Review of The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

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SWilder
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Review of The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Post by SWilder »

Sienna highly recommends The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman (from my Goodread's Author Blog, In My Humble Opinion)

The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2) by Philip Pullman is a fascinating read which fully deserves five stars.

Owing to its metaphysics, it’s a natural crossover book for readers who might normally gravitate towards other genres. There is a significant back story, but the author is so skilled in providing it that it’s hardly noticeable.

Like the other books of the series, The Subtle Knife is a richly original and masterfully written work, presenting the reader with an epic storyline involving a colorful intersection of characters from three alternate and parallel worlds. The narrative flows like water, transporting the reader through a metaphysical adventure that feels very much like a personal memory when it’s over.

This installment of the series centers around a magical dagger called ‘the Subtle Knife’, Will, the boy destined to bear it as the decisive weapon in an ultimate war, and the heroine of the series, a clever and gifted child named Lyra Silvertongue. Will stumbles across an opening between worlds during a foot chase, and steps into Citigazze, a parallel world resembling a coastal Italian village that acts as a hub between all the other worlds. There he meets Lyra, and acquires the Subtle Knife.

The eponymous Subtle Knife is a Swiss-Army portkey, to honor one of J.K. Rowling’s many new contributions to the English language. With it, the bearer can cut openings into parallel worlds. It is also the ultimate cutting edge -- one which can cut through every form of matter in the universe, including etheric forms, like the souls of living beings. It can be used to defend against Spectres, spiritual vampires who invoke the terror of hordes of Azkhaban prison guards at large. Although Rowling has given names to some of the metaphysical archtypes, they exist in many forms. Pullman channels his story from a completely different place than Rowling, and his style is deeply satisfying to the more sophisticated and literary reader. Pullman’s metaphysics are related to Rowling’s, but they are also related to Umberto Eco’s, Madeleine L’Engle’s, Dan Brown’s, and many others.
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