The Imagination Chamber by Philip Pullman, a review (His Dark Materials #3.7)

The Imagination Chamber by Philip Pullman was sent to me as a birthday present by the wonderful Renette and the actual book itself, with the red sprayed edges and the gilded decorations on the cover, is gorgeous.

The Imagination Chamber: Cosmic rays from Lyra’s Universe, by Philip Pullman

Each page in this book essentially contains a scene idea that Pullman had within Lyra’s universe. Whether these were different plot points he though of, extra back story for side characters, or interactions between characters that didn’t make their way into the main books.

It’s a very short and very quick little read, but as someone who really likes the His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust universe, I adored these extra insights to the characters and the world.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 6, Atmosphere: 7, Writing: 7, Plot: 5, Intrigue: 7, Logic: 7, and Enjoyment: 7, giving an average of 6.57 and 3.5*. It was hard to rate this one given the nature of the book!

No content warnings found.

This is a short little book that is a fab gift (thanks again Renette!) for anyone who enjoys this world. If that’s you? Consider grabbing this! But if you’ve not read any of the other books yet, this is a bad intro to the universe and I’d recommend picking up The Golden Compass first!

La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1)

Being plunged headfirst back into this world was so much fun! I absolutely loved His Dark Materials and really missed the world so as soon as I found out about this book I knew I needed to pre-order it.

We get to learn a lot more about the general background of this world with some really good additional details which are woven very well into the fabric of the story. The alethiometer is featured more in this story, giving us some more of its background and also some more of Lyra’s background before she grows up into the spunky and mischievous child we love from the main trilogy.

I absolutely loved Malcolm, his dedication to doing what’s right, and his constant fighting to look after Lyra. I originally didn’t like Alice, but I came to love her over time and she turned out to be an amazing young girl. I’m really hoping that these two, along with Hannah Relf, are going to be featured in the next book in the trilogy as I’d like to get to know them better. This next book is going to be set 20 years into the future, so this book definitely contains a lot of exposition and information dumpage. Despite that, the book was so incredibly enjoyable and something that all those who loved His Dark Materials will enjoy and should pick up!