| Title | : | The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 370 |
| Publication | : | First published July 22, 1997 |
| Awards | : | Audie Award Children's Titles Ages 8-12 (2001), North East Teenage Book Award (1999) |
The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer.
When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once.
Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky.
But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.
On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power.
And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.
The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2) Reviews
-
(A-) 81% | Very Good
Notes: Changes direction from the last book, expanding the mythology and affirming religion as the key theme of the series. -
The second entry in a trilogy is often, in my opinion, the best. The author doesn't have to introduce the universe or the characters, as they did in the first installment, but they don't need to worry about wrapping up all the plot points either. Instead, the focus can be on 'the good stuff': elaborating on the story, teasing us more, giving action, chopping off Luke's hand and so on. Instead of the good stuff, in The Subtle Knife I feel as though we've had a bait and switch pulled on us.
In
The Golden Compass, we were treated to a rich alternate universe that had elements that were similar to our own, like some of the geopolitical structure, and elements that were entirely fantastical, like armored polar bears and witches. The Subtle Knife, however decides that most of this is insignificant and takes place almost entirely in different universes. It seems like
Philip Pullman wanted to reel us in with fantasy before he could preach at us.
Some of these elements are expanded upon in
The Amber Spyglass, which I'm currently reading, so forgive me if they don't all apply. I had heard before I started the series that they were 'about killing God.' This seemed highly unlikely, and was probably a knee-jerk reaction from people who heard it from other people who read a synopsis of the book, etc. But... no. Some of the main characters have decided to wage war on 'The Authority.'
Herein lies my main concern with the series as a whole: it's not (excuse the pun) subtle. I'm an agnostic, so these complaints don't come from someone insulted by the material, they come from someone unhappy by their handling. I love plots that put a spin on traditional religion (
Waiting for the Galactic Bus, for example), but it seems like Pullman came up with a story involving a culture's religion and then decided to make it fit with the Judeo-Christian framework no matter how hard he had to push.
The concept of Dust is interesting. Adapting it to fit with concepts of physics in our world works because it uses something we only know a little about. Once you try to toss in angels and consciousness and so on (which is insulting in a children's book, as he's claiming that children are entirely self involved until puberty), though, it seems contrived and silly.
I may have been more willing to swallow his philosophy, such as it is, if there hadn't been a complete lack of the elements I liked in The Golden Compass: there were no Gyptians, there were no panserbjörne... they seem to make a reappearance in the final book of the series, but why spend so much time on their culture in the first book if you aren't going to include them in the second? (I know that the panserbjörne's culture is basically that of any warrior society, but they're still armored polar bears and the ten year old in me think that's awesome)
It's not so much that the book is bad, per se, though I do think it becomes too dark for the age group I initially thought it was written for. I just don't think Pullman is writing for the same reason I want to read: he wants to write religious commentary while I want to read fantasy. -
When I read this the first time I completely overlooked a main component of the book. I approached it as if was the second book in the series, a massive mistake. I wrote a review criticising the fact that the novel felt awkward; it had no beginning or end: it just felt like the typical content you’d find in the middle of the story. The ironic point of this is that most critics take the trilogy as one whole book, rather than three separate works. And this really is the best way to approach the story.
The Golden Compass is the beginning of it all, the setting of the stage. This, then, is the middling part of the work. The second protagonist of the series, the Adam to Pullman’s Eve, takes the lead here. Initially, I was very resistant to this idea. I had grown to respect Lyra; she’s a really strong heroine, but after a while it started to make sense. Pullman has expanded his story considerably. Lyra has three chapters told from her perspective. The same amount, roughly speaking, is told from the perspective of Will. The rest of the chapters are from side characters of the previous book. So there’s a strong move away from a Lyra centred story.
I have mixed feeling about this. It felt like an odd authorial decision. At times this felt like an entirely different series altogether, again, something I eventually got over. There is no sense of closure at the end of this. The first book had a strong ending, but this has very little. This book seemed to be a mere set-up for the next instalment, which makes it rather difficult to review; it’s like picking out the middle bit of a story and trying to criticise it as a separate entity from the rest of it: it’s not easy to do. Any criticism you make are negated by the fact that this is not a separate book: it’s a chunk of a greater work.
So I’m going to read the third book before I speak any more about this- I need to see where these elements Pullman added go to. Perhaps a review of all three works together would be the best option. At this moment though, I find the witches one of the most interesting aspects of the work. I’m not entirely sure what to make of them as of yet. Hopefully, the third book will give me all the answers I need.
"All through that day the witches came, like flakes of black snow on the wings of a storm, filling the skies with the darting flutter of their silk and the swish of air through the needles of their cloud-pine branches. Men who hunted in the dripping forests or fished among melting ice-floes heard the sky-wide whisper through the fog, and if the sky was clear they would look up to see the witches flying, like scraps of darkness drifting on a secret tide."
-
The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2), Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife, the second book in the His Dark Materials series, is a young-adult fantasy novel written by Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father. Will Parry is introduced as a companion to Lyra, and together they explore the new realms to which they have both been introduced.
عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «خنجر ظریف»؛ «لیرا و خنجر اسرارآمیز»؛ نویسنده: فلیپ پولمن؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دهم ماه آگوست سال2008میلادی
عنوان: نیروی اهریمنی اش کتاب دوم - خنجر ظریف؛ نویسنده: فلیپ پولمن؛ مترجم: فرزاد فربد؛ تهران، کتاب پنجره، سال1384، سال1385؛ در پنج جلد؛ چاپ چهارم سال1388؛ خنجر طریف در سری پن جلد مترجم جلد سوم است؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م
عنوان: لیرا و خنجر اسرارآمیز؛ اثر فیلیپ پولمن؛ ترجمه فرخ بافنده؛ ویرایش کورش طارمی؛ تهران، راشین، سال1384؛ در391ص؛ شابک9647851332؛
سری سه گانه «نیروی اهریمنی اش» در ایران در پنج مجلد چاپ شده: کتاب اول شامل دو مجلد بخش اول و دوم، عنوان: سپیده ی شمالی؛ جلد سوم همین کتاب دوم، عنوان: خنجر ظریف؛ و جلد چهارم و پنجم، عنوان: دوربین کهربایی یک و دو؛
در کتاب نخست خواندیم که «لرد عزرائیل» پس از کشتن «راجر»، سوراخی به دنیاهای دیگر باز میکند، «لایرا» از راه همان سوراخ، وارد شهری به نام «چیگاتزه» میشود، که مورد هجوم اشباح قرار گرفته، و در آن شهر، تنها افرادی که به سن بلوغ نرسیده اند، از هجوم ارواح در امان هستند؛ در آن شهر «لایرا»، با پسری به نام «ویل پری» آشنا میشود؛ «ویل» و «لایرا» خنجری را بدست میآورند، که میتواند لایه ی میان جهانهای موازی را بریده، و پنجره ای رو به سوی دنیاهای دیگر باز کند اما…؛
نقل از متن: (دو تا افسر پلیس داشتند به طرف آنها میآمدند؛ یک زن و مرد بودند که داشتند گشت میزدند؛ آنها پیراهنهای سفید تابستانی به تن داشتند و بیسیم و باتومهایشان هم همراهشان بود؛ نگاههای مشکوکی هم داشتند؛ هنوز به نیمکت نرسیده بودند که «لیرا» بلند شد و گفت: ـ ببخشید، میشود بگویید موزه کدام طرف است؛ پدر و مادرمان آنجا منتظر من و برادرم هستند؛ ولی ما گم شدهایم؛ مرد نگاهی به «ویل» انداخت؛ «ویل» در حالی که سعی میکرد خشمش را کنترل کند، شانه هایش را بالا انداخت؛ انگار که میخواست بگوید او راست میگوید، ما گم شده ایم، شوخی نیست؛ مرد لبخندی زد؛ زن گفت: «کدام موزه؟ اشمولین؟» «لیرا» گفت: «آره، همان.» و بعد وانمود کرد که دارد با دقت تمام به راهنماییهای زن گوش میدهد؛ «ویل» بلند شد و گفت: «خیلی ممنون.» و بعد به همراه «لیرا» از آنجا دور شد؛ آنها یکبار هم به پشت سرشان نگاه نکردند، ولی پلیسها دیگر توجهی به آنها نداشتند؛ «لیرا» گفت: «دیدی، اگر آنها دنبالت بگردند، من دست به سرشان میکنم، چون آنها دنبال کسی که خواهر دارد نیستند؛ بهتر است از حالا به بعد همراهت باشم.»؛ و به محض پیچیدن از گوشه دیوار با لحن سرزنشآمیزی ادامه داد: «تو تنهایی در امان نیستی.»؛ «ویل» هیچی نگفت؛ از شدت عصبانیت قلبش تندتند میزد؛ آنها به سمت ساختمانی که گنبد سربی داشت رفتند، و در وسط میدانی نشستند؛ دور تا دورشان ساختمانهای سنگی سفید رنگِ دانشکدهها و درختان پرپشتی بود، که بر فراز دیوارهای باغ سر کشیده بودند؛ کلیسایی هم در آن حوالی دیده میشد؛ خورشید گرمترین اشعه هایش را که مثل شراب طلایی رنگ بود میتاباند، و هوا را گرم میکرد؛ برگها تکان نمیخوردند؛ در این میدان کوچک، حتی صدای رفت و آمد ماشینها هم خفه شده بود؛ «لیرا» متوجه حال «ویل» شد و پرسید: «چی شده؟» «ویل» با صدای لرزانی گفت: «اگر با مردم حرف بزنی، توجهشان را جلب میکنی؛ تو فقط باید آرام و ساکت بنشینی؛ آنها هم از کنارت رد میشوند و میروند؛ من تمام عمر اینکار را کرده ام؛ میدانم چطوری میشود اینکار را کرد؛ تو با این کارت خودت را نشان میدهی، و دیگران متوجهت میشوند؛ دیگر نباید این کار را بکنی؛ این مسئله شوخیبردار نیست، فهمیدی؟» خون «لیرا» به جوش آمد: «تو همچین فکری میکنی؟ فکر میکنی من هیچ چیز درباره دروغ گفتن و اینجور چیزها نمیدانم؟ من خودم بهترین دروغگوی عالمم؛ ولی به تو دروغ نگفته ام، و قسم میخورم که هیچوقت هم نگویم؛ تو در خطر بودی، و اگر من این کار را نکرده بودم، حتماً گیر میافتادی؛ نفهمیدی آنها داشتند بهت نگاه میکردند؟ نه، نفهمیدی، چون درست و حسابی مواظب نبودی؛ میدانی، به نظر من، تو خودت این قضیه را شوخی گرفته ای.» ـ اگر من این قضیه را شوخی گرفته بودم، پس برای چی اینقدر این دور و برها پرسه زدم تا تو بیایی؛ میتوانستم کیلومترها از اینجا دور بشوم، یا خودم را توی آن شهر قایم کنم؛ با وجودی که خودم کلی کار دارم، همینطور این اطراف گشت زدم، تا بتوانم بهت کمک کنم؛ پس بهم نگو که قضیه را شوخی گرفته ام؛ «لیرا» با عصبانیت گفت: «تو باید میآمدی.» هیچکس حق نداشت با او اینطور حرف بزند؛ او یک اشرافزاده بود...؛ او «لیرا» بود؛ ـ تو باید میآمدی، وگرنه هیچی از پدرت نمیفهمیدی...؛ تو اینکار را برای خودت کردی نه من)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 25/02/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 04/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی -
The second book in the His Dark Materials sadly ventures outside of Lyra's Oxford, but have no fear we get introduced to a number of other dimensions! Cittigazze, is like a ghost town... the world Lyra arrives in looks like everyone literally left in the middle of whatever they were doing. Pulman manages to create yet another really interesting reality and look at it from the perspective of Lyra.
Lyra and a new companion continue the sort of ongoing random, but often connected missions, Lyra began from a cupboard in New Oxford. With many more surprises and a sadly rather less detailed characterised supporting cast, we begin to see that a war may be brewing. One of the cooler things about the series is also watching Lyra mature, as in the situations she finds herself in, she has to. The only downside to this sequel... no bears! 8 out of 12, as good as the first book, but more for the creativity than the plotting and characterisations.
2019 read; 2004 read -
“I found folly everywhere, but there were grains of wisdom in every stream of it.”
I’m a bit torn about the second instalment in
His Dark Materials,
The Subtle Knife. The whole story feels a bit rushed and short, on which I feel Pullman put a lot of weight on, wanting to introduce new characters, giving the old and the new characters psychological depth and development, having a lot of action, engaging in scientific thought experiments, commenting on politics and anthropology and giving a critique of religion and Christian God. It is a lot of expectations for ya/children's fantasy book with 250 pages. But one thing is certain, Pullman knows how to write a gripping story, as the pace is perfect and prose simply flows which makes the reading process undemanding and pleasurable.
I like the newly introduced character of Will Perry, the male protagonist that accompanies Lyra on her adventures. Will is a child of a mentally ill mother that he needs to take care of, and an absent father explorer he is endlessly longing for. The rawness of emotion that this longing is described with made me think Will is in a way mirroring Pullman himself, and interestingly, later on, I found out that Pullman sadly lost his father when he was 7 when his father was killed as a pilot in a plane crash.
