His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife (Book 2)

His Dark Materials, Book 2

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Philip Pullman, full cast

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Coming soon! A new HBO series, His Dark Materials, based on Pullman’s books.

The spellbinding sequel to The Golden Compass, the modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an "All-Time Greatest Novel" and Newsweek hailed as a "Top 100 Book of All Time", continues the epic adventure, catapulting listeners between worlds and toward a devastating discovery.

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.

A number one New York Times best seller.

Published in 40 countries.

“Just as quick-moving and unputdownable as The Golden Compass.... The mysteries deepen and the wonders grow even more extravagant.” (The Washington Post)

“Pullman’s imagination soars.... A literary rollercoaster ride you won’t want to miss.” (The Boston Globe)

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

Listen to the rest of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.

©1997 Philip Pullman

Critic reviews

"The superb production of this fascinating fantasy epic makes it a heart-thumping listening adventure." (AudioFile)

"More than fulfilling the promise of The Golden Compass, this second volume starts off at a heart-thumping pace and never slows down." (Publishers Weekly)

"A resoundingly successful sequel." (Booklist)

Gripping!

Loved it! Didn't go on long enough! Such a tense moment when Will was fighting for the knife! Narration was pretty good!

A great continuation to a wonderful series! :-)

What did you love best about The Subtle Knife?

Yet another book that I cannot point my finger at a sigle aspect I most enjoyed, loved the entire book. :-)

Who was your favorite character and why?

So hard to select just one, but a favorite would be Lee Scoresby, and Hester of course.

Have you listened to any of Philip Pullman and Full Cast ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Well the entire series is full cast audio, and they all seemed good to me, a little different, but not bad. Though if memory serves, Will's voice actor changes from book 2 to 3.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Don't. Make. Another. Film. They ruined the first, lets stop before it gets worse, ugh...

Any additional comments?

I can't say enough about how much I enjoy this series. If you liked the first book, this is more of the same, wonderful story-telling. Some new characters, and many returning favorites, should please all fans of the series. :-)

Perfect Second Entry

Everything about this audiobook was amazing! A perfect followup to The Golden Compass and I can't wait to start the next one. Every cast member was great with Will being a standout. The musical interludes in between chapters were a little off though.

Great story, creepy music

I love this story, it is a great listen.
If you, like me, are one of those people that is easily creeped out I would not recommend lustening to this book at night because the musical interludes are creepy, they do make the story have a more serious tone.

Not for children

This one not as good as the first but still great! Its always takes the middle book to pull things together for the ending. Still not a children's book, and yes, the author does have an agenda, about/against God, but that is okay, its his book and he can write what he wants. All said, its a book, read it, enjoy it for the story, which is simply wonderful. Parallel worlds! I hope! I will be looking for that little window.

not a children's book exactly

Overall pretty good book. But just because the main characters are kids, does not mean it's a children's book. If you are an athiest then this book would be right up your alley, but if you have a very strong belief system and are not open minded this is not the book for you. On the other hand
it listens perfectly. Next to the book The Help it is one of the best reads.

Twists and Turns!

This was such an excellent book! When I realized I had come to the last chapter I immediately bought the third book and downloaded it so I could start it right after finishing this one.

I do have one gripe. While the narration and cast was excellent, the "musical" interlude between chapters was a harsh and unwelcome interruption. I wish I could turn that off! The story itself though, and the way the story was presented, fantastic. I can't wait to finish the trilogy.

exciting followup

If you could sum up The Subtle Knife in three words, what would they be?

Thrilling, Explaining, Complex

What other book might you compare The Subtle Knife to and why?

Um maybe the Lion the Witch and the Wordrobe, but more exciting?

What does Philip Pullman and Full Cast bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Its cool to have different voices to recognize. But it made it hard to listen to the 3rd one because I was so use to certain voices, that when they were different in the last book I became a little confused at first.
It was a little corny though with all the dramatic music.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I gasped out loud at some deaths I was not expecting. Glad that I didn't have to wait to listen to the thrid

Any additional comments?

Wish I would have read it long ago, but glad I'm getting to it now

Jarring musical transitions EVERY chapter

Don’t get me wrong the performance is lovely and the story is moving... but the music is INCREDIBLY irritating. It plays between every chapter and is devastatingly jarring and always dashes any mood that the story has built into tiny pieces that forcibly remove you from the thrall of the story. None of the transitional music feels like it’s proper to the tone of whatever was just happening or what begins to happen in the next chapter and it plays loudly over whatever dialogue is happening or the announcement of the chapter titles so that you can’t even hear them it seriously bothered me enough to feel the need to write a review to warn anyone going in about it.

Thought provoking fast moving great characters

I enjoyed the fast moving and never predictable story. The characters had great chemistry. Will and Lyra were excellent protagonists.