MLO Knitting

His Dark Materials takes a very dark turn in the second book by Phillip Pullman, His Dark Materials, Book II: The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials) – read by a Phillip Pullman and a full cast.

Introducing Will, the murderer, who will change Lyra’s life forever, the book chronicles the slow transition of Lyra from wild child to a growing awareness of her place in the world. She is not nearly as street smart as she thought she was, much to her chagrin, and both children’s trouble. Who is this strange and sullen young man that has tied his fate to Lyra’s? And why does Lyra receive instructions to help him on his quest rather than her own?

The book is not a happy one. There is death, destruction, cruelty of all sorts that make the earlier volume look quite happy-go-lucky in comparison. These children are on their own in a very hostile world. Their world includes a world ruled by parent-less children who have gone the way of The Lord of the Flies.

Dust is still a part of the story, and in this book, we discover what dust is – and why the Church fears it so. (It is still silly theology, but I digress.) Cittagazze is their refuge and their fear. In this place, no adult is safe from specters that destroy the very life force. The blame for these creatures seem to go to the very creators of the Subtle Knife which takes up the children’s quest.

There are no happy endings here, but it is the middle novel of a trilogy. Often, authors like to leave the reader frustrated by what is found in the second of three novels. The heroes and heroines suffering unbelievable and harsh loss only to be redeemed in the third novel.

I will give this a guarded recommendation. It is a dark novel, but no darker than many others I have read in the Young Adult / Children’s category.

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