#111 in Children’s books
The Secret Commonwealth
- 656
- Pages
- about 12 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Secret Commonwealth” gives readers an adult Lyra, troubled and estranged from Pantalaimon, and that change is its boldest move. Some readers think the opening stretch the best written and the rest short of their hopes; some note that everyone but the heroine is either wholly good or wholly wicked, without minding much. At over six hundred and fifty pages, it is for those already committed to Pullman’s world.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Secret Commonwealth is a 2019 fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, the second volume of his trilogy The Book of Dust. The story is set twenty years or so after the events of La Belle Sauvage and ten years after the conclusion of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra Silvertongue is now an adult.
Reading order · The Book of Dust
Full order & progress →- La Belle SauvageStart here
8.18.1 / 10 - The Secret CommonwealthThis book
7.97.9 / 10 - The Rose Field
7.67.6 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 243 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 62% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Children’s books average of 7.9. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.0 | 6 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 237 | 98% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Secret Commonwealth for?
The Secret Commonwealth sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 656 pages — longer than 66% of the ranked books in Children’s books.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Children’s books — with scores between 7.9 and 8.1, closest to this book.
