With The Golden Compass Philip Pullman garnered every accolade under the sun. Critics lobbed around such superlatives as "elegant," "awe-inspiring," "grand," and "glittering," and used "magnificent" with gay abandon. Each reader had a favorite chapter--or, more likely, several--from the opening tour de force to Lyra's close call at Bolvangar to the great armored-bear battle. And Pullman was no less profligate when it came to intellectual firepower or singular characters. The dæmons alone grant him a place in world literature. Could the second installment of his trilogy keep up this pitch, or had his heroine and her too, too sullied parents consumed him? And what of the belief system that pervaded his alternate universe, not to mention the mystery of Dust? More revelations and an equal number of wonders and new players were definitely in order.

The Subtle Knife offers everything we could have wished for, and more. For a start, there's a young hero--from our world--who is a match for Lyra Silvertongue and whose destiny is every bit as shattering. Like Lyra, Will Parry has spent his childhood playing games. Unlike hers, though, his have been deadly serious. This 12-year-old long ago learned the art of invisibility: if he could erase himself, no one would discover his mother's increasing instability and separate them.

As the novel opens, Will's enemies will do anything for information about his missing father, a soldier and Arctic explorer who has been very much airbrushed from the official picture. Now Will must get his mother into safe seclusion and make his way toward Oxford, which may hold the key to John Parry's disappearance. But en route and on the lam from both the police and his family's tormentors, he comes upon a cat with more than a mouse on her mind: "She reached out a paw to pat something in the air in front of her, something quite invisible to Will." What seems to him a patch of everyday Oxford conceals far more: "The cat stepped forward and vanished." Will, too, scrambles through and into another oddly deserted landscape--one in which children rule and adults (and felines) are very much at risk. Here in this deathly silent city by the sea, he will soon have a dustup with a fierce, flinty little girl: "Her expression was a mixture of the very young--when she first tasted the cola--and a kind of deep, sad wariness." Soon Will and Lyra (and, of course, her dæmon, Pantalaimon) uneasily embark on a great adventure and head into greater tragedy.

As Pullman moves between his young warriors and the witch Serafina Pekkala, the magnetic, ever-manipulative Mrs. Coulter, and Lee Scoresby and his hare dæmon, Hester, there are clear signs of approaching war and earthly chaos. There are new faces as well. The author introduces Oxford dark-matter researcher Mary Malone; the Latvian witch queen Ruta Skadi, who "had trafficked with spirits, and it showed"; Stanislaus Grumman, a shaman in search of a weapon crucial to the cause of Lord Asriel, Lyra's father; and a serpentine old man whom Lyra and Pan can't quite place. Also on hand are the Specters, beings that make cliff-ghasts look like rank amateurs.

Throughout, Pullman is in absolute control of his several worlds, his plot and pace equal to his inspiration. Any number of astonishing scenes--small- and large-scale--will have readers on edge, and many are cause for tears. "You think things have to be possible," Will demands. "Things have to be true!" It is Philip Pullman's gift to turn what quotidian minds would term the impossible into a reality that is both heartbreaking and beautiful. --Kerry Fried

From Publishers Weekly
In a starred review, PW said, "More than fulfilling the promise of The Golden Compass, this second volume in the His Dark Materials trilogy starts off at a heart-thumping pace and never slows down." Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up. A direct continuation of the epic fantasy begun in The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1996). Will Parry must find his father, who disappeared while exploring the far North. Mysterious strangers are hounding his mother for information about him. After Will accidentally kills one of them, he runs away, right through a window into another world. There he meets Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon, Pantalaimon, as well as travelers from yet another world. Lyra and her truth-telling alethiometer are soon enlisted in Will's quest, even as Lyra continues to seek the true nature of the mysterious Dust that is causing upheavals in her world. A desperate battle with inhabitants of the intermediate world brings Will the subtle knife, a magical totem of his own, which will protect Will and Lyra while bringing them closer to the end of this part of their quest. The action takes place in Will's world (which is also our own), as well as on Lyra's and the intermediate world. As in the first book, the stakes are high and the action is rapid and occasionally violent. The philosophical nature of the quest becomes clearer as various characters explain the possible relationships among Dust, the bridges between worlds, angels, supreme beings, and cosmic forces. This may be treading on dangerous ground for traditional religious thinkers?the essential nature of the supreme being is not necessarily positive?but high-fantasy enthusiasts will find much to follow and reflect on here. The Subtle Knife ends with even more of a cliff-hanger than The Golden Compass, and fans will eagerly await book three for the final resolution.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The New York Times Book Review, Gregory Maguire
...nears magnificence in the loftiness of its moral design.... his work is devilishly inventive.... succeeds most resonantly in reminding us that some fights are good fights.

