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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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cuts to the quick!,
By Touche LaRue "literarygoddess" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Subtle Knife (Mass Market Paperback)
Having written a review for the Golden Compass only days ago, I am now regretting giving it 4 stars because I loved the Subtle Knife so much more. I just found the storyline infinitely more rivetting.With the Subtle Knife, I definitely can see now, the serious religious undercurrents (who am I kidding, tidle waves) that flow through this book. An afront to God? Perhaps, but it makes for damn good reading! I can't wait to start book three, in order to find out exactly who the good guys are and what Lyra must do in order to fulfill her destiny (and destroy others). Some parts of the book did drag. I find Lyra and Will's story most interesting and often raced through the chapters that did not contain them in order to get back to the "main adventure". I can't wait to read "The Amber Spyglass". If I could give 4.5 stars, I would, because I have a feeling I should reserve 5 stars for the final installment.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing sequel to a good first,
By
This review is from: The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials (Mass Market Paperback)
While the plot of the Golden Compass is enthralling and a good read, the Subtle Knife expands upon it and unique ideas more than I would have imagined. I found myself much more taken in by the ideas Pullman expanded on - the link between science and fantasy and religion was a big appeal for me. This is a book (and series) I find myself telling everyone to read, because I was so taken by just how unique the storyline is. You won't be disappointed reading this.The Golden Compass is longer and not as enthralling, but it is a vital set up to this and the next book (The Amber Spyglass), and worth reading so you can continue on with the series.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Job,
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This review is from: The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials (Paperback)
I placed this oder as a birthday gift to my daughter, It took awhile, but it got rectified> Amazon responded to my email very quickly. I ended up with 2 books. So I instructed them to go ahead and charge me for the other book. Very good service and wouldn't have it any other way. My daughter is very happy.
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