The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman, 4 stars, [bwf, steeplechase]

[NancyJ]

I finished this wondrous book a few days ago and I’m still not entirely sure how to make sense of it all. The book is full of imaginative ideas, interesting characters, and adventures. It is also full of danger, violence and villains. This series was marketed for young readers, but I think it would be too dark and murky for many children. At the heart of the book is the friendship between Lyra and Will. They are surrounded by darkness, but there is a lot of light too.

Book 1 focused on Lyra who lived on an alternative version of our planet, where everyone had a friendly Daemon (a shapeshifting animal) that was always by their side. Book 2 introduces Will who appears to be in our world, in the 1980’s. His father disappeared while working in the arctic (with hints to the reader that he entered Lyra’s world). When Lyra and Will meet, she feels sorry for the people in Will’s world because they have no daemons. She decides that Will’s daemon must be inside him, as his soul. Will is running away from danger too, and finds an opening into a third world, which is beset by terrible specters that attack adults but leave children alone. This book alternates between many different characters and settings from the previous book, and the new worlds. There is a mystical shaman, a helpful physicist, an evil friend of Lyra’s mothers, along with brave adventurers, witches, angels, bears, investigators, wild children, and shadowy spies. The philosophy is muddier than the first book. There are two opposing camps that both seem to be evil, with the kids and their champions stuck in the middle.