“He wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his right hand. What he couldn’t say was that he longed for his father as a lost child yearns for home. That comparison wouldn’t have occurred to him, because home was the place he kept safe for his mother, not the place others kept safe for him. But it had been five years now since that Saturday morning in the supermarket when the pretend game of hiding from the enemies became desperately real, such a long time in his life, and his heart craved to hear the words “Well done, well done, my child; no one on earth could have done better; I’m proud of you. Come and rest now.…”
We again have a strong theme of parent/authority figure absence in the life of a child, that is present throughout the trilogy. Lyra grew up with no parents by her side, and Will has no memory of a father and has a mother that is not well, for who he has to take care of as she is his child. Here we see the reverse of the role of parent and a child, so often seen in real life, where a child is in a way robbed from his own childhood due to the fact it has to take adult responsibility prematurely due to the parent inadequacy. Which can be caused by the mental or physical illness of a parent, substance or alcohol abuse or even just emotional immaturity, when the parent expects their child to solve his own problems and carry his burden. That can eventually create all kinds of psychological disturbances in a child identifying with a role of savior, creating overly expressed altruism, neglecting his own needs in relationships and having immense guilt about having own thoughts and emotions, depression, as well as a feeling of discomfort living for self, not exclusively for others in constant effort and overwork.
“...and partly his longing for his mother. He was afraid for her, of course, and he knew she’d be safer if he was there to look after her; but he wanted her to look after him, too, as she’d done when he was very small. He wanted her to bandage him and tuck him into bed and sing to him and take away all the trouble and surround him with all the warmth and softness and mother-kindness he needed so badly; and it was never going to happen. Part of him was only a little boy still. So he cried, but he lay very still as he did, not wanting to wake Lyra.”
A lot of stories also revolves around the theme of the chosen child, in both Lyra and Will, exploring the pressure children carry on themselves in being a new beginning for the generation, somewhat the savior that can lift the sins of predecessors and finish all the good deeds in which they failed and even do much more, having the pressure of righting all the wrongs in the universe, and in a way birthing a new way of life for the world.
"You witches know something about the child Lyra.... Tell me the truth.... Name her!" "Eve! Mother of all!... Mother Eve!"
“One day, you’ll follow in your father’s footsteps. You’re going to be a great man too. You’ll take up his mantle.”
Continuing on the theme of multiple universes we are introduced to the world of Cittigazze, the children’s world where only children prevail as the adults are haunted by Specters, creatures that feed of consciousness and induce a state of disintegration, the madness of the mind. Pullman toyed around with the idea of consciousness connecting it to physics of the dark matter in scientific ideas, and to Angels, spirits, in a religious manner which as an end result seemed somewhat confusing, but acceptable in the vain that different disciplines may explore and try to understand the same thing under a different name.
As
Katia N brilliantly pointed in the comment of my
review of the first instalment, Pullman’s theory of dust is akin to panpsychism, the concept of consciousness in which "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe". Panpsychism has a long history in philosophical traditions of both East and West, and is also revived in analytic philosophy. Contrary to dualism, for Pullman, mind and matter are not fundamentally different kinds of things.
“Angels are creatures of Shadow matter? Of Dust? STRUCTURES. COMPLEXIFICATIONS. YES.
And Shadow matter is what we have called spirit? FROM WHAT WE ARE, SPIRIT; FROM WHAT WE DO, MATTER. MATTER AND SPIRIT ARE ONE.”
Pullman certainly becomes more prominent in the theme of moral inversion, as he is bluntly opposed to the Church while depending heavily on Christian symbolism, basically creating a multiverse of different worlds, all Christian, in striving to re-write
Paradise Lost and Genesis, making the original sin the act of liberty in creating a new dawn for mankind and fallen Angels rightful rebels against the tyrant God. Pullman gives not an only critique of the Church, he declares a war on Christian God he wants to overthrow.
“The God who dies is the God of the burners of heretics, the hangers of witches... [T]hat God deserves to die. The Authority, then, is an ancient Idea of God, kept alive artificially by those who benefit from his continued existence.”
He perceives a Church as the morally corrupt, the wrong side of good, the machinery of lies, propaganda, cruelty and deceit for thousands of years of human history.
“That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.”
Again, I already talked about how I think Pullman is influenced by
Nietzsche's philosophy which also becomes even more evident in this instalment. Pullman has a similar standpoint to Nitzsche's notion of Christian morals presented in
The Birth of Tragedy; that unconditional will of Christianity to recognize only moral values is dangerous “will to disown life” in its core, and it surfeits life in the hatred of the world and fear of beauty and sensuality.
“It is the Magisterium, the Church. For all its history—and that’s not long by our lives, but it’s many, many of theirs—it’s tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can’t control them, it cuts them out. ”
This also confirms the opinion I expressed in the review for
Northern Lights, that I believe that Pullman's main philosophy is Gnosticism, believing that evil creator God and his angels caused ignorance and imprisonment. And fallen angels are consciousness and they lead others to consciousness, freedom and the greater state of being.
“There are two great powers,” the man said, “and they’ve been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.”
He puts the emphasis on personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis), found in alethiometer, shaman experiences, devotion to science experiments or magic of witches, above the teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. And to reach that kind of spiritual knowledge, Pullman gives instructions with quoting
Keats; you have to be “Capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason." You have to get into that state of mind.”
Here is where I get confused about the genre of the book. The problem is, the book is written in style children or ya fantasy would be written, as I would expect for the adult fantasy to have a more solidly constructed world and characters and to be much more elaborate in ideas. But the thing is, for understanding the concepts Pullman unveils in the trilogy, you have to be fairly well-read and acquainted in both theology and philosophy, favorably even physics. I don't think that a child or even a young adult could grasp the essence of Pullman's ideas, which left me quite confused when I was reading His Dark Materials as a child, not even being able to pinpoint what I don't like (spoiler; I did not like that I could not understand the concepts I vaguely understand now, many years of education and books after). I'm struggling to determine who is the perfect audience for the novels, as they are not (at least the first two) in ideas enough developed to satisfy you as a philosophical debate and are maybe too philosophical for younger reads who just want to read fantasy. (As someone wittily put in their review; I just want to read fantasy, and Pullman wants to have philosophical debate).
But, no matter if one agrees or does not agree to core beliefs presented in the novels or with all the choices the author made, it is undeniable that Pullman is a brilliant craftsman of fantasy that created a legendary trilogy worth reading. -
“Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.”
-
4.5****
”What is he? A friend, or an enemy?”...
“He is a murderer.”
This book has the introduction of Will; a young man/boy who is compassionate, caring, brave and a warrior. After a frightening account, Will has to go on the run where he escapes to a different world to the deserted city of Cittagaze, and meets an interesting girl called Lyra Belacqua, her Daemon; Pantalaimon and her ability to read a strange instrument called the alethiometer. This strange world runs parallel to his own.
They learn to begin to trust each other and their fates become intertwined, each relying on their developing friendship, courage and bravery. They discover strange mishaps in this strange city and learn of a powerful weapon- the subtle knife that is so powerful it can cut through worlds. A knife that will only respond to the hand intended to wield it.
