Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife

Advantages: Continues the amazing story of Northern Lights. Un-put-downable!
Disadvantages: Hard to read as a book on its own Needs to be read after Northern Lights

...The second in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy takes a giant step into cross-world politics, while keeping the story easy enough for kids to follow. The lead character, Lyra Belacqua, is joined in her quest by Will Parry, a boy who, it seems, also has a destiny to fulfill. Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes from the first book split off on other quests, all of which will eventually lead to the same end point. Every now and then, you read a book which gives you a feeling of being involved, that something new and exciting is just around the corner. The Subtle Knife does just this. Some unanswered questions from the first book, Northern Lights, are answered. Yet it also poses new ones, providing new characters and beliefs which once again seem to question anything and everything. It is important to have read Northern...

pmcds 09.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials) - Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman's Northern Lights

Advantages: Exciting story, told by an obviously imaginative author
Disadvantages: Kids book, so maybe a little restrictive on content in places

...Much has been made of Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. In 2005 it was voted the Cilip Awards best ever book(s). It is a critically acclaimed series, and the focus has come to the fore again with the emergence of 'The Golden Compass', the film adaption of 'Northern Lights', the first in the trilogy. Upon starting the book, I was aware of the criticism of anti-religion Pullman has received for the trilogy. Howev er, this is a work of fiction, and this must not be read into too much. I found that, with letting go and just trusting the author, I found it an extremely good book. The theories are incredibly imaginative, as are the characters and the plot. The book starts with the main character, a 12 year old girl named Lyra Belacqua, hiding in a room forbidden to her. What she overhears and sees then shapes the course of the book, as...

pmcds 09.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) - Philip Pullman

Pullman's Compromise

Advantages: Beautifully presented little snippet of the future, post-His Dark Materials
Disadvantages: Undeniable aftertaste of pointlessness

...Anyone who has read any of my previous ops about books, audio books or children?s books, will have come across copious references to Philip Pullman, and my love of the beautifully crafted His Dark Materials. It is an extraordinary book, published as a trio of intelligent, pacy, fantastical novels: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. If this epic collection has a fault it is, as jillmurphy once suggested to me, that it verges on a polemic against organised religion that involves some gentle brainwashing of its own. I think this is true. But I also think that it is a stunningly written and fascinating exploration of those themes from the point of view of a child pitched on the verge of adulthood. His Dark Materials ended oddly for me. Although it had been a long haul through The Amber Spyglass, and although...

ruth_cole 07.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman

Pullman reveals the trump card!!!

Advantages: Brilliant end to a brilliant trilogy. Short chapters: ideal stopping places
Disadvantages: Much longer than the others. Very descriptive in the middle.

...A little short of amonth ago, I woke up on Christmas morning and opened my presents. One of these was Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. I had eagerly awaited these (guessing I would get them for Christmas) and tucked into them immediately. The first two in the trilogy, namely 'Northern Lights' and 'The Subtle Knife', leave you thristy for more. Pullman creates a fantastic tale over the course of the trilogy, leaving the reader needing closure. 'The Amber Spyglass' is significantly longer than the first two books, over 500 pages long, and at points in the middle, it seems to drag slightly.I found myself pushing through long descriptive paragraphs without incidences of conversation to break up the monotony. These descriptions were integral to the plot, as is everything, but I felt Pullman was close to going off...

pmcds 21.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of His Dark Materials III: The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

Pullman pulls it off!

Advantages: Fantastically Gripping
Disadvantages: Too gripping to put down

...Whilst talking to a friend about the types of books we liked, I happened to mention that I had read all the Harry Potter books. ?In that case,? she said, ?You?d love Philip Pullman.? ?I?ve never heard of him.? I said. So she offered me his Dark Materials Trilogy. The first in the series of 3 books is The Northern Lights. (Also known as The Golden Compass in the USA) Who is the book directed at? ----------------------------------- Well, the book is mainly aimed at teenagers, as are the majority of Philip Pullman?s books, but having had this book recommended, I read it and loved it. If you are the sort of person to read Harry Potter, I believe this book will impress you. What is the story line? --------------------------- The scene is set in Oxford. A little girl called Lyra Belacqua has been brought up in Jordan College...

