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The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials) by: Philip Pullman

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Rating: - Subtle Knife

Unplug the phone, hang a sign on the door saying 'Do Not Disturb' and get the toilet break over with because once you start reading The Subtle Knif you will NOT want to be disturbed.
This is the second book in the Dark Matters trilogy by Phillip Pullman and is even better than the one before.
This stroy has everything. Homosexual angels, a young hetrosexual relationship blossoms despite all the worlds obstacles but trouble is still ahead is Lyra's world.
This is an unmissable read but make sure you've read Northern Lights first or the story wont be as effective.
Buy it now!

Rating: - Brilliant!

The second of three books, this was great. I have never read such a gripping book (better than the first and that was great!) You could read the book right to the very end without putting it down. Look forward to reading the third one. Philip Pullman, genius!

Rating: - More gripping.

This is the second book of His Dark Materials (after Northern Lights, or The Golden Compass in the US, and before The Amber Spyglass).

Will Parry is a twelve-year-old boy living in Oxford with his mother, who's suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and his cat Moxie. His father, an arctic explorer, has gone missing almost since the boy was born.

Will's mother has been facing more and more crises of late, and strangers have been harrassing her repeatedly, asking questions about her husband, about the letters he sent her twelve years ago. Will decides to send her to his old piano teacher's house to keep her safe, but when these men come back and search their home, Will accidently kills one of them. Not wanting to call the police because they would put his mother into hospital, he takes his father's letters from their hiding place in the sewing machine, and flees.

But walking on the side of the road, he sees a cat much like Moxie suddenly disappear. Examining the patch of grass more closely, he discovers a window, resolves to cross it, and finds himself in Cittàgazze, a sun-drenched, palm-treed city on the sea shore, in another world.

The city looks as if everyone just left in a hurry though, and when Will is looking for food in the recently abandoned cafés, he stumbles onto a lost young girl, Lyra. Although shocked to see a human without a daemon, and after asking her alethiometer for advice, she knows she can trust Will, and they finally decide to help each other.

The rest of the book describes how they travel back and forth between worlds, Will searching for his father, Lyra gathering information about Dust, both making new allies as well as meeting new enemies, facing new, more deadly dangers.

I liked The Subtle Knife more than Northern Lights (US title: The Golden Compass), was more gripped by it as a whole. I particularly enjoyed the connections between Lyra's and Will's (our) Oxford, when Lyra discovers what is similar, and what is not, to the place where she grew up. There's still a rather mystic edge to the story which I don't quite get, but I guess everything will clear up in the last chapter.

Rating: - A spell binding, enchanting novel

This amazing sequal to Philip Pullman's 'Dark Materials,' reaches deep into how life started and questions the readers beliefs. It gives us as readers new concepts and ideas to are way of life; or if there is other worlds protected by thin barriers of matter (Northern Lights.) The book starts as Lyra walks into a new world through a gateway created by her newly found father. In this book Lyra and her demon find a new companion 'Will,' who is in grave trouble. The new companions set out to escape the law, Lyra's evil mother and find Will's father. With the help of a knife that cuts through any material, even the veils that seperate the individual worlds. This is a spell binding book, which anyone will sit engrossed in for hours. It is a rollercoaster of a book, which contains the rights amount of snap, crackle and pop to be perfect.

Rating: - Spellbinding

What can I say, Phillip Pullman, a story writing genius. After reading The Northern Lights, I was eager to read the next in the trilogy. The start of The Subtle Knife was showing the love of this child for his mother; he tries so hard to protect and help her, but deep down we all knew that Will would be destined for greater things. So despite the love for his mother he must leave her. I think this shows just how emotional Phillip Pullman can make his writing. There were parts close to the end of the story that upset me, but if anything I think that shows the true emotion of the writing and it truly does show writing genius. I don't think I've read a story like that or will read a story like that for a long time unless the next installment can prove itself of the sheer power in the writing of The Subtle Knife.

By Maurice buchleitner Age 10

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