His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife (Book 2)

His Dark Materials, Book 2

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Philip Pullman, Full Cast

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “UNPUTDOWNABLE.”—The Washington Post • An Entertainment Weekly All-Time Greatest Novel • A Newsweek Top 100 Book of All Time • The Inspiration for the HBO Original Series His Dark Materials

DON’T MISS THE EPIC FINALE TO LYRA’S STORY: THE ROSE FIELD, AVAILABLE NOW!

The spellbinding sequel to the modern fantasy classic The Golden Compass.

“The story gallops with ferocious momentum . . . Devilishly inventive.”—The New York Times Book Review

Lost in a new world, Lyra finds Will—a boy on the run, a murderer—a worthy and welcome ally. For this is a world where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and witches share the skies with troops of angels.

Each is searching—Lyra for the meaning of Dark Matter, Will for his missing father—but what they find instead is a deadly secret, a knife of untold power. And neither Lyra nor Will suspects how tightly their lives, their loves, their destinies are bound together . . . until they are split apart.

Look for the modern fantasy classics of HIS DARK MATERIALS:
The Golden Compass • The Subtle Knife • The Amber Spyglass

And Lyra’s adventures continue in THE BOOK OF DUST:
La Belle Sauvage • The Secret Commonwealth • The Rose Field©1997 Philip Pullman; (P)Random House, Inc., Listening Library, A Division Of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“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

“The intricacy of the plot is staggering. . . .There is no doubt that the work is stunningly ambitious, original, and fascinating.”—The Horn Book Magazine, Starred

“The character development as well as the relentless pace . . . make this a resoundingly successful sequel . . . it will leave readers desperate for the next installment.”—Booklist, Starred

“A literary rollercoaster ride you won’t want to miss.”—The Boston Globe

an earful

The second part of the trilogy is wonderfully compelling. The musical interludes between chapters are terrible -- ear piercing interrruptions to an otherwise great dramatization.

A solid reading of a fine story

Overall this is both an enjoyable adventure and a very well done audiobook.

Production:

Philip Pullman does a fantastic job as the narrator, and with a few minor exceptions the rest of cast of thousands does a first rate job too.

On the other hand this audiobook is overproduced as if they are trying to compete with television (Pullman reads the narration, a huge cast of BBC folks reads all the dialog, and overbearing musical segues punctuate the beginning and end of as each chapter).

While it's good to see that American audiobooks aren't the only ones to suffer from being overproduced, someone needs to give these audiobook folks the message that there's no need to try to produce these things as if they were cheesy television shows.

Plot:

I'm a little disappointed that Pullman twists theistic themes and elements ("authority," angels, Hades, Adam and Eve, original sin) around a central plot that castigates "the church" as all evil, stifling, and oppressive.

Couldn't pull it out of my ear

I adored this second book. It introduced a new character which added more flavor and dimensions to the already inviting plot. It made me want more. The similarities to Bible stories was a little nervy and might be disturbing for younger readers,in my opinion. Still, an excellent and involving story that appealed to this adult reader tremendously. I reccomend that parents read it first if concerned about Biblical aspects.

beautiful story with universal themes of today

Lovely book with many things that are enduring throughout human history and should be examined in today's context with the rise of the church and conservative powers in our society.

very interesting sequel.

looking forward to the next book. interesting characters. perfect mix of joy and sadness with mystery mixed in