The Subtle Knife

Name: The Subtle Knife
Author: Philip Pullman
ISBN: 8498722519

by Philip Pullman

As the boundaries between worlds begin to dissolve, Lyra and her daemon help Will Parry in his search for his father and for a powerful, magical knife. She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy? The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer. When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once. Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm. On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power.…

Recommended by

Sylvia Bishop

"Full disclosure – when I read this book as a teenager, I found it very stressful, and it was hard for me to enjoy it. Right in the opening, the main character believes they have killed someone. I was an angsty guilt-inclined child, and that was in my mind the absolute worst thing that could happen to anyone, to have become a killer; and it was much too real to me. Now, I would say it’s to the book’s credit that I believed in such a bold opening so absolutely. And re-reading it as an adult, I could relax enough to appreciate the tour de force that follows."

The Best Portal Fantasy Books · fivebooks.com