You have probably heard of the Golden Compass because of its film debut, but The Subtle Knife is my personal favorite from the series. Phillip Pullman’s series His Dark Materials starts with the Golden Compass, continues with The Subtle Knife, and concludes with The Amber Spyglass.
I’m not really going to go into the religious dilemma some people had with this series because I think comparing the Authority to any organized religion is a bit of a stretch. To me, the Authority seemed more like an all-powerful government, or in Lyra’s case an overbearing parent.
The second book picks back up with Lyra Belacqua who is still searching for her father, Lord Asriel, and continuing her quest to find out more about the mysterious Dust. She finds herself in another world; a world with no adults because shadowy beings called Specters suck the soul out of anyone who has grown up. In this ethereal world she meets up with Will Parry who accidentally crossed over into this world while fleeing the police in his own world, a world much like our own.
The two of them become companions and soon determine that they come from parallel worlds. They decide to return to Will’s world to look for his father, and so Lyra can speak to a scholar that her alethiometer, the compass like device that tells her truths, informs her can help her understand Dust, or what he calls Dark Matter. However, before she is able to meet him, a man steals her alethiometer and promises to give it back only if she will retrieve the Subtle Knife from the spectral world that adults cannot enter.
Will helps her retrieve the knife, and becomes the new guardian of the razor sharp knife that they eventually discover will cut through anything-physical and spiritual. But, my favorite part is how the knife can cut windows between worlds. This literally opens up so many windows of possibilities!!
In the meantime, there is a still a war brewing between the Authority, who seems to be controlled in large part by Lyra’s mother, and the people who want to be free, including but not limited to: Lyra’s father, Lee Scoresby, the witch Seraphina, and Will’s father.
Whether you have or haven’t seen/read the Golden Compass, I recommend you read this book. You can easily pick it up and start the series with the second book. I found it to be more exhilarating and fast paced than the first book. In fact, I enjoyed the third book, The Amber Spyglass, more than the Golden Compass as well. I don’t want to deter anyone from starting from the beginning because the Golden Compass really is a great story, but I personally found the reading to be a little slow, and for some reason it didn’t hold my attention as well as the subsequent books.
In the Subtle Knife I really enjoyed the budding companionship between Lyra and Will. Pullman does an excellent job making you feel like you are being taken along on the adventures they share jumping worlds. The suspense is palpable, and I had a hard time putting it down. Lyra and Will experience many mishaps and thrilling escapades while they search for their fathers, and Lyra continues her journey for enlightenment, all while trying to keep safe from the Authority.