JediKermit's Full Review: Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife
I made the recent discovery of a new trilogy that I LOVE. Joining the other book series that I devour (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Oz, Prydain...) is the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman.
The first book was The Golden Compass, which I've already reviewed. Briefly, it tells the story of Lyra, a girl in a world very similar to our own who uncovers a mystery that threatens the very fabric of her world's existence. We also find out (Lyra doesn't) that she has a unique destiny that has implications for her world as well as others. Anyway, read that review first, and this one will make more sense.
This second book takes place in our own world, for the most part. In Our World, we meet Will Parry--a young boy about Lyra's age, who has secrets and crimes in his past. Despite these things, he's a good kid with an honest heart who has the same sort of spirit that Lyra does. Will ends up being the hero of this book, and like Lyra, possesses the destiny of many worlds in his future.
Together, Will and Lyra end up finding multiple worlds; Lyra's "Uncle" Lord Asriel had opened a gateway from Lyra's world into other worlds at the end of "The Golden Compass," and Will and Lyra find more of these gateways together and individually.
Through their exploration of these worlds, we discover that the destinies of all of the worlds are linked, and that they all have parallels. Will and Lyra become the common threads of all of the worlds, and their tools (her compass, his knife) are keys to what will come. These magical/spiritual tools work in all of the worlds, and every adversary they run into wants to take control of them.
Another character we meet in this book, who I really liked, was Dr. Malone, a physicist of OUR world who begins to uncover the secrets of Lyra's "Golden Compass" --her Alethiometer that "magically" gives Lyra knowledge beyond what we mere mortals can understand. Dr. Malone is intelligent and mature, and is a welcome addition to the books....I hope we see more of her in Book Three.
The adventure in this book is even higher than in the first book, and part of the adventure is in the subtlety of the differences between the different worlds. In one world, at adulthood you lose your soul to Spectres...formless wraiths who haunt the streets of the cities, and the abandoned children on this world roam in wild packs through the cities.
We also see more of the witches that we met in the first book of the series, and meet another, new group of beings: Angels. Their role is still up in the air, and I'm honestly not sure if these are good beings, evil beings, or some kind of in-between. And this is where this book will generate some controversy for some of you.
Besides the MANY good, warm, fuzzy themes "The Subtle Knife" explores, like honesty, loyalty, and courage, it also gives us a REALLY uncomfortable premise. What if the War in Heaven hadn't ended--or hadn't ended right? What if God wasn't God, and angels aren't the helpful beings we think they are? These are the issues that are beginning to be explored in Book Two, and which are going to blossom (or erupt) in Book Three. There are many other things that I could cite that could be seen either as heresy or as adventure at the grandest of scales--I choose to think of it as the latter--an adventure that could create new worlds, or could undo life from the Big Bang on.
So if you aren't a fan of blasphemous controversies, you may want to keep away--otherwise, it's a spellbinding tale that will engross you from it's explosive beginning to its cliffhanging end.
The only real "con" in the book is that one of my favorite characters from the first book, the Armored Polar Bear Iorek Byrnison, is completely absent from this one. All of the other memorable characters have at least brief appearances, but Iorek is holding back until Book Three (I hope!)
If you've read and enjoyed the first book, you'll like this one as well; it doesn't stand alone very well; you need the characters and situations from the first book to propel you forward into this one. And I guarantee, that after you've finished "The Subtle Knife," you'll NEED (as I did) to find "The Amber Spyglass" right away to continue the adventure you've begun with Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry.
Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted underworld - Citt??gazze, where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sou...More at HotBookSale
Second in the Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra finds herself in a haunted otherworld where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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