Back in February, we got the first information about Philip Pullman’s return to the world of what American audiences know best as The Golden Compass, a fantasy book series unlike most others you’ve ever read. An ill-fated movie, while visually on point, failed to really convey what the book trilogy, collectively known as His Dark Materials, truly pulls off. The first book, Northern Lights (a.k.a. The Golden Compass) takes place in an alternate world ruled by theocracy, full of airships, spirit animals called daemons, and talking polar bears. The second, The Subtle Knife, takes place in our world and introduces soul-eating spectres. The third, The Amber Spyglass, takes place across multiple worlds and deals with an honest-to-goodness attempt to kill God. And yeah, that last plot point explains why New Line Cinema were pretty overly optimistic to think they could complete a cinematic trilogy in the U.S., though a BBC miniseries is now on the way.

The Book of Dust is a new Pullman trilogy, due in October, that will function as both sequel and prequel, focusing on heroine Lyra’s infancy and post His Dark Materials life. And now we have a name for the first book: La Belle Sauvage. The Guardian has the exclusive excerpt, which explains the title and depicts an incident in the life of baby Lyra when her absent father Lord Asriel (played by Daniel Craig in the movie, above) comes to see her.

“Do you know why I haven’t been to see my daughter?”

“I thought you were busy. You probably had important things to do.”

“I haven’t been to see her because if I do, she’ll be taken away from there and put in a much less congenial place. There’ll be no Sister Benedicta to stand up for her there.

But now they’re trying to take her anyway. . . .”

Read the rest at The Guardian‘s site, and let us know in comments what you think.

Images: New Line Cinema