Like the first book, this was a wonderful literary adventure. This book takes off where the first book ended and Lyra has travelled to another world, staying in the deserted city alone for a few days before the surprise meeting with Will. I loved the developing dynamics of Will and Lyra’s friendship.
This hold more multiple points of view than in the first book, with storylines from Lee Scoresby and Serafina Pekkala especially.
This, again contained heartbreak, deaths and dark creatures/story lines. However, there is the brightness of a developing friendship, strong bravery, and many connections between the plot lines are made and fit into place. -
First reaction: SHOCK! Becös...
(Sorry, if you're not Italian you won't get the joke, just google "Matteo Renzi" and you'll understand)
La mia recensione qui:
https://youtu.be/qZcbV125t4A -
¡Ese FINAL!!!
te deja con la NECESIDAD de saber que sigue.
Estos no son libros infantiles, no se que se le metió al editor o a quien se lo ocurrió la brillante idea de clasificarlos de esa forma, pero a mi parecer que tengamos por protagonistas a niños no hace que el libro ipso facto sea infantil. Esta vez el centro de la historia, al parecer, es la búsqueda del padre de Will, pero una vez mas Pullman nos muestra que su trama es mas complicada de lo que aparenta ser.
Los puentes entre los mundos se han abierto, el caos ha comenzado, y por si fuera poco se esta preparando la mas terrible de todas la guerras del universo...—Existen dos grandes poderes —declaró— que se enfrentan desde el comienzo de los tiempos. Todo avance en la vida del hombre, todo jirón de conocimiento, sabiduría y decencia que poseemos se lo ha arrancado de los dientes un bando al otro. Cada pequeño incremento en la libertad humana se ha conseguido a costa de una lucha feroz entre quienes desean que sepamos más y seamos más sabios y fuertes y quienes pretenden que obedezcamos y seamos humildes y sumisos.
... Lord Asriel esta formando y comandando un ejercito como nunca antes se ha visto, con seres y guerreros de todos los mundos, pero ¿A que se enfrenta? ¿Quién lidera el otro bando? nada menos que Dios
¿todavía siguen pensando que es un libro infantil?
Mientras todo esto sucede Lyra esta perdida en un nuevo mundo donde conoce a Will (un chico de nuestro mundo) juntos tendrán que atravesar una serie de dificultades entablando amistad en el proceso.
La expansión del worldbuilding ahora siendo un multiverso, mas las nuevas incorporaciones como los espantos, los ángeles, los chamanes, la daga sutil, y la antesala de la guerra neo-apocalíptica me hace amar este libro, ademas la trama tiene, conflictos religiosos y científicos, drama filosófico y mas sobre las brujas.
Lo que no me gusto, fue ese final porque te deja en suspenso, pero esto tiene su punto bueno, hace que quieras leer la continuación de inmediato, y es lo que hay que hacer para conocer el desenlace de la historia.
Para mas de mis reseñas sobre los libros de La Materia Oscura pueden ver los siguientes enlaces:
Luces del norte
aquí
EL Catalejo lacado
aquí
El Oxford de Lyra
aquí -
Weird like The Wizard of Oz, magical like Harry Potter, and interesting, totally unlike "Chronicles of Narnia." The symbolism is so agog, so strange... Obviously, it makes for a great young adult novel!
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I am not a fan of forwarded emails. They frustrate me, because they usually come from the same group of people, people I like a great deal but who never send me a normal "hey, how's it going?" message. Just "Support our Troops" or "Tell every woman you know she's special" or "Microsoft is running a test and if you send this you could get a check for $1,000!" When I see the letters FWD in the subject line, I usually simply delete it.
I lost track of the number of emails I received telling me about the Anti-God movie The Golden Compass and the need to boycott the movies and the books. It was well over ten. Ten people wanted me to send that email on to everyone I know, telling them the same thing. Don't see this movie! Don't read these books! Alert! Alert! Alert!
Nothing like calling attention to something like a planned boycott. I haven't seen the movie, because I'm cheap and it's not something I'd take my kids to or something I'd be prone to see anyway, but as I had already read the first book in the series, enjoyed it and hadn't found it to be Anti-God, I was curious to read the next to see what the fuss was all about.
I don't know if the emails worked and I read with a bias, but I did not enjoy this second book. Not because it is Anti-God...which it really isn't, but more anti organized religion and organized religion's version of god, but because the writing is bad.
Dialogue - choppy.
Descriptions - cliched. (how do I get that little accent marking over the e?)
Storyline - totally falters.
I felt enormously disappointed in the direction of this book. Lyra, the young female protagonist in search of dust and her father, all but disappears in this second story. She still plays a part, but now as the sidekick to Will, a new character who is a giant "young adult fiction" stereotype (in search of the father he never knew while protecting his mother from bad guys and seems to be gifted in the combat department). I don't remember the writing being bad in the first book. I thought it descriptive and unique and thoughtful. Not so, in The Subtle Knife. Pullman changes gears and loses focus. There is a lot more going on and none of it is developed well. I stopped caring about the characters and their goals.
I think these books had great potential. There could be a lot to discuss with adolescents (not young children...at all). The nature of the soul, the natural man, the costs and benefits of religions. All appropriate things to discuss with youth ready to question and discover on their own.
Pullman takes that conversation away with his lack of metaphor. It becomes impossible to argue, "I think the dust means this." or "what do you think The Authority is for Pullman?" when he throws his opinion at you with real life Christian beliefs. It's inappropriate and unfair. Write a fantasy or a satire or a parable if you want to. Other authors have done it...and done it well.
Pullman didn't.
I won't be reading the third book. -
I share this review again in the fall of 2017 as a fourth volume (though Pullman later wrote two companion pieces to the trilogy, entitled Lyra's Oxford, and Once Upon a Time in the North), The Book of Dust, has been released, to encourage all ages to read. As with most great "children's" books, there are a range of levels on which Pullman is working. He's taking on the Roman Catholic view of reality, C.S. Lewis (in The Chronicles of Narnia), and is in conversation with John Milton, whose Paradise Lost he both loves and contends with in places. But you don't need to know any of that to love this series.
This is the middle book in the trilogy, and I like the first and third volumes more, big surprise. More exposition, less action, more trudging to final destinations, but you know, the writing is still exquisite, and it has surprises. One key surprise is that after focusing on Lyra in the first series, this second book opens with a focus on yet another central character, Will. When I first read this I was confused, and more than a little disappointed, as I saw a wonderful strong girl character shoved aside as usually happens in all books for a BOY main character.
