Reviews tagging 'War'

The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman

11 reviews

brycestevenwilley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Not a bad book, but the writing is a little more clumsy than the first book, which kept it's air of mystery. This one revealed a lot, but less with a flurish, and more like a curtain being pulled back and kinda falling down halfway though.

Spoiler

Trying to tie Dust to dark matter I guess makes sense, but it's first talked about so weirdly

.  There's a lot that's clearly just setup for the next book, and a lot of world building, not bad world building, but that is most of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Religious bigotry, War, Torture, and Suicide

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A fascinating sequel to an excellent beginning. This time, we get perspectives beyond Lyra's with more frequency, and I rather like being able to read the story from all sides. We end on a very compelling cliffhanger, ready to start the next book. My only complaint is that in this second part of the trilogy, Lyra loses a good bit of her charm and free will. It's a bit annoying to see Lyra immediately fall into an almost subservient role the second a male character comes into play. Where is that independence and determination that so greatly defined her in the first book?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Grief, Blood, Child death, Injury/injury detail, War, Animal death, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Medical content, Ableism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Torture, Classism, Abandonment, Dementia, and Death of parent

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Injury/injury detail, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, War, Child death, Animal death, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Bullying, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

llewellareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Animal death, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: War, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Kidnapping, and Bullying

querent's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Violence

Minor: War

teri_b's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Reading/Listening to The Subtle Knife for the second time made me love this book even more.

It holds so much depth and raises so many question.

It is truly one of the books I feel everybody should read at some point in their lives.

Loved the rendition of the author as narrator and a full cast for the various voices. Very well done and an absolute joy to listen.

I got my copy from the local library, and am ever so thankful for them for having such wonderful books available.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Mental illness, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent

beca_reads's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I ended up not finishing this book, it goes on for way to long and I found it oddly confusing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and War

littlemissmuffet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Medical content, Murder, and Torture

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Murder, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Stalking, and Suicide

Moderate: Gaslighting, Violence, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Bullying

Minor: War and Cursing

Saneism

cana_merula's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The second book in this series takes the story to higher stakes. I love how the universe got expanded through the connection of the different worlds. The different plots were all interesting, even though some were more slow paced. The last two chapter broke my heart and this was the first in some time that I cried because of a book. I think that shows the writing skills of Philip Pullman and I knew this would be quite dark for a children's book, but I still wished for a more hopefull ending. But definitifly worth the read and I'm excited for the last one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Death

Minor: War