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Loading... The Subtle Knife (original 1997; edition 1998)by Philip Pullman (Author)
Work InformationThe Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (1997)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I apparently remembered nothing about this book (other than that Will's from our world), so a reread was well overdue. Pieces move on the board to and from worlds, including our own (though contemporary at the time, it was funny to me to see that Mary Malone had floppy discs for The Cave and with John Parry's letters dated 1985). Maybe because it's partially in our world and doesn't share the fantastic magic of shapeshifting daemons and panserbjorn, but I didn't find The Subtle Knife nearly as compelling. Still, it's doing setup for spectacular showdowns in The Amber Spyglass so... it's a middle trilogy book! Also, as with The Golden Compass- awfully dark for a children's book. As the series progresses, it seems the author is struggling to hold all the parts together. One unbelievable coincidence after another spoils the otherwise beautiful storytelling, and the unending teasers for knowledge the adults have, but refuse to say, gives you a very frustrating position of being inside someone's thoughts without understanding the vocabulary. I don't actually mind the fact that this book does not concentrate on Lyra or even start with her as I wasn't that taken with her character anyway; too perfect/loved by all for no particular reason, for a start. I also quite like Will's resourcefulness and care of his mother. And having split up the characters at the end of the first volume, Pullman has to follow their separate narratives. What I don't like is the level of info-dumping and polemic that has crept in with this second volume. Some of it is risible, such as the 'explanation' of the Dust-energy talking to the scientist on her computer. Pullman obviously has no knowledge of computers whatsoever (speaking as someone with an IT background) and the scene where the scientist goes home and rustles up a program - on floppy disk (I know this book was written a while back, but even then USB sticks existed) - in a few hours, that is capable of somehow magically producing a character/English typed interface to talk to the Dust is far more difficult for me to suspend disbelief over than witches or talking bears. I didn't even believe the previous nonsense where just putting a headset on enabled Lyra to produce patterns on the screen that were a form of communication with Dust that she could understand. Basically this whole idea is a form of magic and Pullman might as well have made it such, because it just doesn't work. The other thing that majorly jars for me is the idea that the Dust, being sentient energy, is There is also quite a bit of unpleasant violence in this book and things that don't make sense - why does Mrs Coulter murder one of her allies and then go on the run? If she wants to kill Lyra, as it now seems she does, there are plenty of people in the church that want to do that too, so why not let them handle it? And what is really daft are all the changed premises: for example, Lord Asriel now seems to be centuries old, at least he has been building a huge fortress in another world with loads of warriors, equipment etc, helping him out at huge expense - how was that done if he had to create a bridge to other worlds at the end of book 1? There are now loads of leftover windows between worlds, when to create one he had to murder a child, again at the end of book 1, so why did he have to go to all that trouble? And it is just plain daft that Mrs Coulter While continuing the rant, I must note the character issues. Lyra in particular undergoes a personality transplant, and becomes a complete wimp shortly after meeting Will. Pullman seems to succumb to the idea that girls when they hit puberty and start fancying boys, as she seems to be doing, pretend to be dumb so as not to frighten off the boys with their intelligence or other abilities. Maybe this happens in real life, but it is a huge disappointment for a lot of fans of the first book. As I wasn't sold on her character, it wasn't such a problem for me, but I just found it rather odd. This passivity also means that when the witches are discussing Lord Asriel and whether they should support him, and one tells the others that he opposes the evil church who do heinous things such as cutting children from their daemons, she doesn't even bother to tell them that he murdered her friend Roger in the same way to make his bridge! It also means that, very conveniently plotwise, she now does not consult the alethiometer which would give her all sorts of answers that would cause issues for the author, because Will wouldn't like it. How would her being able to give him crucial information upset him? That seems very poor plotting to me. Maybe Pullman regretted making the alethiometer and Lyra's ability to read it too powerful. So he had to have this very unconvincing reason for her not checking it, to prevent them finding out things that would mess up the plot if they knew about them. I was also very annoyed that he killed off a couple of just about my favourite characters The angels are just plain silly with all their bickering. The main problem with this book as a lot of other people have observed is the anti-church, anti-god polemic that takes over. Though I'm not objecting on religious grounds, but on the lack of logic and consistency. It's rather odd for a self professed atheist such as Pullman to write something like this: I could understand it, if the book was about a corrupt church which wields power in the name of a non-existent god, since atheists don't believe god exists. But here,
J. R. R. Tolkien, the granddaddy of modern high fantasy, asserted that the best fantasy writing is marked by ''arresting strangeness.'' Philip Pullman measures up; his work is devilishly inventive. His worlds teem with angels, witches, humans, animal familiars, talking bears and Specters, creatures resembling deadly airborne jellyfish... Put Philip Pullman on the shelf with Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, at least until we get to see Volume 3. Belongs to SeriesBelongs to Publisher SeriesGallimard, Folio (4616) Gallimard, Folio SF (139) Heyne Allgemeine Reihe (10965) Is contained inHis Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (indirect) Has the adaptationHas as a teacher's guideAwardsNotable Lists
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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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A lot has been written about the allegorical nature of these books, and the underlying theme about the danger of organized religion makes the story richer, but Pullman walks a think line here. While allegorical meanings make a story deeper and more interesting, if done too heavy-handedly it can also overwhelm the plot and make it less satisfying. Ideally, the book needs to work on both levels. I think Pullman accomplishes that for the most part, but his opinions are strong and he needs to be careful so that the story doesn't become propaganda.
Overall, a well-written, enjoyable and thought-provoking series. ( )