From AudioFile
Classic themes of good versus evil, innocence versus experience intertwine with those of intrigue and deception, compassion and loyalty in this second volume of the fantasy trilogy HIS DARK MATERIALS. The audio production is equally well crafted. The clear, crisp tones of author/narrator Philip Pullman blend seamlessly with the multi-voiced cast of characters. From first to last, the actors bring the vivid landscape of personalities to life, while the phrases of music by composer Peter Pontzen, which introduce each chapter, add color and texture to the story's predominantly dark mood. The superb production of this fascinating fantasy epic makes it a heart-thumping listening adventure. J.J.F. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. The epic adventure continues as the plot thickens in the second riveting book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, which began with the much heralded The Golden Compass, Booklist's Top of the List in youth fiction for 1996. This time, the story begins in our world with Will, a boy who escapes his pursuers by going through a window into another world, a world plagued by soul-sucking specters, where he encounters Lyra and her demon, Pantalaimon. The two youngsters join forces, moving between worlds searching for the mysterious phenomenon called Dust and for Will's long-lost father. By losing two fingers in a battle with a madman, Will becomes a warrior and the bearer of the subtle knife, a weapon that, like Lyra's truth-telling alethiometer, is a talisman as well, and, like Lyra, Will proves to be a pivotal figure in the looming battle for the universe. Often the middle book in a trilogy is the weakest; such is not the case here despite some incidences of awkward explanations inserted as asides or as part of the narrative. It's the character development as well as the relentless pace on several fronts--that of Will, Lyra, the witches, Will's father, and others--and a couple of gruesome incidents that make this a resoundingly successful sequel. The cliff-hanger of an ending will leave readers desperate for the next installment. Sally Estes

From Kirkus Reviews
The powerful second installment in the His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy, which began with The Golden Compass (1996), continues the chronicling of Lyra Silvertongue's quest to find the origins of Dust--the very stuff of the universe. The first chapter is vintage Pullman: gorgeous imagery, pulse-pounding action, the baiting of readers' affections as they meet Will, 12, who is trying to protect his emotionally fragile mother and to locate his lost father, an explorer who vanished years before. Instead, Will finds a window into another world, where Lyra and her daemon have also tumbled. That world holds the talisman of the subtle knife, which can cut through anything, even the space between worlds. It wounds Will, but he is bound to it by a destiny neither he nor Lyra (nor readers) yet understand. The witches of Lyra's world, the scientists of Will's, the passionately evil Mrs. Coulter (Lyra's mother), and Lyra's champion Lee Scoresby seek the source of the disorder in the worlds and shimmering spaces that connect them. Angels that bless and Specters that eat the wills of adults appear; tantalizing glimpses of the past and future abound; the whole is presented in a rush of sensuous detail that moves and entrances. Pullman has so intricately woven the textures of the two books that the outlines of the first are clearly recapitulated in the second, making it possible to read this one alone. But as it, too, ends in a tremendous cliffhanger, most readers will seek out the first volume while they eagerly await the third. (First printing of 75,000; author tour) (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"More than fulfilling the promise of The Golden Compass, this second volume starts off at a heart-thumping pace and never slows down....The grandly exuberant storytelling is sure to enthrall." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Review
"More than fulfilling the promise of The Golden Compass, this second volume starts off at a heart-thumping pace and never slows down....The grandly exuberant storytelling is sure to enthrall." ?Publishers Weekly, starred review

ANNOTATION

As the boundaries between worlds begin to dissolve, Lyra and her daemon help Will Parry in his search for his father and for a powerful, magical knife.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The universe has broken wide, and Lyra's friend lies dead. Desperate for answers and set on revenge, Lyra bursts into a new world in pursuit of his killer. Instead, she finds Will, just twelve years old and already a murderer himself. He's on a quest as fierce as Lyra's, and together they strike out into this sunlit otherworld.

On this journey marked by danger, Will and Lyra forge ahead. But with every step and each new horror, they move closer to the greatest threat of all—and the shattering truth of their own destiny.

In this stunning sequel to The Golden Compas, Philip Pullman continues His Dark Materials trilogy and confirms it as an undoubted and enduring classic.

AWARDS AND HONORS
ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
Horn Book Fanfare Honor Book
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Blue Ribbon Book
Book Links Best Book of the Year
Parents' Choice Gold Book Award
American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists"

SYNOPSIS

Part two of His Dark Materials takes up where The Golden Compass left off, offering up fascinating cross-world quests and some creative ideas and plot elements that do much to make up for the rather basic characterization of all but the two main protagonists. The only real frustration is that the cliffhanger ending is even less satisfying than the conclusion of the first book.
—Charles de Lint

FROM THE CRITICS

Sally Visick - Times Literary Supplement

The Subtle Knifeis a fantasy adventure on the grand scale.

Rachel Pastan

In 1995, Philip Pullman published The Golden Compass, the first volume of a trilogy of fantasy novels called His Dark Materials, ostensibly written for young adults. I had never heard of Pullman until this summer when a children's bookseller told me he was the best fantasy writer since Tolkien. The book drew me in so immediately and deeply that I actually looked forward to getting up at 3 a.m. to nurse the baby so I could read a few more chapters. When I finished the novel, my only consolation was the discovery that the second volume, The Subtle Knife, was about to come out.

Nearly as good as its predecessor, The Subtle Knife chronicles a determined, unhappy boy named Will, son of a long-vanished arctic explorer, who finds a window from Oxford, England, into another world. There he meets a girl named Lyra and her d￯﾿ﾽmon -- a kind of animal manifestation of her inner self. Lyra, the feisty, mischievous protagonist of The Golden Compass, has come to the city in search of a mysterious substance called Dust, but she abandons her own mission to help Will find his father.

One reason fantasy books can be so captivating is that everything in them is new, a mystery to be explored: Why is this new world inhabited only by children? What are the Specters and why are they invisible? What exactly is a dæmon, and what happens if you don't have one? On the other hand, the invented world must maintain some of the essential qualities of our own -- it must be internally consistent, for example, and human nature must remain more or less as we know it. Many fantasy writers fail to appeal to a more general audience because they get so caught up in invention that they neglect to create compelling and complicated characters. Pullman strikes an excellent balance between imagination and verisimilitude, and his major characters are as interesting and human as anyone we would meet in a decent realistic novel.

Like many fantasy books, The Subtle Knife is about a cosmic battle between good and evil and the search for an object of power. The Golden Compass has a more original structure than this book does, but Pullman is a skillful writer who doesn't rely on stock elements to do his work for him, using them instead in creative and unexpected ways. Indeed the overarching moral and religious pattern, once revealed, is so shockingly subversive that I was amazed -- and intrigued -- to find it in a mainstream novel for children.

And now that I know what the trilogy is "about," I'm more anxious than ever for Pullman to publish the final installment. How can I wait two years to learn whether the rebel angels will triumph over the Authority, and at what price? -- Salon

Publishers Weekly

More than fulfilling the promise of The Golden Compass, this second volume in the His Dark Materials trilogy starts off at a heart-thumping pace and never slows down. On the run after inadvertently killing one of the sinister men who have been stalking his emotionally disturbed mother, Will, 12, hitchhikes to Oxford to seek information about his father, an explorer who vanished in the Arctic over a decade ago. As Will searches for a place to sleep, he stumbles upon Cittgazzea deserted city in another worldaccessible via a sort of magic gateway located (in one of the story's many witty mixes of the banal and the unearthly) near an ordinary traffic circle. Crossing into this peculiar place, Will encounters Lyra (heroine of the previous book), who has left her own world to find out what she can about the mysterious substance called Dust. Will and Lyra (and Lyra's daemon) join forces and travel between worlds, performing a mind-boggling multidimensional burglary, uncovering the ugly secrets of Cittgazze and gaining hold of an ancient and powerful weapon (the "subtle knife" of the title). Adding to the suspense are subplots involving Lyra's former companion, the Texan balloonist Lee Scoresby; the evil but beautiful Mrs. Coulter; the fierce Northern witch clans; and the mysterious Dr. Stanislaus Grumman. As in Golden Compass, the Arctic settings prove a strikingly original fantasy terrain. And where the first book hinted at a defective cosmology, this work develops that theme in terms of Judeo-Christian theology. Squeamish readers should beware: the narrative touches on such grisly topics as trepanning and genital mutilation. Nevertheless, the grandly exuberant storytelling is sure to enthrall. Ages 10-up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy now appears in sophisticated trade paperback editions, each title embossed within a runic emblem of antiqued gold. The backdrop of The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials, Book I sports a midnight blue map of the cosmos with the zodiacal ram at its center. The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass carry similarly intriguing cover art, and all three titles offer details not seen in the originals: in Compass and Knife, for example, Pullman's stamp-size b&w art introduces each chapter; Spyglass chapters open with literary quotes from Blake, the Bible, Dickinson and more. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly