Article contributed by Madalena Daleziou
Some stories are complete, and they don’t need sequels or new additions… but they keep haunting the author and the readers anyway, so adding to them just feels natural. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials is one such story.
Published about two decades after the ending of the original trilogy, and between the second and much awaited third instalment of The Book of Dust (a new trilogy comprising a prequel book and two sequels focusing on Lyra as a young adult), Serpentine is a sweet short story. According to The Guardian, it was first written in 2004, a fact confirmed in the author’s note, and it was initially auctioned for charity. Sixteen years definitely seems like a long time but, in fact, the publication feels very timely.
With the book being only 80 pages long, and art taking up a large percentage of those pages, it is hard to talk about Serpentine without spoiling anything. However, it’s safe to say that the issues it addresses make it a fitting prologue to The Secret Commonwealth, which is the second instalment of The Book of Dust and the first to focus on an adult Lyra.
Serpentine serves as a bridge between the twelve-year-old girl we left at the end of the first trilogy and the twenty-year-old woman of the second. In this short story, Lyra is a teenager; still adventurous, daring, and most of all curious, always ready to interact with others and demand answers. This is not to say that her experiences in His Dark Materials haven’t changed her and her beloved daemon, Pan. Most of all, the relationship between the two of them, the only constant in their shared life, has altered. After Lyra’s necessary, but devastating actions, their once uncomplicated love has shifted into a cautious dynamic that none of them fully understands. Serpentine alludes to that, setting the stage for the strife that will follow in Lyra’s adult life and – while we cannot yet confirm that – perhaps concealing some sort of hint for Lyra and Pan’s future. The yet unnamed Book 3 of The Secret Commonwealth, possibly to be titled Roses from the South or The Garden of Roses according to Pullman, will hopefully tie all loose ends.
For the moment, Serpentine did the trick of keeping our interest alive until then and reminding us that there is still so much to find out about Pullman’s universe. Lyra’s journey back north and her meeting with an old friend has some bitterness about it. Lyra has lost something of her plucky, positive attitude in The Northern Lights. Still, there are also glimmers of hope; hope of connection with oneself and others, and of better understanding of one’s world.
All in all, Serpentine is a very well-written piece, with good dialogue and beautiful imagery. If there is one negative, it is that it does not stand very well on its own. Much like the “lantern slides” section in certain special editions of His Dark Materials (bonus content about the characters, presented as a snapshot, rather than a story), Serpentine is a quick episode, more picture than story. It will be enjoyed by fans eager to see more of Lyra and Pan (and even hear about some other characters we know and love!), but there is no real plot about it, only an issue that will be better explored in The Book of Dust trilogy. That being said, the picture offered to us in this little book is still tender, and the illustrations by Tom Duxbury only makes it more so. Like the short story Lyra’s Oxford before it, Serpentine does not significantly add to or alter Pullman’s universe. It nevertheless reads as a sweet, brief homecoming to a beloved world.
Serpentine is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up Serpentine? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A brand new short story set in the world of His Dark Materialsand The Book of Dust by master storyteller, Philip Pullman.
Serpentine is a perfect gift for every Pullman fan, new and old.
‘Lyra Silvertongue, you’re very welcome . . . Yes, I know your new name. Serafina Pekkala told me everything about your exploits’
Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon have left the events of His Dark Materials far behind.
In this snapshot of their forever-changed lives they return to the North to visit an old friend, where we will learn that things are not exactly as they seem . . .
Illustrated throughout by Tom Duxbury, the perfect re-entry for fans of His Dark Materials and a wonderful companion to The Book of Dust.
