The Subtle Knife
Philip Pullman, 1997
★ 4.15 from 469.8k ratings on Goodreads
Fantasy Young adultScience fictionHorror
A boy inherits a knife that cuts doorways between worlds, a girl can read the truth, and a war is gathering over both. Read for the pace and the doubt. The story moves quickly through strange worlds, with a curious, adventurous voice and a steady undercurrent of dread.
Feels like wonder, curiosity and dread. About adventure, freedom and identity.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy expanding worlds, new character pairings, and ideas that complicate the first book. Be aware that this middle volume can feel slow in stretches and that its religious themes are heavy for some readers.
Why read it
It widens the story's scope and asks what you do when certainty is scarce, while keeping the adventure tense and strange.
A page from the book
What a lifetime of looking for wisdom actually returns.
“You have a strange way about you, Dr. Grumman. You ever spend any time among the witches?”“Yes,” said Grumman. “And among academicians, and among spirits. I found folly everywhere, but there were grains of wisdom in every stream of it. No doubt there was much more wisdom that I failed to recognize. Life is hard, Mr. Scoresby, but we cling to it all the same.”“And this journey we’re on? Is that folly or wisdom?”“The greatest wisdom I know.”“Tell me again what your purpose is. You’re going to find the bearer of this subtle knife, and what then?”“Tell him what his task is.”“And that’s a task that includes protecting Lyra,” the aeronaut reminded him.“It will protect all of us.” What readers say
Readers are divided: many enjoy the expanded worlds, ideas, and new character dynamics, while others find the middle-book pacing slow, the focus shift disappointing, and the religious messaging heavy-handed.
Philip Pullman.Pullman taught middle-school children in Oxford for over a decade, staging plays with them, and wrote much of His Dark Materials in a shed at the bottom of his garden.
Books that feel like this
More by Philip Pullman
Northern Lights
Philip Pullman, 1995
A girl in an Oxford of daemons and airships overhears a word—Dust—and follows it north into a mystery about consciousness, authority and other worlds.
The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman, 2000
In a cosmos where every soul has an animal shape, two children carry a knife between worlds while heaven and rebellion collide.
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman, 1995
A girl and her shape-shifting daemon leave Oxford for a frozen north of armoured bears, stolen children and a compass that tells the truth.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Subtle Knife for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy expanding worlds, new character pairings, and ideas that complicate the first book. Be aware that this middle volume can feel slow in stretches and that its religious themes are heavy for some readers.
- What is The Subtle Knife like?
- The story moves quickly through strange worlds, with a curious, adventurous voice and a steady undercurrent of dread. Feels like wonder, curiosity and dread. About adventure, freedom and identity.
- What should I read after The Subtle Knife?
- If you liked The Subtle Knife, try Eragon (Christopher Paolini), A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin) and Hyperion (Dan Simmons).
A taste of the feed
Advice that sounds like freedom and costs almost everything to keep.
Let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered, one may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don’t follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen. Of the affairs of love, my only advice is to be honest. That’s your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness.
Eragon · Christopher Paolini
The oldest rule of magic is a warning about unintended consequences.
You must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard’s power of Changing and Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power. It is most perilous. It must follow knowledge, and serve need. To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
A Wizard of Earthsea · Ursula K. Le Guin
The best years are the ones nobody thought to photograph.
Sarai had treasured every stage of Rachel’s childhood, enjoying the day-to-day normalcy of things; a normalcy which she quietly accepted as the best of life. She had always felt that the essence of human experience lay not primarily in the peak experiences, the wedding days and triumphs which stood out in the memory like dates circled in red on old calendars, but, rather, in the unself-conscious flow of little things - the weekend afternoon with each member of the family engaged in his or her own pursuit, their crossings and connections casual, dialogues imminently forgettable, but the sum of such hours creating a synergy which was important and eternal.
Hyperion · Dan Simmons
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