Product Description

Here is the highly anticipated second installment of Philip Pullman's epic fantasy trilogy, begun with the critically acclaimed The Golden Compass. Lyra and Will, her newfound friend, tumble separately into the strange tropical otherworld of Cittàgazze, "the city of magpies," where adults are curiously absent and children run wild. Here their lives become inextricably entwined when Lyra's alethiometer gives her a simple command: find Will's father. Their search is plagued with obstacles--some familiar and some horribly new and unfathomable--but it eventually brings them closer to Will's father and to the Subtle Knife, a deadly, magical, ancient tool that cuts windows between worlds. Through it all, Will and Lyra find themselves hurtling toward the center of a fierce battle against a force so awesome that leagues of mortals, witches, beasts, and spirits from every world are uniting in fear and anger against it. This breathtaking sequel will leave readers eager for the third and final volume of His Dark Materials.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4000 in eBooks
• Published on: 2001-11-13
• Released on: 2001-11-13
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

Amazon.com Review
With The Golden Compass Philip Pullman garnered every accolade under the sun. Critics lobbed around such superlatives as "elegant," "awe-inspiring," "grand," and "glittering," and used "magnificent" with gay abandon. Each reader had a favorite chapter--or, more likely, several--from the opening tour de force to Lyra's close call at Bolvangar to the great armored-bear battle. And Pullman was no less profligate when it came to intellectual firepower or singular characters. The dæmons alone grant him a place in world literature. Could the second installment of his trilogy keep up this pitch, or had his heroine and her too, too sullied parents consumed him? And what of the belief system that pervaded his alternate universe, not to mention the mystery of Dust? More revelations and an equal number of wonders and new players were definitely in order.

The Subtle Knife offers everything we could have wished for, and more. For a start, there's a young hero--from our world--who is a match for Lyra Silvertongue and whose destiny is every bit as shattering. Like Lyra, Will Parry has spent his childhood playing games. Unlike hers, though, his have been deadly serious. This 12-year-old long ago learned the art of invisibility: if he could erase himself, no one would discover his mother's increasing instability and separate them.

As the novel opens, Will's enemies will do anything for information about his missing father, a soldier and Arctic explorer who has been very much airbrushed from the official picture. Now Will must get his mother into safe seclusion and make his way toward Oxford, which may hold the key to John Parry's disappearance. But en route and on the lam from both the police and his family's tormentors, he comes upon a cat with more than a mouse on her mind: "She reached out a paw to pat something in the air in front of her, something quite invisible to Will." What seems to him a patch of everyday Oxford conceals far more: "The cat stepped forward and vanished." Will, too, scrambles through and into another oddly deserted landscape--one in which children rule and adults (and felines) are very much at risk. Here in this deathly silent city by the sea, he will soon have a dustup with a fierce, flinty little girl: "Her expression was a mixture of the very young--when she first tasted the cola--and a kind of deep, sad wariness." Soon Will and Lyra (and, of course, her dæmon, Pantalaimon) uneasily embark on a great adventure and head into greater tragedy.

As Pullman moves between his young warriors and the witch Serafina Pekkala, the magnetic, ever-manipulative Mrs. Coulter, and Lee Scoresby and his hare dæmon, Hester, there are clear signs of approaching war and earthly chaos. There are new faces as well. The author introduces Oxford dark-matter researcher Mary Malone; the Latvian witch queen Ruta Skadi, who "had trafficked with spirits, and it showed"; Stanislaus Grumman, a shaman in search of a weapon crucial to the cause of Lord Asriel, Lyra's father; and a serpentine old man whom Lyra and Pan can't quite place. Also on hand are the Specters, beings that make cliff-ghasts look like rank amateurs.

Throughout, Pullman is in absolute control of his several worlds, his plot and pace equal to his inspiration. Any number of astonishing scenes--small- and large-scale--will have readers on edge, and many are cause for tears. "You think things have to be possible," Will demands. "Things have to be true!" It is Philip Pullman's gift to turn what quotidian minds would term the impossible into a reality that is both heartbreaking and beautiful. --Kerry Fried

From Publishers Weekly
In a starred review, PW said, "More than fulfilling the promise of The Golden Compass, this second volume in the His Dark Materials trilogy starts off at a heart-thumping pace and never slows down." Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up. A direct continuation of the epic fantasy begun in The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1996). Will Parry must find his father, who disappeared while exploring the far North. Mysterious strangers are hounding his mother for information about him. After Will accidentally kills one of them, he runs away, right through a window into another world. There he meets Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon, Pantalaimon, as well as travelers from yet another world. Lyra and her truth-telling alethiometer are soon enlisted in Will's quest, even as Lyra continues to seek the true nature of the mysterious Dust that is causing upheavals in her world. A desperate battle with inhabitants of the intermediate world brings Will the subtle knife, a magical totem of his own, which will protect Will and Lyra while bringing them closer to the end of this part of their quest. The action takes place in Will's world (which is also our own), as well as on Lyra's and the intermediate world. As in the first book, the stakes are high and the action is rapid and occasionally violent. The philosophical nature of the quest becomes clearer as various characters explain the possible relationships among Dust, the bridges between worlds, angels, supreme beings, and cosmic forces. This may be treading on dangerous ground for traditional religious thinkers?the essential nature of the supreme being is not necessarily positive?but high-fantasy enthusiasts will find much to follow and reflect on here. The Subtle Knife ends with even more of a cliff-hanger than The Golden Compass, and fans will eagerly await book three for the final resolution.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Darker, Sadder, but Still Amazing
The second book in the His Dark Materials series still has you clamoring for more, though the ending leaves the reader more anxious and weary, than the first book. The amount of religious symbolism intertwined with plot devices is heightened and some of the choices that Pullman makes from a writer's perspective works well. There were other choices that he has made, which leaves me to wonder if the plot is taking control of him, rather than the author controlling the plot.

The beginning you meet Will, a boy from our world. His mother carries a secret about his father, who last saw Will when he was still a baby. This forces him to put his mother in hiding. Will's introduction sets the reader up for what's to come. I can tell you I raced through those pages as my interest was in Lyra's departure from her world-not some boy named Will. The two, however turn out to be connected together in a dizzying plot, that leaves the two characters wondering where their free will has gone. All of the events that transpire was a catalyst that drives Will to make certain decisions, which you may or may not agree with.

You even pity the characters as they realize at one point their lives are controlled by destiny then by their own choices. This is especially true once the purpose of the subtle knife is uncovered. I won't tell you who it belongs to or what it does, but rest assure you will be shocked at its "side effects."

Several characters make a reappearance such as Serafina Pekkala, Lee, Miss Coulter (who is as devilish as ever) and others. The amount of character deaths increase, so for the reader who becomes invested in the series- beware. I know I was particularly unnerved by the death of one character. I truly didn't belive that Pullman would kill that character off. I was dead wrong!

Speaking of the characters, what I found to be interesting was that a lot of the decisions they made forces the reader to reevaluate who are the villains and heroes. The characters' personalities do not change (such as the vile Miss Coulter), but their ultimate goals begin to fall under shades of gray that has no clear answers.

Like the Harry Potter series, the violence increases and becomes more graphic, but nothing that would traumatize an older child. Though, this wouldn't be the book to buy a 6-8 year old I assume. Unless, the child in question is an advanced reader.

What really differentiates this novel from the first one is the lack of hope expressed in the book. Every plan is overturned, ruined, made a mockery of. Pullman tortures his characters pulling them towards their final acts or to the beginning of the climax, which would unfold in the next book. I suppose because of the traveling from Lyra's world to ours, some of the magic is lost, coupled with the sense of desperation that characters such as Lyra feel.

The book is still a work of art, each word tantalizing the reader. The first book, The Golden Compass is still a masterpiece. However, The Subtle Knife is a close second.

A definite 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Good buy
It is a very well done audio book with a whole cast of voices. Excellent listening for a long commute.

Overhyped fantasy
I actually liked this better than "The Golden Compass". Pullman still continues to show creativity, even more in this one. Who doesn't like the idea of kids pulling themselves through different dimensions?

I also like the introduction of Will--it's good to see a champion from our own dimension.

Sadly, the characters are rather flat and stereotypical, and it seems to me that the only evidence for any of their personalities is what the author unsubtly writes in. I've never liked to be forced into liking a character, and we just aren't given much reason for care for these rather one-dimensional characters.

Still, it's the absolute creativity and thought that makes these books work.