#26: The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials #2) by Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (341 pages)
Hester the hare and National Treasure Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby
My book club at work is forging ahead with the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. I was not blown away by book 1 - The Golden Compass - but book 2 is more exciting. Turns out The Golden Compass is mostly set up; it introduces all the characters and does the heavy lifting with the world building. The Subtle Knife introduces one new major character and then spends a lot of time with the people we already know. And now there's this knife (the subtle one) that can cut through literally anything, including the atomic fabric that separates worlds of a parallel universe! Are you sold on this one yet?!
There is action right from the jump. The predicament of the new major character, young Will Parry, drew me in immediately. He is on the run from danger and finds a window to a different world where he meets Lyra and Pan. Will and Lyra's relationship is one of the best parts of the book. Two brave, clever youth facing all kinds of evil and employing all their skills to defeat it. I highly enjoyed going along with their adventure.
The story moves fast from intrigue to intrigue and peril to peril. There are quests, tragedies, and deeply touching moments. Lee Scoresby, the Texan aeronaut, and his hare daemon Hester have an emotionally stirring moment which was made EVEN MORE heart breaking by picturing Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee.
But with all that said, this one feels weird to write about. I enjoyed reading it and found it moving, but it hasn't stuck with me. Nothing sunk into my bone marrow. I'm left asking "So what?" and I don't have the answer. I'm 2/3 finished with the trilogy and don't feel compelled to tell my friends they have to read it. It's fun, exciting, smart fantasy and a guy in my book club loves it so much he named his dog Hester! It's not my jam though.
Book 3 is over 500 pages, so I expect things to go out with a bang. Hopefully it all comes to a satisfying end. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks for reading,
Kyle