Secret of the Commonwealth.




 
    The Secret Commonwealth is the second book in the Book of Dust series and starts off with Lyra (the kid that Malcolm and Alice had saved in the previous book) being an adult. From the beginning, the book starts off somewhat slow, just like the first one. The author takes his time easing us into Lyra's world, starting off with Lyra's daemon Pantamailon asking to leave the college dorm so he can go and take a walk outside. There's a visible tension between the two which is very strange as a Human and their Daemon are usually best friends, however, greater worries are about to come for the two. 
    In this book series, Humans and Daemons never separate, unless one of them dies, however, Lyra and Pantamailon are special and are able to do so. After separating from Lyra and going on a run through the countryside, Pantamailon hears a noise and begins hiding. While in the trees looking down, he witnesses a murder. Two men jump a man and his daemon, however, the man is able to stab one of the two men. While the two men regroup, it is evident the poor man who was jumped and his Daemon won't survive, however, just before their unfortunate deaths, something surprising happens. The man who was jumped and his Daemon separate, and in her last moments, the Daemon asks Pantamailon to take the dying man's wallet and backpack and run. Before the two men return, Pantamailon carries out their instructions and returns to Lyras's dorm while she's still sound asleep. 
    Although there's tension between the two still, strange things begin happening to Lyra. For starters, she gets kicked out of her dorm which she'd been living in since she was a child due to supposed budget cuts, and in addition, her two professors Malcolm and Alice (the same kids from the first book, who are now also adults) had just revealed to her how they'd saved her life as a child. Lyra's overwhelmed with these sudden changes, however just as it seems things couldn't get any worse, Pantamailon finally tells her about the murder, and things only get worse from there. Lyra ends up getting her dorm ransacked (looking for the dead man's backpack), having to move out and stay in hiding while the CCD (comparitive to the FBI in our world) is after Malcom and looking for information on the man Panamailon had seen murdered. 
I'm going to leave my summarization there just in case some of you want to read the book. Overall I enjoyed the sequel much more than the first. Although it still is fairly slow, it starts off with drama which I enjoy much more than having to go through many cycles of the main character's everyday life. I give this book a final rating of 9.2/10




By: Muhammad Iftikhar


Comments

  1. James YOctober 13, 2023 at 9:47 PM

    Hi Muhammad, this book is definitely up there with the exotic fantasy stories. The plot of this book sounds very busy, but not necessarily chaotic. Good job with this blog post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel LeeOctober 16, 2023 at 10:42 AM

    Hi Muhammad, this book sounds really interesting. It wounds really interesting that the book starts off slow, but rapidly turns into a busy plot. I'll definitely check this book out soon. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alberto R.October 17, 2023 at 6:41 PM

    Hey Muhammad, you make this book sound very interesting and I might check it out some time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leo R.November 8, 2023 at 6:38 AM

    Greetings fellow Human, I had just returned from a mega fortnite gaming session, and I saw this review. Reading about the adventures of lyra make me want to touch grass again. I finally hugged m mom and dad, and I took a shower. Thank you Muhammad, you have truly changed me, and for that im grateful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. BJNovember 11, 2023 at 11:10 AM

    Hello Muhammad, I would like to say that your review on this book was very interesting to me. How it starts off slowly and rapidly gets better as you dive into the book.

    ReplyDelete

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