The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) | Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) | Philip Pullman | excellent

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The Subtle Knife (...

	The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) Philip Pullman Laurel Leaf, 2003 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 632 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted underworld?Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: 12-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 discover an object of devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat?and the shattering truth of their own destiny.

It's like a ride in a supercharged V8

This book is one of the best middle books of any trilogy ever written. Northern Lights develops the characters, introduces the reader to the world(s) of this series and then just when the story gains significant momentum, the first part meets its end. The second book is like a ride in a roller coaster and it is action packed from the word go.

1- Characters: Pullman introduces new characters with the blink of an eye and his skill is such that it takes the reader just moments to "imagine" and accept the new characters.

2- The many worlds: The concept might sound cliché but the prospect of many different and accessible worlds has been executed and explained in a wonderfully enticing way. Full marks!

3- The plot: You will forget about the pop corn you were eating a minute ago or your ear that you were just about to scratch. This book is nothing but solid, quality momentum from the very start.

With little explanation, Pullman pulls you into every scene, every new world and every character. This is one of the writer's best attributes as he does not spend page after page describing people or places. And yet the impact is not lost on the reader.

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excellent

I greatly enjoyed this book. The plot is exciting and engaging, the characters interesting and fun to get to know, and it is very well written. I also enjoyed the performance by Pullman and the cast. That made it a great listening experience.

huge fan of this series

Another great installment in this highly acclaimed trilogy. I'm very happy that I've exposed myself to these stories because they keep getting better. The Subtle Knife dives deeper into Lyra's story, exposing the reader to more characters, more worlds, and more details as to what this series is really about. I don't know much else to say about these books since I'm pretty sure most everyone on the planet has read them, but I really am enjoying this series and am looking forward to the third and final book!

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good book

this is a wonderfully read edition of the book. a full cast makes the story come to life. in between there are terrible musical interludes, though.

Good, not outstanding (and the usual comparisons...)

Having read at this point the first two volumes, why this trilogy is seen as provocative I can certainly see. Books for children where evil comes from God and the Church are certainly not the most common ones out there. This, however, neither disturbs me (I am not religious) nor particularly excites my brain. Religious fundamentalism is just one kind of fundamentalism. Nazism, Fascism, Communism, even our "beloved" capitalism have produced countless horrors.

I can see a bit less how this trilogy can be compared to JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings to the Harry Potter series. But after all, the numbers will loudly say that whatever Pullman's admirers think, LOTR and Harry Potter are in a category apart. The former is much much better written and more mature, the latter less ambitious but certainly and immensely more entertaining. Pullman is a good but not outstanding story-teller. Most things happen too quickly, and I found many characters to be so undeveloped that I really did not care about what happened to them. Perhaps what I find most missing in these books is the author's sympathy for his characters.

Overall, I am happy I read the first two books, and I will most likely read the third, but I also think I will forget this trilogy relatively quickly afterwards, and I don't think I will reach for these books again in the foreseeable future.

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