyra Silverstone and her daemon, Pantalaimon, after being reunited where she seeks advice from the consul of the witches about their separation. I recommend you read the Dark Materials trilogy first. Beautiful black and white woodcut drawings illustrate this sweet moment. 3.5 stars