Title: The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2) Author: Philip Pullman Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers Published on: 22 Juli 1997 Pages: 326
It does not make sense. It cannot exist. It's impossible, and if it isn't impossible it's irrelevant, and if it isn't either of those things it's embarrassing.
-Chapter 4: Trepanning
I managed to finish this book in a few hours short of a day. What an accomplishment! Especially considering that last year I almost didn't read anything, and the last book I read, Northanger Abbey, took me a couple of months. Dude, Philip Pullman's writings have such a pull!
In Northern Lights, we are introduced to Lyra and her similar-but-only-almost alternate universe. In The Subtle Knife, we're back to the universe as we know it and Lyra is no longer our main protagonist -- well, at least for a few pages.
Will Parry was a teenage boy living in London, England, with his mum. His dad went missing on an expedition years ago when he'd been little. Will was very protective of his mum, whom he suspected is struggling with mental illness. Our story began with Will asking for his neighbour's help to care for his mum while he fended off two strangers trying to get into their home. These strangers were looking for certain documents that his dad, John Parry, sent his mum.
A confrontation soon happened, which resulted in the death of one of the intruders. Thinking he'd committed murder and was now wanted for a crime, Will ran away. He accidentally stumbled into a portal that brought him to another world. Instead of London's chilly, crowded, smelly alleys, he arrived at the empty town of Ci'gazze -- save for a few children. And here was where Will met Lyra.
Both didn't know the reason why they met in that place. Lyra was looking for Lord Asriel, but he vanished in an altogether unknown world. Also, why were there only children in Ci'gazze? The plot thread gets more intricate when Lyra decided to follow Will into his world (our world) dan then meeting a scientist with a technology that matches the work of her alethiometer. Also this strange Lord with a fancy car and big house whom she couldn't comprehend why felt so familiar.
And war was coming, led by Lord Asriel's troops and which involved every world that exists. What was actually happening behind the curtain?
EGGLYSIS
I have rather conflicting thoughts on this book. Do allow me to elaborate.
As mentioned in the beginning, Pullman has this gravity that charms readers with his prose and storyline. Each page has its pull. Seriously, at the end of every chapter, I promised myself that it was the last, that I had to do other stuff other than having my nose stuck in a book, and every chapter I broke that promise, lol.
Some people complain of the change in the main protagonist(s), where Lyra now has to share the spotlight with Will. While understandable, but I don't think that as much of an issue. Take A Song of Ice and Fire for example, another main character could appear as far as the fifth book. Character-wise, Lyra and Will are believable enough that readers will get invested in seeing them grow, especially Lyra whom we have known since the first book. As the story progresses, characters that we're familiar with since Northern Lights also appear. There was one scene where Will and Lyra had to sneak into a certain aristocrat's house, and the tension in that scene was so palpable that I had to stop to curse dunno who.
So what exactly made me feel conflicted?
I mentioned earlier that Philip Pullman is not afraid to express his disdain on the Church and organised religion as a whole in his writings. While in Northern Lights the line was still drawn clearly between critic and blatant hatred, it becomes more vague in The Subtle Knife. He clearly mentions Almighty (which represents God, I presume) as the figure that Lord Asriel needs to get rid off to find justice and freedom for the quest of knowledge in this universe. Again, it makes me uncomfortable, but let's see how the story goes as it surely becomes more intriguing.
Overall, The Subtle Knife...
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