The Subtle Knife
August 31st 2006 08:20
The Subtle Knife is the second in Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. This is the book that breaks it all wide open... where the first novel, 'Northern Lights', was full of inventive ideas and provided an interesting platform for some big questions, it's 'The Subtle Knife' that pulls the game apart to show the bigger picture, and sets the stage for the trilogy's themes to be played out.
Pullman introduces a secondary protagonist here... Will is a boy who lives in our own world. He accidentally kills a man while defending his mother and must go on the run afterwards. Like Lyra, he is around 12 years old. His world and Lyra's world are about to clash head to head in an interim reality - a universe that is parallel to both Lyra's and our own.
This third reality features a desolated and apparently abandoned city known as Citagazze. Will and Lyra meet two local children and learn that the city is full of invisible beings known as Spectres, who suck the soul from anyone who can see them... children cannot see them. Adults can.
From here the events of the story diverge and twist and we come to see Will as a major character as integral to the story as Lyra. The story takes place in all three worlds, and the subtle knife of the title is an artefact that can cut into the very fabric of reality and allow it's users to pass between the realities.
Pullman introduces us to more characters and builds on those he introduced in 'Northern Lights'. We're never sure where we stand with some of the characters, Pullman always keeps things slightly ambiguous. There's also a real epic feel to this story... despite being shorter than Northern Lights it somehow feels bigger. I can't stress enough how brilliantly Pullman builds his story, the twists are staggering and the questions we ask here seem bigger than those we might ask anywhere else. It's hard for me to explain, I just find the books in this trilogy to be really intense and memorable.
If I only ever recommended one series of books to anyone, I wouldn't mention Harry Potter or any of Robin Hobb's trilogies or the Bartimaeus trilogy... as good as they all are, none are as original, subversive or life-affirming as Pullman's 'Dark Materials' trilogy. These books still remain my favourites!
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