The Subtle Knife

By Philip Pullman
Read: August 2008
Rating: Disappointing

Gentle readers, it is a sad day for my bookshelf. I am usually very good about finishing the books I pick up, I hate stopping partway, unless they’re really trash. Even when something becomes mediocre, I see it through, if only to see how bad it gets. I got 2/3 through His Dark Materials and I just can’t motivate myself to go on.

The first chapter was great. High tension, mystery, violence. I thought I would like Will, the boy who is the central figure. He and Lara sort of wobble around on the axis of protagonist, so it’s hard to know who you’re supposed to be rooting for.

The pace is not fast enough. The characters are spread too far apart, and I just don’t care about them. Even the great search for Dr. Grummand had no thrill. It was BORING. I knew we had a serious problem here when the last 50 pages sat untouched on my bedside table for days on end.

No hook, not reason to care, no emotional ties.

Sure, this one was more intellectually stimulating, talking about the church and the nature of Dust. But those bits were brief, and by the end it was just so much gobbledegook.

Be glad I finished this installment at all.

And be glad I didn’t throw the book at the wall in honor of Lee and Hester. They were some of the only characters who deserved that kind of reaction. But I saw it coming, it was needless, and I was just disgusted.