School Library Service Book Review: The Secret Commonwealth The Secret Commonwealth Philip Pullman Review This is the second book in the new sequence that has been created by Philip Pullman. Rather than following on from La Belle Savage he jumps 20 years and Lyra, the heroine is now 21. As a university student Lyra is trying to understand herself, grow up and make sense of the world around her, but an increasingly fractious relationship with her daemon, Pantalaimon changes everything. Pan cannot forgive Lyra for her actions of cutting him away and he eventually takes advantage of this and leaves her altogether. His mission is to find Lyra's imagination which he believes she has lost. This now becomes the whole focus of the story as Lyra tries to find him. This culminates in a real cliff-hanger ending ready for the final episode. Opinion Having read ' His dark materials' and now 'The book of Dust' I can feel the pain and loneliness of Lyra who is nowhere ending her quest. A departure for me as I am an avid JF reader but have always loved the trilogy's of Philip Pullman. Am ready for the finale! NB There is a sprinkling of four-letter swearing and a graphic near gang rape. These elements alone pushes the story into the Young Adult bracket ( KS4/5). Reviewed by Tracy Willcocks- Mobile Library Assistant Rating ①②③④⑤ Follow Babcock School Library Service www.babcockldp.co.uk/sls https://twitter.com/babcockldpsls email: [email protected] .