The Subtle Knife
No. 2 in the His Dark Materials series
by Philip Pullman
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Laurel Leaf (New York): 1997. Trade Paperback: 304 pages. ISBN-10: 0-440-23814-5 ISBN-13: 978-04440238140 Suggested retail price: $7.50 (US) Tags: alternate universes; amputations; angels; bears; dark matter; Fantasy; knives; metaphysics; trilogy; witches; Young Adult Tactical strength: [6/10] |
The Subtle Knife starts with one of two new major characters, Will. Will lives alone with his slightly deranged mother, but strange men have started searching his house. Instinctively he arranges for his mother to stay with a neighbor and he knows the item that the men want -- a letter case that belonged to his father. Will goes back to his house for the case, but while he's inside the men come back to search the house again. In escaping from his house, Will shoves one of the men down the stairs, killing the man. Will knows that the police will soon want to talk to him and he looks for a way to remain inconspicuous. While walking down a street, he sees a cat suddenly vanish from the street. He goes to the point where the cat disappeared, and he sees a window from his universe into another. Still wanting to evade the police, Will enters the alternate universe, a world called Cittágazze.
In Cittágazze, Will finds Lyra, who has traveled to Cittágazze through the hole her father made at the end of The Golden Compass by killing her friend Roger. Will and Lyra find Citttáty since ghost-like specters attack anyone about thirteen-years-old or older. In exploring the city, the children come to a tower where a group of children torment the cat that Will followed into Cittgazze. The group become hostile, and Will and Lyra take refuge in the tower. In the tower, a young man attacks Will with a knife. After a lengthy scuffle, Will overpowers the young man and takes the knife for himself. Only after the fight does he realize that he has lost the last two fingers on his right hand. And old man appears and explains that the knife has chosen Will as the new carrier. The knife has one edge that will cut through any matter and another that will cut widows into other universes. The old man teaches Will how to open these windows and emphasized the importance of closing the windows after using them.
Will decides that he must find his father, John Parry, an explorer last know to have gone on an arctic expedition. The alethiometer tells Lyra that she must help Will on his quest to find his father. For the remainder of the book, the children follow what clues they have to find Will's father.
In scenes away from the children, we learn that the witches of Lyra's world have a prophecy predicting that Lyra will face a temptation similar to Eve, and that the outcome of all universes rests on the decision that she will make. Not wanting to risk having sin continue to plague man, the Magisterium of the church in Lyra's world decide that they must find Lyra at all costs. In other scenes, we learn that Lord Asriel plans to engage in direct combat of the Authority -- the head angel that has taken control of all the universes as the being requiring worship.
Without the introduction of Will, I probably would have gotten bored with the series. Lyra seems to have a one-track mind of doing her own thing. The fact that she follows the alethieometer's instructions to assist Will seems almost contrary to her personality. Where The Golden Compass followed Lyra almost exclusively, The Subtle Knife follows whichever characters Pullman needs to push his plot forward. So, we read chapters from the point of view of Lee Scoresby, Mrs. Coulter, and Serafina Pekkala. As readers, we need the information about the events happening with all the powers attempting to capture Will and Lyra, but suddenly seeing the story from an adult point of view seems awkward after following Lyra and Will.
For the middle book in a trilogy, Pullman manages to keep the plot and pacing in The Subtle Knife quite engaging, and he ends the book just about as suddenly and tragically as in The Golden Compass. Pullman continues to keep much of the metaphysical mysteries of "dark matter" or "dust" hidden. We know that dust plays a huge role in the operation of the Lyra's alethiometer, and we learn that consciousness itself creates this dark matter, but we don't know how that fact will play out in the conclusion of the series. Since the ending determines the value of the preceding volumes, you don't know if The Subtle Knife really has done a good job or not until you read the final book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass. The Subtle Knife cannot stand alone, but it does a good job pressing the characters forward, letting the reader know just a bit more than the protagonists, but only enough to keep you reading to find out what happens.
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