Welcome to the Dark Side (The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman)

Member Name: Hot_Pants

Product:	The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
Date:	13/03/05 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gripping story

Disadvantages: you won't want to put it down

On completing The Northern Lights, I was excited at the prospect of reading this, although very aware that a sequel can be a total anticlimax.

Expecting to pick up where the first book left off, I was surprised to be introduced to Will Parry. He is a fascinating young boy, living in our world. Will’s father went missing on an expedition, and some men have been following his mother in an attempt to find out where Will’s father is by finding letters written to his mother. When Will accidentally kills one of these men, he runs away to Oxford, taking the letters with him.

He leaves his mother behind in the care of an acquaintance, and sets out to find somewhere he can hide. Will finds a window in mid air, almost invisible to the naked eye, and climbs through.

In the seemingly deserted city of Cittágazze, where food is left rotting on cafe tables, Will meets Lyra (from the Northern Lights). Will is different. He has no Daemon, or at least, you can’t see his Daemon. Lyra assumes his Daemon is hidden inside of him. Cittágazze is full of soul eating Spectres which can only be seen by adults, and leave them in a “living death”. Spectres prey on humans over the age of puberty; hence there are no adults in Cittágazze.

Lyra is hell bent on avenging her friend Roger’s death and on learning about Dust (or Dark Matter as it is called in Will’s world). Lyra’s alethiometer tells her that Will is a murderer, but she trusts Will, and the Alethiometer also tells her to help Will find his father.

It is here in Cittágazze that Will and Lyra climb the Tower. Will battles ferociously with a boy, and becomes the true bearer of the Subtle Knife.

The children join together to find Will’s father in a story of spectres, angels, Witches, armoured bears, and a knife that is so subtle it can cut through from one world to another. Both characters are as important as each other in this adventure, and this is captured perfectly in a way that is very difficult to achieve. Lyra and Will have a long journey ahead of them. Will Will find his father? Will Asriel win the war that he is doomed to be defeated in without an item he does not know exists? Will the children fulfill their destinies, and reveal the secret of Dust?

You will find yourself asking lots of questions that will not be answered until the third book.

This book leaves you breathless with excitement, even more so than the first. It made me want to read and read until it was finished. A truly incredible book, which is written in such a way, that the Northern Lights appears to just set the scene.

Pullman has introduced new characters into the story, and allowed them to develop and grow. There are some amazing twists on characters from the first book. Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Serafina Pekkala, and Iorek Byrnison all continue in this book, and the way the new characters fit is amazing.

This book really should make the church shake in fear. It questions our beliefs in a way which is so believable it is scary.

I would recommend this book to children aged 10 to 100.

Summary: