The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2)

by Philip Pullman

Will is twelve years old and he's just killed a man. Now he's on his own, on the run, determined to discover the truth about his father's disappearance. Then Will steps through a window in the air into another world, and finds himself with a companion - a strange, savage girl called Lyra. Like Will, she has a mission which she intends to carry out at all costs. But the world of Cittagazze is a strange and unsettling place. Deadly, soul-eating Spectres stalk its streets, while high above, the wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. And in the mysterious Torre degli Angeli lurks Cittagazze's most important secret - an object which people from many worlds would kill to possess.

• ISBN13: 9780590112895
• Publish Date: 1 February 1999 (first published 22 July 1997)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 26 February 2010
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Imprint: Scholastic Point
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 341
• Language: English

Reviews

[clq]

As a TV-series based on these books seems to be coming out soon, I figured it would be a good time to pick up my rereading of His Dark Materials. I'm sure I've read these books before, but they are filed under the category of books I read so long ago that I can't remember anything at all about them.

The Subtle Knife left me feeling unsatisfied. The story is told very well, and the atmosphere created by the storytelling is wonderful, but the story itself didn't do it for me. It's meant to be disjointed - the narrative skips around from place to place - but it skipped around just often enough that I never managed to immerse myself as much in the book as the storytelling called for. The lack of immersion might be my fault. I read the book in quite a lot of sittings, and this is a book that might not lend itself very well to that.

For a book this short, The Subtle Knife felt surprisingly long. There were sections which, while the existence of them did add to the story, felt much longer than they needed to be. There is a sense of many threads being laid out which will eventually come together to make up the final story, but as a standalone books there were a few too many threads in this one, and not enough attention paid to each of them.

I'm sure my problems with this book will all be justified by the last book in the series. At least I truly hope so.

[thepunktheory]

After being absolutely fascinate by part one, I was super excited to read The Subtle Knife.
However, my first thought on this book was: irritating. Especially when Pullman starts the story in our world. Yes, that's right. No deamons, nothing fancy. Will is an ordinary kid, living in our world. It took quite a few pages to take that and I was rather startled by it.

Well, I got used to it after some time and when I really allowed myself to sink into the story, I appreciated it more. Pullman is a great writer, he paints the most marvellous pictures with his words. But - there always has to be a but - The Subtle Knife got nowhere near the first part, Northern Lights.

While the first installment was fascinating and full of a subtle sort of magic, this book just can't keep up. Especially the chapters set in our world are for a huge part only weird. For example those parts with Dr. Malone. Those of you who read the book will understand what I'm talking about.

So, from time to time the story does pick up some really interesting aspects and you want to find out more. But unfortunately it never took long Pullman to return to a point where it just felt like dragging on.

I have to say, my feelings are rather mixed about this one. It is a decent book, but definitely not worthy of the first installment in the series. I had expected so much more and ende

Looses a bit of the charm from the original since it expands the story and takes us other places that I don't find so enchanting. Pullman's worldview also shines through a lot more which can get in your face at times but not enough to stop me from wondering what Lyra will get up to next. The end is a killer cliffhanger though, not as self contained as the original and it's practically forcing me to read the (hopefully) last book.

[clementine]

In the second book in the trilogy, Lyra and Will spend a lot of time in Cittagazze, a transitory world between all other worlds. This book itself feels like a transition: slow to start, heavy on action in the second half which leaves a lot of loose threads for the final instalment. It's rich in imagination, delightful characters, and emotion. (I will always shed a tear at Lee Scoresby's death.) Here we get more development of some of the background characters we met in The Golden Compass. There's a particular focus on the witches, and Pullman positions them as naturally and perpetually opposed to the Church, echoing the religious persecution of witches throughout history. Because we are now building to a battle that implicates all of humanity, the focus broadens: it is not merely Lyra's story, or even Lyra and Will's. The perspectives of the other characters are interesting and help flesh out the world(s) of the novels, but sometimes I was a bit sorry to leave Lyra and Will. Having read this book several times, none of the twists were new to me this time around, but they are still poignant and satisfying. Not the best book in the series, but necessary and still brilliant.

[KitsuneBae]

For the full review, please visit Thoughts and Pens

Compared to The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife is tamer in terms of battle and gory scenes but nevertheless a stunning momentum to unravel the climax of the whole story (which I hope would be magnificently delivered in the third book). It mostly covered the life of young Will and how from mistrust, he has grown to care for Lyra and considered her as his best friend. His boldness and display of maturity even at the face of murder and bizarre happening is no mean feat for a child of 12. And that boundless love for his mother is the one thing that I could never forget about this novel. It was tender and warm, a focal point to maintain heart and humanity for the disastrous ongoings in Philip Pullman’s world.
Meanwhile, Lyra is even more adorable in The Subtle Knife, a beacon of spontaneity and candidness yet remained valiant against all odds. And even better is that we can see a significant difference in Lyra’s personality in this book. She’s slowly maturing, finally realizing that there’s a bigger world out there which needs more attention than the petty things she usually stick her nose with.
In this book, we are given another glimpse of our favorite characters from Lee Scoresby to Serafina Pekkala and the villains we come to hate for their subtleties like Mrs. Coulter for example. Other creepy creatures have also been introduced in the Subtle Knife which I think created a perfect entourage to carry the story of His Dark Materials, the Specters which really scared the hell out of me.
The Subtle Knife’s steampunk is a pure genius. Imagine an ordinary looking knife which can cut through windows in this world to reveal another. This totally blew me off my feet. Worlds connected to the other worlds and the subtle knife’s important role to all of what is happening is simply unbelievable.
The plot of the Subtle Knife is even more unexpected as it gradually provides clear accounts of the nature of Dust, why Lord Asriel was hellbent on going to the beyond, the Church’s desperation in putting a stop to those who wanted to study Dust and why Lyra’s world was spinning out of control. The Subtle Knife touches the most sacred aspect of man’s beginning and it challenges faith itself, mixing fantasy and theology.
While quite satisfied, I have however dislikes about this book. One is that, Philip immediately killed two necessary characters which I think we need to know more about. Second, where was Iorek Byrnison and why is he suddenly missing? Third, where are the gyptians, Lord Faa and Farder Coram? They were very important characters and their fame in this book suddenly plummeted like a crashing airplane.

All in all, The Subtle Knife, as the other reviews say, is a perfect classic in the making.

[adamfortuna]

My favorite book of the series, but I was reluctant to like it at first. It does a great job of introducing new characters and expanding the world without losing the momentum from the first book.

[Stephanie]

Interesting. But as usual lots of parts were really slow or dragged on. It really picked up in the last 40 pages or so and I wish the rest of the book went at that pace. Ending makes me for sure want to read the next one. Digging Will.

Short review is short since I am writing this from my phone.