Rating: 
Summary: A good suspension book.
Review: This intricate book is somewhat confusing with the characters, Will Parry and Lyra Silvertongue, hopping from one world to another, which is the main idea, but their adventures were mind boggling and exciting. The story started with 12 year old Will Parry who accidentally killed one of the men who broke in his house looking for something that had to do with Will's missing father. The other main character, Lyra Silvertongue, came from the world that is similar to Will's world (our world.) Lyra and Will first met in the world of Cittagaze, the city of magpies. When they met in Cittagaze they decided to be each other's worthy companion. Will had decided to search for his father and Lyra continued (from book one) to find some Dust or also known as Dark Matter. During Will's search he becomes the bearer of the Subtle Knife, which can cut into anything, and it can also cut into different worlds. Lyra also owns one of the two golden compasses or also known as an aletheiometer, which someone asks it any question and the person has to be trained to read it, like Lyra. With the aletheiometer Lyra helped Will on his dangerous journey. Meanwhile Lord Asriel, Lyra's father, had prepared a gigantic army that had many varieties of soldiers from different worlds and it was the biggest army yet. Obviously he had been planning for eons ago, before he was born. I enjoyed the book a lot because each chapter kept me suspended until the end. I'm sure this will be a good book for your summer reading.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent creativity
Review: This book continues the adventures of Lyra. she meets up with a young boy named Will who has just killed a man. the plot is beautifully intricate and (what i love about this book) it makes you go hmmmm. that is the sign of a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the First
Review: Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy really increases the reading pulse of kids and adults alike. After reading the first book in this series, "The Golden Compass", I looked forward to the second and was not disappointed."The Subtle Knife" continues the plot of "Compass" as Lyra Belacqua (now Lyra Silvertongue) continues her search for the nature of the spiritual particle known as Dust. After crossing over into the haunted world of Cittagazze, she encounters young Will Parry. Will is from our world and, after providing a respite for his ill mother, begins the search for his father, an explorer who disappeared in the arctic shortly after Will was born. Will accidentally trips into Cittagazze through a slice in the continuum. Once they stumble onto one another Lyra and Will's adventures really take off. Witches, soul-eating Specters, exploding dirigibles, shoot outs, break-ins at an English mansion, tortures, communications with spirits on an Oxford computer, even angels, percolate to the top in this adventure. Wow! We are reminded, however, that this is a little above "Harry Potter" as for the second time in two books one of the main characters close to Lyra dies. As a matter of fact, a number of folks die in this story. The much ballyhooed allusions to "Paradise Lost" abound. While no 12-year-old will necessarily be familiar with Michael and the fall of the angels, the subplot of Lyra's father, Lord Asriel, building a fortress to prepare to battle the "High Authority" for heaven will keep them glued to the pages. References to a "New Eve" and a "New fall" keep the Milton comparisons churning along for literay students more interested in scholarship than in entertainment. Asriel, for example, is a son of Manasseh, who was related to Joseph of Technicolor Dreamcoat fame. But who cares? Still, if you think Pullman is anti-Christian because he paints the church in Lyra's world as totalitarian and shows little clarity as to whether the "Authority" is good or not, or whether you think he is sexist because Lyra cooks for Will, please don't lose sight of the fact that this is still a children's book where, hopefully, children's heroes will prevail. As with all middle books of a trilogy, Pullman ends this one with a cliff hanger ending. He concludes the series with "The Amber Spyglass". I can hardly wait.
Rating:
Summary: Mind Boggling!
Review: THE SUBTLE KNIFE is the amazing sequel to THE GOLDEN COMPASS where Lyra, a girl from another world similar to Earth, finds herself walking into another world, Cittagazze. There she meets Will, an ordinary boy from the contemperary world (in other words the world we are from), while Lyra was from a world similar but a bit different. In Lyra's world they have daemons, which are creatures that can take form of any animal. They are natrually born with this. The People in this world are attached to the daemons in a way though. They can't be 5 or so feet away from them or both of them will suffer a lot of pain. Both of these kids stumble into this unusual world which is kind of like a city. There are not a lot of people there except for kids. These kids had their parents devoured by something that doesn't kill you but something worse. They find an old man with a knife of great power. He gave the knife to Will but to own the knife you must suffer a great burden, to have two fingers cut off by fate. It happens right when you get the knife, and Will accepts this as a horrible thing. To make things worse he doesn't find that out until he takes the knife. Will discovers that with the knife he can transfer from world to world through windows in the air by cutting them with it. In one of the worlds, Will finds someone special to him and discovers many secrets. So Will and Lyra become companions on a perlious journey where they suffer many dangers and fears (including the soul-eating specters) and discover there unusual fate. Phillip Pullman is an extraordinary author whose books draw you in and once you're in you can't let go. In THE SUBTLE KNIFE there is always excitement and it always keeps you hanging with suspense. For example, Lyra and Will can be in a tight spot, and just as the most horrible thing is going to happen, Pullman decides to end the chapter and start the next one describing what is happening elsewhere in the book at the same time. He would just leave you there shocked. Phillip Pullman wrote other great books with just as much imagination and suspense. For example: THE GOLDEN COMPASS, THE AMBER SPYGLASS, THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE, and many more.
