The Subtle Knife book review
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman Series: His Dark Materials #2
Published by RHCP Digital on September 22, 2018
Pages: 370
Goodreads
The second instalment in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, join Lyra as her terrifying journey continues.
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She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy?
The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer.
When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once.
Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Città gazze, 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.
I was re-reading His Dark Materials because I’m watching the BBC adaptation of it and I have to say I am more than impressed with the adaptation that is The Subtle Knife not so much. I feel like after the drama of the first book this was a little bit of a letdown, I don’t think I fully understood the entirety of it and I think that slowed me down a little. I also struggled with Will as a character especially his relationship with Lyra, I felt as though that overshadowed everything that had happened with Roger and why she had headed out of her world. I just didn’t seem to understand her fascination with him as a person.
I touched on this in my overview but for some reason, the characters in this one just aren’t doing it for me. I actually found Lyra to be quite annoying throughout and was it just me or did she lose her accent quite a bit? I think the only character I truly loved in this one was Pan and then again he’s a daemon so not sure whether he counts as a separate entity or not. The biggest problem with this book was that the threat they were running from seemed to have lost its edge a little and I feel as though that once Mrs Coulter started to care for Lyra the character arc started to go downhill a little. I was pleased to see Lee Scoresby and Iorek come back for a brief spell and I think they made this book just a little bit more enjoyable.
I think the best bits for me was when they began learning about the knife and the mythology that surrounded it all. I would have loved for there to have been more of that throughout the book because it was the most interesting part of it all. I enjoyed the mystery that took place between Will and his father and although I did work out what was going on it was an interesting dynamic to have within this book. There were definitely a few emotional moments throughout this book and I was moved to tears by a couple, so that backs it a best bit!
I will say that my biggest problem with The Subtle Knife was the fact that not a lot seemed to happen but then at the same a lot needed to happen if that makes any sense? There was a lot of unanswered questions, and I know that it’s the middle book in a series but I was left completely and utterly confused by a lot of it. It just felt as though it was a lot of filler content rather than a book in its own right. I think there should have been more development of the characters and their story arcs.
Although this wasn’t my favourite book of the series I would still recommend reading it purely so you know what happens after the first book, but then again this recommendation is based off just this book without the ending so that might change.
Have you read His Dark Materials? What was your favourite book in the series? Let me know in the comments!
