The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials #2) - Philip Pullman [Review]

Title: The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials #2)

Author: Philip Pullman

Genre: Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publishing date: first published July 22nd 1997

Pages: 326

Rating

★★★☆☆

Previous Books:

The Golden Compass

Hello! Today I’m finally reviewing the second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Subtle Knife.

Will.

I started this book with the physical book but finished it as an audiobook, great audiobook I must say, full casted and really pulled you into the story. I usually don’t like audiobooks because one person making different voices for all the characters makes me feel awkward. Do you like audiobooks?

In this second installment, Lyra is lost in a new world, where she finds Will--a boy on the run,

a murderer--a worthy and welcome ally. For this is a world where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and witches share the skies with troops of angels.
Each is searching--Lyra for the meaning of Dark Matter, Will for his missing father--but what they find instead is a deadly secret, a knife of untold power. And neither Lyra nor Will suspects how tightly their lives, their loves, their destinies are bound together . . . until they are split apart.

This second book has a very different vibe from the first one, first of all, it follows different characters and doesn’t focuses only on Lyra like the first book. To be honest I didn’t particularly cared for other’s story, I was only interested in Lyra and Will’s story, so the rest was kinda boring to me.

Lyra changed a lot. She wasn’t the willful, independent and smart girl from the Golden Compass, in this book she becomes submissive to Will, and doesn’t have the fierceness or strength she had. Will is a likeable character; he was interesting to read about because he is pretty mature and smart. I liked the development of his relationship with Lyra from strangers to close friends, it felt natural.

The religious theme was more prominent in this book, and to be honest it was kind of confusing to me in some parts and it turned into a pretty weird story about killing God and a prophecy about Eve and Adam that involves Lyra and Will.

The Knife

I liked this book better than the first one, maybe because it doesn’t centers on Lyra at all, and I didn’t particularly liked her in the previous book. The dust and all the mystery regarding God was pretty interesting and was the main reason I kept reading.

In this book it’s introduced a new artifact, a knife that can open windows to other worlds, its power was interesting but I’m still wondering why it exists.

This is an interesting sequel, if you liked the first book in the trilogy, you should keep reading. I’ll definitely read the third and final installment.