Testarossa 04.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of His Dark Material I: Northern Lights - Philip Pullman

Pullman's Epic Reaches Endgame

Advantages: Concludes the stunning story, incredibly powerful & moving; a truly great story
Disadvantages: Takes a while to get where it's going

...The Amber Spyglass concludes the His Dark Materials trilogy, which began with Northern Lights and continued with The Subtle Knife. The size of the task Pullman has set himself in concluding the vast, expansive work he has set up thusfar is reflected in this 550-page behemoth of a volume, with 38 chapters, compared to the 23 and 15 of the previous books respectively. In summarising and assessing the qualities of the third and final book of the series, I will inevitably have to make some reference to events which have gone before - which, for people who haven't read the preceding books, will probably be minor spoilers. I'll try to keep these to a minimum, only reflecting on the earlier events when strictly necessary, but you have been warned ... ~ A Recap ~ In Northern Lights, our protagonist Lyra, a young girl, and her dæmon (a...

Puggers 07.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of His Dark Materials III: The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

Why bears are superior to witches

Advantages: mostly convincing characters and interaction; engaging storyline
Disadvantages: It's still a fantasy novel so may not appeal to all readers

...The second book in the famous ?His Dark Materials? trilogy is certainly darker than the preceding novel. In ?Northern Lights? wild-child and apparent orphan Lyra Belacqua had to struggle against the adults she knew to try to save children who were going missing, and explore the mystery of dust. Now, in ?The Subtle Knife?, Lyra moves between three worlds, each of which contains dangerous enemies who view her life ? and death? ? as crucial in fulfilling an old prophecy. As her pursuers close in, can Lyra discover the truth about dust ? and her destiny? Pullman?s series has been compared favourably to J. K. Rowling?s Harry Potter and J. R. R. Tolkien?s Lord of the Rings. Having read neither of these, I cannot comment on the validity of these comparisons. However, I think it is sufficiently revealing though that while I won?t read Rowling...

brokenangelkisses 31.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman

The Butterfly Tattoo

Advantages: Plot is quite goof, well written
Disadvantages: Ending is a bit disappoining

...Philip Pullman is best known as the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. In 2002 The Amber Spyglass (the final book in His Dark Materials) was the first ever children's books to win the Whitbread Book of the Year. The Butterfly Tattoo was originally published in 1992 by Macmillan Children's books under the name of The White Mercedes. When I first read this in the cover (I was about half way through the book) I couldn't think why it would have been called that but this became clear towards the end. I think the current title is just as good, if not better because this becomes clear earlier on in the book. "Chris Marshall met the girl he was going to kill on a warm Oxford night in early June?" After reading this sentence on the back of the book I was very interested in finding out why he killed her. Jenny and Chris are teenagers who...

bluejules 08.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Butterfly Tattoo - Philip Pullman

Pullman did it for the money

Advantages: feeds the lyra/hdn addiction
Disadvantages: pure stocking filler

...on her life and shows us that she still runs into trouble on a regular basis. As well as the story, this little book also includes a large fold-out map of the Oxford where Lyra lives and some other artefacts - "photocopies" from academic texts and the like. Remember that Lyra does not live in our world, and so everything is a little bit different. If you haven't read/didn't enjoy the His Dark Materials trilogy (or at least some of it) you won't like this book. You probably won't understand much of it. The characters occupy different worlds and different rules apply. These are beautifully explained in the full length novels, but here Pullman expects us to know the score. This is definitely a book for fans. Good bits: It is good to see Lyra again, afterwards. The detail is lovely, the "artefacts" included in the book have been...

emmalily 15.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman

Northern Lights AKA the Golden Compass Book - His Dark Materials

Advantages: A great way to escape from reality !
Disadvantages: None for me

...NORTHERN LIGHTS FILMED AS THE GOLDEN COMPASS After some heavy hinting a couple of christmas' ago and with a bit of help from my sister, My son bought me the first book in Philip Pullmans 'His Dark Materials' Trilogy. Book one in this trilogy was first published by scholastic in 1995 and went on to become an international best seller and whilst I myself had heard of this trilogy some years before receiving it as an xmas gift in 2007 -I had near forgotten all about its existence just previous to that point. It wasn't until all the hype had started surrounding Northern Lights being made into a movie. It was only then on hearing that Northern Lights was being released as Movie The Golden Compass that I was reminded just how much I liked the sound of these books the first time around that i'd heard about them. Luckily...

bobbetta 29.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Northern Lights Filmed as The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman