The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman Reviews

The Subtle Knife is the second book and the Dark Materials trilogy and follows Northern Lights, both by Phillip Pullman. Northern Lights ends with Iorek Byrnison, and armoured bear, defeating the current bear king of Svalbard and taking his place. Lyra Belacqua and her daemon pan spent the first novel travelling to Svalbard with the ...  Read the complete review

The second book in the famous 'His Dark Materials' trilogy is certainly darker than the preceding novel. In 'Northern Lights' wild-child and apparent orphan Lyra Belacqua had to struggle against the adults she knew to try to save children who were going missing, and explore the mystery of dust. Now, in 'The Subtle Knife', Lyra moves between three ...  Read the complete review

The Subtle Knife is part of a three book series beginning with the Golden compass and ending with Amber Spyglass.I have read this who series and would really recommend it to anyone looking for a science fiction series. The books really let your imagination and The subtle Knife is action packed. The story It starts off when A boy by ...  Read the complete review

This is the second book of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy and revolves around the concepts of the most powerfull weapon in the universe (or rather multiverse) and that of a twelve year old boy called Will Parry. He's as central to this story as the character of Lyra was to the first book, "The Northern Lights". ...  Read the complete review

This is possibly my favourite in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy - I am not sure. I change my mind about that on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes I am more a "Northern Lights" man and sometimes it is the "Subtle Knife" that grabs me more. This continues on where "Northern Lights" finished off, changing ...  Read the complete review

For those of you who are not aware, The Subtle Knife is the second book of a trilogy, so if you have not read the first one (the northern lights, sometimes known as the golden compass if you're just plain silly), turn back now, youv'e just missed one of the best reads of your life. Not to mention you probably wont have a clue about whats really ...  Read the complete review

This is the second book in Phillip Pullmans 'his dark materials' trilogy and while being not quite as good as The Northern lights is still a spectecular story told by a truly brilliant author. Once again Pullman combines brilliant settings and descriptions with an enthrolling storyline. Again the settings are probably not quite as good as in the ...  Read the complete review

The second in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy takes a giant step into cross-world politics, while keeping the story easy enough for kids to follow. The lead character, Lyra Belacqua, is joined in her quest by Will Parry, a boy who, it seems, also has a destiny to fulfill. Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes from the first book split ...  Read the complete review

The Subtle Knife is the second of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, a truly epic adventure embracing religion, science and classic adventure. The series is very much one story broken into three books, rather than a set of interlinked, but essentially stand-alone stories, such as those of Narnia, or to a lesser extent, Harry Potter; as ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

The Subtle Knife is an absolute paragon of what the middle novel of a trilogy should be. It would have been very easy for Philip Pullman to have sat back on his laurels and gone, Right, I?ve written something excellent, it?s sold millions of copies. Now I don?t really have to think much about the sequel, just put it down on paper and bingo! ...  Read the complete review

How do you even begin to write about a book like this? A book so unlike any you have read before, a book so absorbing, so original, so intelligent and so magnificently written? A book that makes you want to rush home from work just so that you can pick it up again and find out what happens next? It's not any easy thing to do, I can tell ...  Read the complete review

'The Subtle Knife' is the second book in Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. While each of the three books contains a tale that largely works in its own right, they work best if you read them in order. I must warn you that it is nigh on impossible to review a book in a series without inevitably revealling things ...  Read the complete review

The Second book in the Dark Materials trilogy. Although shorter, and not so exciting as the other two, it is a valuable continuation of the story. It seems slightly slower, due to the introduction of new characters and places. Will Parry is 12, lives in Oxford, in the world that you and I know, and looks after his mother, who is confused ...  Read the complete review

At the end of The Northern Lights, Lyra Silvertongue watched in fear and fascination as her father, Lord Asriel, created a bridge between worlds. Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon, are now lost in an alternate universe where they meet Will Parry, a fugitive from a third universe. Will has found a small window between Cittagazze (a place where ...  Read the complete review

This is the second of Pullmans’ ‘Dark material’ trilogy and I must say the weaker out of the three. Don’t get me wrong it was good but the others were better. I though this one real backbone in the story. Don’t think that this book is just for kids and has a simple storyline, often its children’s ...  Read the complete review

Those of you who have read Phillip Pullman's triumph 'Northern Lights' will not be disappointed with it's sequel'The Subtle Knife'. Following on from where we left off, Lyra Silvertongue is now joined by Will, a young boy from our world. Together they enter an altogether new dimension, Cittagazze, only to find ...  Read the complete review

THE SUBTLE KNIFE is quite simply one of the best children's books you will ever read - literature to blow your mind, engrossing as nothing you've come across before. It is also one of the most subversive and mind-poisoning works of fiction you will encounter - material that aims to abuse children's psyches and manipulate their ...  Read the complete review

This second volume of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. There's a whole lot going on here - layer upon layer of plot, character, symbolism, worlds within worlds within worlds, and a deeply religious subtext. A new protagonist is introduced - the young boy Will - who serves as a ...  Read the complete review

Having read the first book in this series I was very, very eager to read this one. I was expecting something really special - and I wasn't entirely disappointed. The writing style was equally superb, the invention still beyond most other authors' wildest dreams, and the pacing abslutely perfect. This book follows Lyra through the ...  Read the complete review