That isn't quite how things work, really, though, as they share the stage, and they open up new vistas and back stories and new worlds together. This is seen as a sixth grade children's series, but in truth, the older you are, the more you will get out of it, as in all of the greatest "children's stories" of all time, including The Wrinkle in Time, and so on. Pullman is taking on our limited view of "reality"-- he's engaging in physics, theology, anthropology--with a laser beam on the Holy Roman Church in particular. It's not so much an attack on The Church as an exploration of the nature of true religion, and a wider, more generous, less sin-obsessed view of the world. It's a wonderful series, which I listened to while traveling around the country with the family, a wonderfully produced cd series. It's the second volume of a trilogy, so you obviously don't begin here, but you won't regret the time you spend on the adventure. It's awesome. And whether you have read it or not, I recommend this audio version, with Philip Pullman Himself narrating, joined by a wonderful cast of characters. -
Note: This doesn’t impact my opinion on this book, but it’s worth noting that I don’t support the author’s personal views, specifically in regards to ethnic minority communities. I bought this book before I found out about Pullman’s views. Surprisingly I just went to check and the tweets of his that reveal his racist views are still up. He “apologized,” but he didn’t bother to take down the tweets. After I finish reading this series (only the trilogy - not the novellas), I will donate to a non-profit organization that works to fight racism.
TW//
Wow. My first two reads of the year are both books that I didn’t like. I am really not having good luck with the books that I’m picking up this year.
The Subtle Knife is the sequel to The Golden Compass (known as The Northern Lights in some countries). I had been looking forward to reading this one for a while since The Golden Compass was so enjoyable to me, but The Subtle Knife was a massive disappointment. The Golden Compass was very whimsical and fun. It was one of those books where you get to feel like you’re a kid again and it captures your attention right away. The Subtle Knife, on the contrary, was a slog to get through. It was really slow paced and it’s main purpose was just to set up the battle in the next book. I was honestly bored through most of this book and I just wanted to get done with it quickly. There was also quite a bit of info-dumping that often went over my head. Some of this was when character’s dumped the history of the fictional universe or their backstory on characters. At other times, the info-dumping had to do with theological or scientific information that was really confusing.
This book didn’t really work well as a sequel. Most of the world building from the first book was thrown out the window and most of the characters don’t even spend time in the world from the first book. This book attempts to introduce the idea of multiple worlds, which had the potential to be interesting, but I kept getting frustrated with how this book felt so disconnected from The Golden Compass. The multiple worlds element was confusing at times, too. It felt like there weren't enough differences between the worlds to help the readers understand which world the characters were in.
I struggled with the two main characters in this book as well. Lyra felt like a completely different person than the Lyra that was introduced in book one. She constantly got on my nerves and her personality became very dull by the end of the story. Will had a dull personality like Lyra, but I didn’t mind with him as much since we hadn’t seen him in the first book so I had nothing else to compare his dull personality to. Besides their personalities, there was another major issue with Lyra and Will: their motivations and their desires in the story were very weak. Lyra all of a sudden starts aiming to help Will, a boy who she barely even knows. She asked her alethiometer who he was and it told her that he was a murderer, yet she seems relieved by this fact despite how this should make her fearful of him. There wasn’t any sort of apparent desire for her to do anything related to the events of the previous book. She just all of a sudden decides that helping Will is her main mission for no apparent reason. Will, on the other hand, spends this whole book looking for his father who just up and left when he was a baby. He can’t even describe fully why he wants to find his father except for saying that he’s supposed to “take up his father’s mantle” as if he has any clue what that means. Just like with Lyra, it seems like Will decided what his mission was with no apparent reason. This book would’ve been a lot better if Will and Lyra had strong motivations behind why they did what they did.
And finally… it seems impossible to review this book without taking a deep dive into the religious stuff. I purposefully saved this for last so that people who don’t like reading religious stuff can click away from my review while gettting the general gist of what I think of the book.
In case you aren’t aware, the His Dark Materials series has come under fire by Christians who claim that the series is anti-Christian. Before I dive into my analysis of the religious elements further, please know that I am a Christian. I don’t mention this online much since I’m a part of the LGBTQ+ community and I don’t want to have to constantly defend why my identity can coexist with my religion. Ignoring that whole side tangent though, I have a lot of background with Christianity and it gives me some insight into whether this book is truly anti-Christian or not. The Golden Compass was not anti-Christian, but The Subtle Knife borders on anti-Christian. This book is all about waging a war against both religion and this fantasy world’s equivalent of God, the Authority. There’s even mention of angels and Eve, which seems to hint that the supposed religion that everyone hates in this book is Christianity. However, if you actually look at how the church system in the book is laid out, it seems like this book could be a criticism of any organized religion. There’s the religion controlling most elements of society, tons of people who follow the religion, and those who do terrible things in the name of the Authority. This could be applied to lots of different religions. So this means that I’m in the middle on my opinion about whether this book is anti-Christian or not: I do believe that this book makes religion appear as the main villain and it makes religion seem evil, but whether it is specifically attacking Christianity is up for interpretation. I’m also very much pro “enjoy whatever fictional content you want as long as you are aware that it’s not real,” so I don’t believe that enjoying this book inherently makes a person anti-religious or anti-Christian.
I know that this review is very controversial, so I’m sorry if I offended anyone. I clearly didn’t like this book, but I think some Christians go too far when they attack this book. Based on other people’s reviews that I’ve read, I don’t think The Amber Spyglass will be any better than this one but I will be reading it since I own it and I hope it somehow surprises me. -
Mmmmk. So I rated this 2.5 stars when I read it a few months ago, and I was unsure if I would finish the series... I've since decided I won't be reading book three. I'm honestly pretty disappointed with a tweet the author posted and his subsequent responses to those who replied, especially his trans readers. In this case, I've decided not to separate the author from the work.
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This picks up right where The Golden Compass leaves off, so I can't say much in terms of plot because spoilers (though at this point who, besides me, hasn't read this series??). BUT, I can say that this adds in a new perspective of sorts and I really enjoy the way Pullman expands the world with that. Again, I've seen, at this point, seasons 1-2 of the HBO adaptation, so I knew pretty much everything that happens in this book. It was still really fun to read though!
I absolutely love Lyra, Will and Mary Malone as characters. Also Hester and Lee Scoresby are the best ever. SO many good characters which really makes this series worth reading.
And at the same time, it's quite a complex, fast-paced plot with lots of details. It can almost be overwhelming, but I appreciate that Pullman respects the reader and doesn't dumb things down just because it's intended for young readers. I'm at times even wondering who is on which side and what their motivations are, and then wondering if those are true motivations or a guise. It's complicated and messy but so intriguing and really keeps me turning the page.
I'll absolutely be picking up the 3rd and final book next. I cannot wait to find out how this series ends! -
Re-read, 11/5/19:
I think I still enjoy the emphasis on the extended worldbuilding in this book more than the flavor of the characters. Lyra is somewhat diminished, unable to shine in the Big Happenings of the first book, relegated either to lying (unsuccessfully) to a relative suburbia world, losing her way, and relying an awful lot on Will, her new friend.
Will, on the other hand, is only really interesting when he holds a knife.
*shrug* I found all the villains in our tale much more interesting. And the worldbuilding, of course. Lots of sympathy for the devil stuff going on here.
That being said, I'm not sure I really enjoyed this particular alternate-reality hop's direction. Sure, the place is about as subtle (from our world) as the knife from my kitchen drawer, but I also admit I enjoyed the concept of the knife quite a bit.
I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this book more than anything else.
Original review:
There's less action and a hell of a lot more story-meat in this book. I'm enjoying it immensely, especially for all of the John Milton tones. It also has a beautiful synthesis of anthropology and religion that I can't help but giggle at. -
Way back at the end of November/beginning of December of good ol' 2007, I read Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Why? Well, because there was all that talk about how it got made into a movie. I read the book, and found it very thought provoking. As for the movie it's a watered down version of Pullman's work, but not bad for the most part. I mean, I don't think it would go over too well with audiences who haven't read to book to know that Lyra's friend Roger is killed by Lord Asreil and that Mrs. Coulter actually wants to control Lyra and in The Subtle Knife decide that yeah, she has to die.
Just for a quick overview of Phillip Pullman's contraversal work and why it's a contraversy. There are three books in the series called, His Dark Material: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. The title of the series comes from a phrase Milton uses in Paradise Lost, which for those who don't know is a 16th century epic poem about Satan's great Fall from Heaven and the mischief he does in getting Adam and Eve to commit Original Sin. The books are about a rebellious girl named Lyra Belacqua, who comes from a world like the one we know, but is also very different. I guess you could say it's a warped version of the Victorian period. In Lyra's world, people have "deamons," which are external forms of people's soul in the form of animals(Lyra's daemon is named Pantalaimon). She gets a hold of a golden compass, a device called an alethiometer, which at first she doesn't know how to use, but soon finds that it allows her to see into the past, present, and future. There is also the issue of a substance called Dust, which surronds all human life. The Church, also called the Magistrium, a very tyrannical and oppressive hand that acts first and questions later, wants to destroy Dust and Lord Asriel (who we think is Lyra's uncle but, da da da!! it's actually her father). Mrs. Coulter, being a very powerful figure in the Church, tries to seduce Lyra in a world of privilge but soon realizes that Mrs. Coulter is trying to control her. Lyra, being a free spirit, doesn't take kindly to this. So she runs away, meeting up with gyptians, where she learns to read the althieometer; gets badass texan named Lee Scoresby (and his daemon Hester)talking armored bear named Iorek Byrnison to work with her; she gets kidnapped by Tarters and sent to Bolvanger discovers the sinister secret of the Church: they cut daemons and children apart in a process known as intercision and finds that Mrs. Coulter (who is da da da!! her mother!) is in charge of the whole operation; plans an escape for all the childern where she mets the witch queen, Serafina Pekkela, and the queen helps Lyra on her quest to find her father; and her friend Roger is killed by her own father Lord Asriel which results in the creatation of a bridge from his world into another. The story ends with a very pissed off Lyra following Lord Asriel into the new world.
So yeah, a lot to take in. I just gave an overview! There are so many carefully thought out details that I have left out. For example: as a child, their daemon's have the ability to change from animal to animal. When the child reaches to adulthood, their daemons settle into one animal. Very cool right?
So, what's the contraversy all about?
One: Phillip Pullman is an out spoken atheist.
Two: His Dark Materials are catagorized as childrens books.
Three: You find out in The Subtle Knife that the big plan is to kill God.
Yeah.
The Subtle Knife introduces Will, who stummbles across a window to city called Cittàgazze on another world. There he meets Lyra. I would explain more, but you've already put up with me talking about the first book, so let me sum up for you by what the back of the book says:
"In this stunning sequel to The Golden Compass, the intrepid Lyra find herself in the simmering, hauinted otherworld-cittagazze, where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and wingsbeats of angels sound against the sky. But she in not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, feeling for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm. On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devasting power. And with every step,they move closer to an even greater threat-and the shattering truth of their own destiny."
I know you want to read it now just see what happens. Anyway, it's very amazing and disturbing and fantasic and all those things.
I just finished reading The Subtle Knife today so I have yet to read The Amber Spyglass. When I do, I'll let you know.
But why are these books good and why is Pullman on my Influential Writers list along with Donne, Plath, and Hemingway? Because he wrote a children's book version of Milton's Paradise Lost! Have you ever read it? Holy Crap! I had to read it twice while I was in college. Don't get me wrong. It's awesome. It is awe inspiring. Everyone should read it. But damnit, it's long and can be a little hard to read if you don't have someone there explaining it or Cliff Notes. In Milton's poem, Satan leads an army of rebellious angels in an attempt to overthrow God. The attempt fails, and Satan and his followers are cast out of heaven. Satan, seeking revenge, convinces God's creations, Adam and Eve, to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, thus causing their fall from grace. In Pullman's take on Paradise Lost, God is an oppressive, senile old man, and Satan is a dashing heroic figure. But the real hero and centerpiece of Pullman's story is the Eve figure, Lyra Belacqua, on whom the salvation of the universe depends.
Really? A children's book? Wow! That's what I said. So I raise my glass of Cranberry-Pomagrante Crystal Lite and vodka to Phillip Pullman for being the writer I want to be: original, brave, and honest.
And to go off an a rant real quick:
How can people protest and get all up in arms when they haven't even read/watched what they are getting upset about? Understandably, if you read Pullman's His Dark Materials, and you are against it, awesome. You know what are you talking about. I got really upset when people started attacking the movie without having read the book or even seen the movie. How do I know? Well, because I asked. Are people so afraid to have their ideology put into question? Do they not want to think critically, analyze what they believe in? I love being challenged. Good lord, what else do I have to do intellectualy until I light a fire under my ass and get my teaching certificate? It's okay to question what your faith and your beliefs. It allows you to see how strong you are in the decisions you have made.
Sorry about that last rant there...but that had been building up for a while. Not just from Pullman's work, but also from a few other things that I would talk about but this blog is already long enough.
Well, I hope you enjoyed me getting my nerd on. It was a blast!
Ciao, darlings!! -
“Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.”
I find it tough to rate this. On the one hand, it started off great. On the other hand, there are now quite a few POVs, some I care about, some I don't, and the world has literally been blown apart and expanded. I think I somehow prefer reading fantasy set in our world, maybe because it lends the reality I live in a touch of magic. And also because a new fantasy world is unknown territory and that can be scary sometimes. Which is not to say I dislike it. I'm a huge (high) fantasy fan. But I remember reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - I never finished reading the final book in the series because most of it was set in the fantasy world whereas the first two books were mainly set in our world. Anyway, all that pondering aside, I liked the beginning and the introduction to the new main character a lot. I liked seeing Lyra in our Oxford and I especially enjoyed the chapters with Mary Malone. Then Will and Lyra found themselves in Cittagazze and I really didn't like that world. The witches and Lee Scoresby got their own chapters and while they obviously added a lot to the story, I preferred reading about Lyra and Will.
Honestly, it's super difficult for me to define what exactly I didn't enjoy in The Subtle Knife. The writing is great, the story is original and imaginative. Maybe it's the fact that Lyra's world was already rich enough without the addition of dozens of alternate universes. I enjoyed Lyra's Oxford, and I love reading about Iorek. Maybe it's one of those cases where you read a story and love it but it takes a completely different turn from what you expected and you're just not satisfied with where the plot is going. And additionally, while I think it's an exciting story, there are few characters that I really care about or find interesting. There's Iorek, there is Dr Malone, there is Mrs Coulter, sometimes there's Lyra. But Will doesn't spark any enthusiasm in me, and neither do most of the other characters. Overall, I feel...detached. Maybe that's the right word.
I also can't get the fact out of my mind that a year ago, Pullman tweeted about the "trans argument" and didn't know what "side" he should be on. That leaves a very bitter aftertaste and while reading I always wonder whether I should be supporting an author who is so utterly confused about the mere existence of trans people.
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The second in the trilogy and possibly my favourite out of the three.
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A continuation of #1, but starring a magical knife and learning how to use it. Equates to the 2nd season on HBO. 6 of 10 stars
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Two very strange things happened last week. I gave
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows: A Flavia De Luce Novel two stars and am now giving this book five stars. It is strange because the former book’s protagonist, my dear Flavia De Luce is my favorite obstinate preteen. On the contrary, Lyra, another stubborn, precocious, pre-teen annoyed me in the previous book. Right now though, I can not for the life of me imagine why I did not like the first novel and Lyra. Well, at least I adore her right now.
Philip Pullman is a genius. I loved every aspect of this book, the concept, the characterization, the plot, the pacing, everything. I remember thinking that the last book was rather boring, but this part had me catching my breath. Specters, rebel angels, parallel universe, golden compasses, and subtle knives, daemons, and witches- each chapter keeps you hooked and also provides fodder for the brain to muse about. I love the anti-CS Lewis atmosphere of the book.
The characters were another high point in this novel. Lyra Belacqua reappears with her daemon Pantalaimon and although she doesn’t play as central a role as the previous novel, she is so charming. I can not wait to find out the form Pantalaimon will finally take. Marisa Coulter and Serafina Pekkala are back and as interesting as ever. Lee Scoresby and his daemon are absolutely heartbreaking. A bandwagon of new and amazing characters like Stanislaus Grumman, Will Parry, Mary Malone is introduced. The friendship between Will and Lyra and Will and Pantalaimon were some of the best parts of the story. I would read the next book just to meet all these characters again.
I am so glad I already have a copy of the next part. After that abrupt ending and the revelation about Lyra towards the end, having to wait for the next part would have been sheer torture. I never thought I would say this, but Flavia really is in grave danger of being dethroned as my favorite. -
It has been a while since a book last left me with the desire to have my head trepanned and to become a shaman. And I suppose these days it is difficult to get on the training course and who knows if the pension scheme will be all that it was cracked out to be?
Reading I thought this business of the human mind and the flow of consciousness through a multiplicity of universes reminded me of something else. As always it takes some days for this kind of thought to percolate down to the answer - I recalled something very similar from
Anathem!
At first my reaction was how marvellous it was that different authors had read similar things and developed an idea along related lines in parallel book universes, however once I double checked the publication dates I did feel a slight, entirely unwarranted, sourness towards Master Stephenson.
In contrast to
Northern Lights the story here rans over a much shorter time period, the cast of characters remained large, the deft reworking of Blake, Milton, and the Bible appeared to give away to Dark Matter, consciousness, and multiple universes, while the pace of the book was not maintained by one desperate fight after another. As much as I enjoy Zeppelins and Armoured Bears I appreciated the deployment of colours from a larger palate by the author.
Continuing the theme of children in children's literature from my previous review the absence of parents from both Will and Lyra's lives is strikingly traditional. For Will he has had to become the adult figure in relation to his mother - and while the role of child carer is contemporary the fight between father and son each ignorant of the other's identity has a long history although here it is presented with a mild twist on the traditional tale . Lyra in a way is a child without parents. Technically there are two people in the story who performed the physical functions both sufficient and necessary for Lyra to exist, but in regard to their behaviour and attitudes terminology such as parent, father, or mother seems cruelly inappropriate.
Sometimes I hear the idea of there being for instance, a Catholic Atheist, told as a joke, admittedly I have had my sense of humour surgically removed, but the concept seems an entirely serious one to me. This trilogy is a strong example of it. The author does not share the faith of his ancestors but this is a work that could not exist without a tradition of religious dissent in England from the Geneva Bible, via Milton, and Blake. The power of their faith, the notions of predestination, free will, sin and grace, energise this trilogy. Fantastically, at this mid-way stage the rights and wrongs of rebellion and authority are still from clear cut, leaving the heroes, as every child is left, with untrustworthy, partisan, or uncertain guides as to their course of action. -
This is the second instalment in the His Dark Materials series.
Windows can be opened leading from one world to another and fearless Lyra has no qualms about venturing there. On the hunt for answers about the science of dust, and justice for those who would abuse it, Lyra is joined by Will. Will comes from another world and another Oxford, both like and unlike her own, and has his own secrets to protect and his own enemies he has sworn vengeance against. The unlikely duo traverse these worlds together, to both escape their pasts but also to find a way to return to it.
Just as in the first series instalment, Lyra stole the show for me. Her fierce ways and her loyal heart ensured I was both always immersed in her adventures and eager to see her returned to safety. I also appreciated the multitude of other perspectives which opened up both the worlds and the complexity of the central story-line. Much of this seemed to meander in a very different direction from that which was set up in book one, but I enjoyed the diverging narratives all the same. -
What I did like about this book is that it starts with Lyra, a girl we have become acquainted with from another world, meeting Will, a boy from our world. Bringing the fantasy into our own reality was surreal and interesting. But only for a minute and then it became a bore. The story was slow and at some points stopped altogether to allow Pullman his theological preachings of anti-church and anti-god. If the story had been metaphorical I would have enjoyed it more, but it became less fiction and more essay.
In this book, Lyra and Will travel between worlds attempting to find his father and continue on with Lyra's mission. There are a lot of minor characters in too many places spreading the story out too thin to move quickly enough to keep one's attention. Eventually the action picks up as the characters merge, setting the scene for the major battle in book 3, but I was too annoyed with his writing by then to shrug it off. I almost didn't read the third book after this. -
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Last month I read and reviewed The Golden Compass, so I could prepare myself for the HBO/BBC adaptation that will be coming out next year. This was a series that I’d missed out on as a kid, and truth be told I was a little bit wary about starting them as an adult. Luckily, the first book in this series knocked my socks off, and this sequel followed in its footsteps and actually improved upon the original – in my opinion!
The Subtle Knife picked up immediately where the first book ended, with Lyra waltzing out of one plane of reality and into another. From page one, Pullman packs this book with near nonstop wonder, intrigue, danger and excitement!
It was actually quite surprising to see the ways in which this series has evolved from book one to two. Who knew that a book following a child’s exploration into the arctic alongside her polar bear guardian to find her uncle would turn the tables so many times and end up becoming a universe-hopping fairytale filled with so many memorable characters?
One of my absolutely favorite types of fantasy staples is the idea of portal fantasy – a function which allows one character to step from a familiar world into ones that are mysterious, dangerous and filled with wonder.
Pullman takes that premise and expands upon it – and no, there’s no blue box required for interdimensional travel. Lyra’s universe has become a multiverse, one in which multiple worlds are converging on top of each other – basically meaning that anything is possible now in terms of where this story is headed.
As much as I liked the adventure in the first book, I found this one even more exciting! My main issue with the first book was the way it starts. The reader is dropped right in the middle of a very important scene, given no context for anything and no idea what to consider important or not. It made for a really confusing start.
Because the basics have already been told, this book was much clearer and more exciting from page one. The action and plotting felt tighter here, and I was overjoyed at the inclusion of Will – a new character to this book. He was a perfect foil for Lyra. I loved the way that they played off of one another, and how close they became as the result of actions within the plot.
The one aspect of this book that I struggled with from time to time is the dialogue. I just don’t really care for the way Pullman has his character’s speak to one another. They’re not so much engaging in dialogue as they are speechifying in long monologues said without pause, and then the next character picks it up right afterwards with a dramatic speech of their own.
It seems to be less a fault of the writing than it is a stylistic choice of the narrative though, so I can’t fault it greatly. There are just a few moments during these exchanges that I felt a bit pulled out of things, wondering when the next character was going to speak.
Like the last book, this one is surprisingly dark considering it’s marketed for children and teens. There was one surprisingly affecting scene that moved me way more than I expected it to, so good one for you there Mr. Pullman. I’ll guard my heart a bit more carefully going in to book 3!
This was a great read. It taught me to expect nothing and absolutely everything in the final book of this series. Can’t wait to start it next month!
★★★★✯ = 4.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up for Goodreads
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[May 21, 2019]
Reading my original review from seven years ago is wild. I came back to this story and found something completely different here; I found myself completely different. There are still quibbles-- yes, some of the messaging is heavy handed and yes, Pullman's story style and world building is just slow-- but I was so focused on what this story wasn't that I couldn't appreciate what it was.
I'll have full thoughts after we cover this on
Snark Squad Pod, but for now, I'll say that I'm bumping this up to a 4.5 stars.
[October 25, 2012]
3 stars
This was hard.
I think I should mention a couple of things: I'm reading HDM for the first time as an adult. I really, very much enjoyed The Golden Compass. I come from a religious background, which makes me sympathetic to the faults of organized religion, but I also still firmly believe in God. I started reading the books not because of the "controversy" per se, but more because I have a few dear, dear friends who call this their favorite. I was only vaguely aware of certain anti-religious elements of the story.
For me, The Subtle Knife was not as good. The fact that I made it through the end is mostly a testament to my love for Lyra and Pan, and my (small)(but growing)(new) love for Will. I was interested in these characters and kept reading for a chance to know what might happen to them.
Pullman, however, made it difficult for me. It wasn't even so much about the religious metaphors per se, but more about the fact that they stopped being metaphors somewhere along the line and became hammers. Anvils. I was in the middle of a sermon before I knew what happened.
In book 2, we lose the intrigue of Lyra's world. We lose a lot of possibilities. Yes answers are good, in some cases, but here as we learn for certain what Dust is and what Asriel's mission is and what Lyra's part in it all is, you get tied down and suffocated by Pullman's big ideas which you! must! believe!
Even though I was reading about her, I missed Lyra. I missed my brave girl on grand adventures, who cried yes, but was as courageous as any armoured bear. She became something lesser in this book, and I was sorry to see it. I really, really, really missed Pan. He was so absent here, and the beautiful and intricate relationship between Lyra and Pan was mostly gone, perhaps for a reason I'll discover in book 3, but it's absence was felt here.
I missed being able to take my own interpretations and apply them to the book. Pullman abandons his clever and well thought out position of communicating his stance on the church through his fantasy world and the Magesterium. He abandons that and the head pounding begins:
"That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling. So if a war comes, and the Church is on one side of it, we must be on the other, no matter what strange allies we find ourselves bound to."
It was just all a bit too heavy handed for me and it weighed the story down, a story that already missed the high mark set in The Golden Compass.
I'll keep reading. Mostly for Lyra. -
In this case, the high rating is not for the actual quality of the book (that is very good btw), but for all that it meant to me while I was growing up.
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The strangest thing about Phillip Pullman's The Subtle Knife is that it doesn't feel like the second book in a series, making me wonder whether Pullman first wrote this in conjunction with The Amber Spyglass, then wrote The Golden Compass as a prequel, which then became the first book in the series once they were published.
Not that it matters.
What matters is that The Subtle Knife is too fast, too plot driven, and too much "a set-up" book to be an effective second book in the trilogy. Second books are generally strong because they give the reader a chance to breathe and get to know the characters. Not so in The Subtle Knife. Instead, Pullman introduces new characters, and not just peripheral characters, but Will, a character who seems to be the primary protagonist of His Dark Materials, and Mary, who will create the amber spyglass of the third book.
Meanwhile, characters who seemed important in The Golden Compass, Azriel, Iorek and even Lyra are either supporting cast or merely spoken of.
Perhaps this would work if the series was longer, if Pullman took more time with his stories, gave us greater detail, but he doesn't. Everything is fast, too fast, and the characters suffer, making it difficult to care about what is happening.
The Subtle Knife is definitely a let down after Pullman's quite good The Golden Compass, and I have little hope for The Amber Spyglass, but I will know soon enough since I feel compelled to finish the series.
One sidebar: for those who insist on calling this series "atheist," you should understand what atheism is. This series is anti-god, but that means the book MUST NOT be atheist. To be anti-god a story must posit a god, and by assuming the presence of a god (or god-like force) a story cannot be atheist. So there you go. -
Much like the city of Citagazze, The Subtle Knife is the crossroads between Northern Lights and The Amber Spyglass, and as such I think it's unfair to judge it as a single novel. It introduces the wonderful characters of Will and Mary, and brings the whole concept of multiple worlds into play. We also see small hints of the rebellion that will be raged across the worlds, but more importantly we see the beginnings of Lyra and Will. In Will we see someone who's had responsibility thrust upon them unwillingly, forced to deal with issues far beyond the usual imaginings of a 12 year old boy. In Lyra we see a character who's already seen and done extraordinarily things as a child begin to grow into herself, and learn to follow instead of lead.
Its really the perfect bridging novel that The Amber Spyglass needs to develop characters and storylines ready for that all important final chapter. Like Dust, and the concept of destiny, it allows the reader to see the 'subtle' threads of connection that will allow certain roads to cross, and situations to happen as if it were always meant to be.
