Philip Pullman’s second entry in the His Dark Materials series reads very much like the middle book of a trilogy. The first book had some really good high points for me, some of these were maintained during The Subtle Knife, while others were set aside. Let’s get into it.
The Golden Compass is all about Lyra, our brave and smart protagonist, she’s still here in The Subtle Knife, but we get a deuteragonist, a scrappy, quick-on-his-feet-with-a-tragic-life-but-noble-heart kid named Will. While I like Will, I didn’t enjoy his character as much as I did Lyra in the first book. I felt like Pullman played around a bit with Lyra in this book, she seemed to be much more reserved, scared even. I guess it makes sense since she’s exploring a new and unknown world, but it just took me out of it throughout the book. The other thing that was missing for me were the dæmons, the whole severing plotline from the first book was really interesting and then in this book it seems like dæmons are a secondary plot device, so not a huge fan of that.
The story itself was interesting enough, Lyra explores this new world which is a parallel to hers geographically, but with other important facets of her life she’s accustomed to missing. While there’s an Oxford, there’s no scholars researching Dust, instead, there’s scientist researching physics. There’s people, but no dæmons, which is the biggest shock for her. Will is the first person Lyra meets in this new world, which sets up the rest of the book. Will is the focus of the plot itself, with the eponymous knife being a very strong object that can literally slice through space and facilitates travelling to other worlds.
It’s very clear to me that the author had a clear vision for this trilogy, in the sense that he knew it would be a trilogy, and that is apparent in the book’s pacing and plot points. It’s very much a “bridge” book, whose main purpose is to bridge the gap between the first and third books in the series. It doesn’t advance the plot a whole lot, and in fact introduces many new plot threads without closing older ones. It’s serviceable, if a bit boring in parts. The main villains from the first book, Lyra’s parents, barely appear here and instead we’re presented with a new baddie that feels very one-dimensional and more like a distraction than an actual antagonist.
Despite these lows, the plot still manages to keep the whimsy and imagination of the first book, despite many of the fantastical elements either missing or being reduced a lot. And while Lyra didn’t quite feel like book 1 Lyra to me, she did have her fair share of cool moments. I’ll also admit that Will was a good addition, I feared I would just instantly reject him as a protagonist but he has enough personality and he’s different enough from Lyra that he stood out to me as a positive in the book, so credit where credit is due.
Oh, and also, no Iorek.
Rating
⭐⭐⭐☆☆