Phillip Pullman\'s next book has an adult Lyra

The second book in Phillip Pullman's The Book of Dust trilogy will show Lyra as an adult.
Phillip Pullman is best known for His Dark Materials trilogy, a fantasy series whose main character Lyra explores worlds filled with magic. The series did incredibly well and 17 years after the last book had released, he started a new series in the same world. The series is called The Book of Dust trilogy and the first book was a prequel to the series. Called La Belle Sauvage, the book is set when Lyra was a baby. We find out more of the events that took place around Lyra's birth that let up to the events of the original trilogy.

The second book of the trilogy will be releasing this year. Titled The Secret Commonwealth, this book is set 20 years after La Belle Sauvage and 7 years after the end of The Amber Spyglass. Lyra is now an adult in college and in the book she will travel across Asia and Europe trying to find a place supposedly haunted by demons.

“Things have been biding their time, waiting for the right moment to reveal their consequences for Lyra Silvertongue,” Pullman told The Guardian “ The Secret Commonwealth tells the continuing story of the impact on Lyra’s life of the search for, and the fear of, Dust. I found it intriguing and deeply exciting to discover how great events can turn on a little moment, and how revenge can be nurtured and fed and watered till it grows beyond control.”

Since the original fans of the series are now grown up, it will be nice that this book has an adult Lyra for them to relate to. Francesca Dow, the Managing Director at Penguin Random house said, "Like the original readers of His Dark Materials, Lyra has grown up. Her concerns are adult ones, and this new perspective – coupled with Philip’s unflinching look at the human condition and his extraordinary storytelling – makes for a breathtaking read". She even compared the book to The Handmaid’s Tale and Never Let Me Go. After the severely anti-Christian tone the last trilogy took, it will be interesting to see how Pullman explores souls and ethics in this trilogy.

The book is slated to release in October 2019.