Rating:
Summary: One of my FAVORITE books
Review: The Subtle Knife is one of my favorite books. Phillip Pullman has such a great imagination and he's very talented. Lyra and Will make such a great team and their adventures together are amazing. I read The Golden Compass and loved it so much that I had to read this one and I'm in the middle of The Amber Spyglass and I'm loving that one, too. I would definatley recommend this book because this and The Golden Compass are some of the best books I have ever read. They're great.
Rating:
Summary: Second Strike
Review: This book continues the marvellous achievement of the first, and even furthers it. This novel is probably even better than the first one. (And the Third is even better than this.) The initial characters are all back, and this time we are introduced to Will, who is an ideal companion for Lyra. Just as interesting (possibly moreso due to the fact that he has no daemon, which causes interesting discussion.) and equally well drawn. The writing is as cracking as it was in the first, and the setting is evoked really well, as is the terror felt by the people of Citagezze, and the loneliness of the place. Also, there is a wonderful juxtaposition of the evil of the spectres, and the jaded innocence of the children who are able to inhabit the world. Another wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: The Subtle Knife - an appealing book
Review: The Subtle Knife, being the second book in a widely known trilogy, is a compelling book. It is advisable to read The Golden Compass, its prelude, before you read this book. If you do not do so, concepts are much harder to understand. One of the negative things about the book is that it cannot stand on its own. Without reading the first book beforehand, you do not get a good idea of the ideas in this book.
In this book, the main characters are a girl named Lyra and a boy called Will. There are some frightening parts in their adventures, but this adds to the exciting plot of the story. I think that this book will satisfy a variety of readers. For example, it has aspects of fantasy, yet some of it is true science.
For me, it is an enticing book. The plot makes you want to read on. You can hardly pause at the end of a chapter - or, for that matter, anywhere else. The scale on which this book is set is larger than the one in The Golden Compass. However, I have the feeling that the last book's scale will be larger still. The third book is called The Amber Spyglass.
The theme of this book is that everyone has his or her own role to play in life. The characters all have different jobs to do. These jobs are different, but aim toward the same goal.
I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Subtle Knife
Review: In this exciting sequel to The Golden Compass, Lyra has found herself in a strange world were no one seems to live. Will is a boy living in Oxford, England. Two strange men are after Will because he possesses an item they want. While hiding near some Hawthorn trees, Will spots a portal, or a hole in the air, which is almost invisible from any angle except straight on. He passes through the hole and finds himself in a world different, yet strangely the same as his. It turns out, he is in the same world that Lyra found and the two of them are seemingly alone together.
Rating:
Summary: The Series is getting Better and Better
Review: If you liked the first book you will love the second book. The story starts out in our world with a troubled boy named Will. People are pestering his mother, she hides her mother at another house, but when the men break into their house, he murders one by accident. He flees, and accidentaly trips into another world, where he meets up with lyra. This world is a troubled world. Spectators stalk the lands feedinng on souls of people, much like the dementor's kiss in the Harry Potter series. Lyra learns that her task is to help Will find his destiny. Will comes into the possesion of the most powerful object in exsistence. It can cut any substance, including the boundry between worlds. he learns his destiny of taking part in a war fought against the creater himself, god.
Rating:
Summary: Awsome Story!
Review: Okay, to get things rolling let me just say that this is one of the best books ever. This is the second book in the "His Dark Matirials" seris. My favorite character is Will. He gets a mystirious knife (obvious huh) that can cut holes into other worlds. This book is about Will meeting Lyra (The Golden Compass) and going on adventures with her and the knife. The story is very well written and Phillip Pullman is still my favorite author. I recommend this book for 11 years and older. I even recommend that adults read this seris because I think it is even better than the Harry Potter seris. Younger kids wouldn't understand it though. Overall, This is one of the very best books I have read.
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