The Subtle Knife (1997)

My favorite book of the series, but I was reluctant to like it at first. It does a great job of introducing new characters and expanding the world without losing the momentum from the first book. ( )

I came to this not long after seeing the BBC (HBO) television adaptation, and so my own visualisation of the action of the novel was rather influenced by that; not that it spoilt the experience for me. Indeed, there are sufficient differences between the book and series to hold my interest, in terms of seeing what the tv show missed out and how various plot points were advanced for reasons of dramatic timing.

Of the novel itself, I was interested to see that it avoids a lot of "middle book syndrome" through throwing a few upsets into the plot. I continue to feel Lyra to be far more feral in the book than she is depicted in the series; and there's a verbal tic that Pullman keeps on using - characters say "en't" for "isn't" - that seems to be usage from Lyra's world rather than just an affectation of hers, as we hear it from Asriel's servant as well. It still brings to mind Richmal Compton and "Just William" for me, though.

The relationship between Will and Lyra deepens quite quickly over the course of the book. Given that Pullman writes these as pre-adolescents, and pitches them into quite life-threatening situations, this shouldn't really be a surprise, and the subject of relationships is handled quite sensitively. Nonetheless, there is an undercurrent of sexuality implicit in the relationship, given that in these novels, characters' daemons fix their form at puberty, and it is understood that Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon, is quite aware that this time is approaching. In my case, though, this theme was influenced by my visualisation based on the television series, where the actors depicting Will and Lyra are older than their description in the novel. Young actors usually act down in age anyway, but still, that visualisation may have affected my reading.

The world-building isn't so intricate, as much of the action takes place in our world or the world of Cittagazze. However, the edition I have includes some additional material that Pullman prepared in around 2005 regarding John Parry's expedition. This I found interesting, though it raised something of a question. We now find that the 'Tartar' troops that the Magisterium has access to are from the Imperial Russian Guard (in their universe). This to me implies that in that world, there was no split in the early church that led to the founding of the Orthodox churches, otherwise why would the Imperial Russian Crown be lending out its forces to Rome? Still, given Pullman's anti-clericalism, which becomes more pronounced in this volume, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this. I was also pleased to see that there is a good reason why the witches mostly appear to have Finnish names.

With Lyra's search for more knowledge of Dust bringing her into our world, she comes into contact with scientists, and more particularly with a physicist at "our" Oxford University who is looking into the properties of dark matter. Pullman draws a connection between dark matter and Dust, though quite quickly he introduces more of the properties of Dust from the first novel, which cause the physicist some considerable intellectual distress, as Pullman's Dust possesses some degree of sentience. It was roughly at this point that I began to question whether this novel was science fiction or fantasy; certainly, attributing sentience to dark matter places the book firmly in the fantasy category (let alone the presence of daemons, witches and angels), but the reaction of the human characters to the physical manifestations of the effects of the magical apparatus - Dust, the aleithiometer, the Subtle Knife and the windows between the worlds - seems far more grounded in rationality. I suspect that the author himself would reject such labels anyway.

So: a worthwhile extension of the story begun in 'Northern Lights' that deepens the story. We learn more about Lord Asriel's plans, though this signals a shift to a wider canvas in the final volume. But overall, the quality - though nothing so astonishing for the seasoned reader of the fantastic - is maintained. ( )

I have no idea how they're going to make this one into a kid's movie. ( )

An epic tale about William Parry's search for his father. How he meets and joins forces with Lyra in a different world and they continue together to find his father on their way to Lord Asriel.

Will's character is strong and courageous and together with Lyra they are a formidable force.

Beautifully written, easy to engage with, the story of Lyra's quest continues. ( )

Date approximate ( )