This companion book is different from the rest of the companion books for His Dark Materials; here, the readers are at an advantage of knowing more information than the characters in the story. However, at the end, we still end up with lots of questions. The book shines a light on connection which can be interpreted as natural connection, or can be related to our wisdom - joining two pieces of information to discover something new. We might question -did the collectors find the right connection, or was it a pure conincidence? Is the process of acquiring wisdom all about being accurate or is it about seeing connections? The book also hints about time dialation. Overall, there are lots of elements in the book to ponder about the natural world. For those who are massive fan of His Dark Materials, good news - the story reveals Mrs. Culter's maiden name!

Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North were genuine little gems. Both gave charming and insightful glimpses of our favourite parallel universe and the characters within. Serpentine; for me, came closer to the bottom of the barrel, being not nearly as charming or insightful nor as well written. This "companion volume" was not even set in that universe, was; by Pullman's own admission, a rehash of another's story told by Kate Bush (The Mezzotint perhaps?) and while the writing was in Pullman's voice, it contained apparent inconsistencies with the Dark Materials Trilogy. Did Marisa (pre-Coulter) really know of parallel universes and travel to them? I don't remember that being apparent in the original books. The publishers and Pullman are both seemingly guilty of trading on our love of the two trilogies, our urgent need to see the final Book of Dust instalment, to teasingly sell us small packs of old and unsatisfying rope.