The Subtle Knife
Series: His Dark Materials Trilogy / Book: 2
I finished The Subtle Knife (second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy). Luckily, the second book in this series also fit into my reading challenge; I am now able to check off “A steampunk novel.” This story picks up right where The Golden Compass left off. Lyra goes into the alternate universe through the window her father has created and finds another boy from a completely separate world altogether. They each have things that the other needs, and end up jointly fighting their way through the enemy to fulfill their destines.
This book was just as well written as the first. It did, however, come to an abrubpt end. I felt like I was still waiting for the big arc of the story to begin when I was over halfway through the novel. What I’m guessing is that book 2 and 3 should have been melded together, but in today’s literary culture people don’t tend to pick up 600-800 page books as readily as they do the trilogies. They do focus a lot more on the theories behind what Dust is, and where it comes from. This brings the book into a lot of religious ideology. I kept thinking how great these books would be to discuss in a book club setting where people would have so many different approaches to what the implications are in the storyline.
I would recommend this book to people who like books that discuss and potentially test Christianity’s core concepts. It often reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, so I would recommend it to lovers of that series too.
Malia's Pizza Rating
??? (i.e. a pizza created in an alternate universe that we, sadly, haven’t even heard of) (4/5 slices)