Welcome to the Book Coze Corner! I hope this will be a recurring feature on this blog, where I come to chat about books I’ve recently read. The word coze is an obscure gem of the English language that means ‘an intimate chat,’ and I hope these posts will be just that!

Today I’m going to be talking about one of my summer reads: the second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Subtle Knife.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman: 8/10

I’ve tried to keep the following review as spoiler-free as I can since I know spoiling the plot isn’t much of an endorsement for a book, but sometimes things slip through the cracks and I’m sorry if I give too much away; this is my first time doing this.

I’d been sitting on this one for quite a while. The Subtle Knife is the second book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, widely (or at least where I’ve been looking) regarded as a modern classic, following Will and Lyra as they find themselves stranded in a strange and dangerous world, caught in a growing conflict of political and religious ideologies. I’d read Northern Lights/The Golden Compass (depending on where you live) last summer, and cracked the cover on The Subtle Knife not long after, but a series of other books competing for my attention pushed it back on my reading list until this summer.

As the rating would imply, I really enjoyed this one. It was sprawling, complex at times, and dove headfirst into its own multiverse—all part of its appeal. There’s a lot of good things to say about it, and for a book that is regularly touted as one for children it was surprisingly dark with curiously heavy subject matter.

 The overarching conflict has gotten quite elaborate since last time (especially for a ‘children’s book’), but there’s still the definite flavour of the dangers of letting a small group of people controlling the information of the many theme which remains distinct. When exploring the near-abandoned city of Cittàgazze and the world outside, the characters felt like they were in real and palpable danger. The lore of the titular weapon is well thought out and intriguing, even including an interesting drawback to its magnificent power. The Specters, the mysterious creatures only visible by adults populating the strange world, were also interesting and horrifying in equal measure, and the entirety of Cittàgazze (which apparently translates from Italian to ‘City of Magpies’) was a very lovely picture in my mind’s eye from the description. Overall I’d say the worldbuilding in this book, along with its predecessor, is well done: kept somewhat simple because that’s not the whole purpose of the story but given enough attention that it still feels crisp enough for what Pullman’s trying to accomplish. 

Lyra and Will make a great contrast to each other, with the former’s idealism and the latter’s pragmatism; Will’s backstory is very sad but well done.

Much of the book is decidedly well written, with some lovely similes and metaphors I can sink my weird nerdy teeth into.

However I do have a few nit-pick criticisms—there was happily nothing so glaringly annoying that it ruined my experience of the book, but I feel that I should still mention them here. The worst bit is what was either omniscient narration or an absurd amount of head-hopping that robbed me of a lot of deeper insights into Lyra and Will’s psyche which would have been fascinating and rewarding; what I got instead was a weird mix of each of their surface level thoughts, which robbed them of more depth and emotional impact they should have had. I feel as if this would have been an excellent opportunity to give extra depth to already intriguing characters and get me more attached. This is my biggest problem with the writing overall: we should have been more focused on one at a time with a deeper dive into their head instead, and while we do get that with some characters, some of the time Will and Lyra share the page we step back a bit. This seemed to be the case mostly later on in the book, as opposed to Will’s first impressions of Lyra in chapter one, which I did enjoy. Another hiccup is, while I still appreciate the overarching message of the dangers of allowing a small group to control the press and knowledge, and it leans very heavily into it, it also can get a bit complicated with its mythology in spots. However: I do think the confusing nature of dark matter is entirely intentional on Pullman’s part.

There are also some undeniably flat parts, most notably the snail’s pace of the second chapter (which was part of what led me to put it down for nine months before I picked it back up again…this is a true rarity for me, and I definitely overreacted, as it picks up significantly after this sticky chapter) as well as most other bits from the perspective of the same character, Serafina Pekkala; Lee Scoresby’s POV bits occasionally suffer the same fate. This is a common criticism I have for most books I read that deal with multiple perspectives, but I feel as if it would be wrong to not mention it here, especially as it led to me temporarily abandoning the book.

That aside, there are more exciting parts in this book than not. It opens with a bang, and ends with an even bigger bang with more smoke. I read the last chapter and a half in one sitting, eagerly awaiting the conclusion. The majority of this book has decidedly good pacing, and it only falls down in the few aforementioned places. 

One brief note before I wrap up: while this is often touted as a ‘children’s book,’ largely because the protagonists are twelve, there are some very high concept topics, not to mention a few rather ominous things mentioned within its pages that are quite intense for that age range. It can prove an enjoyable read well outside of that recommended age, which is likely part of why it’s gained its popularity.

Overall, the Subtle Knife is a very engaging read that sometimes requires a little extra brainpower to digest but manages to remain an overall enjoyable book throughout. It seems to have reached classic status in the fantasy world, and I can understand why. It was a great summer read. I would definitely recommend giving it a go!