The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2)

English language

Published Nov. 4, 1997

ISBN:: 978-0-679-87925-1

(1 review)

As the boundaries between worlds begin to dissolve, Lyra and her daemon help Will Parry in his search for his father and for a powerful, magical knife.

She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy?

The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer.

When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once.

Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky.

But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.

On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power.

And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.

14 editions

Robert Fromont reviewed The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The epic struggle becomes clear, for us if not for Lyra and her new friend

5 stars

In The Golden Compass, book 1 of this series, we met Lyra, the half-wild charge of a scholar of an Oxford University in a parallel universe, and follow her adventures with warrior polar bears to the gates of a new world. This is book 2 of the series, in which Lyra meets Will, who had fled 'our' world into a parallel world to escape shadowy men who are pursuing him to obtain the papers of Will's long-lost explorer father. As Lyra and Will explore the third parallel universe, we learn of the titular knife, which can cut any substance, including the membranes that separate parallel universes. We also learn of the epic battle playing out across the universes, which involves god and angels, and both of their fathers, and of which they're unwittingly key players. This is a fantastical, imaginative adventure spanning many climes and crossing the boundaries of the …

In The Golden Compass, book 1 of this series, we met Lyra, the half-wild charge of a scholar of an Oxford University in a parallel universe, and follow her adventures with warrior polar bears to the gates of a new world. This is book 2 of the series, in which Lyra meets Will, who had fled 'our' world into a parallel world to escape shadowy men who are pursuing him to obtain the papers of Will's long-lost explorer father. As Lyra and Will explore the third parallel universe, we learn of the titular knife, which can cut any substance, including the membranes that separate parallel universes. We also learn of the epic battle playing out across the universes, which involves god and angels, and both of their fathers, and of which they're unwittingly key players. This is a fantastical, imaginative adventure spanning many climes and crossing the boundaries of the universes.

I was pre-reading for a pre-teen, with an eagle eye out for too-adult themes. Although I didn't find any, there is a very intense last-stand of a beloved character, which might be too much for sensitive readers.