Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

20 reviews

cecilielaugesen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was really great!
While all the information was incorporated beautifully into the story, it still felt a little more like an information dump than the first one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Torture

Minor: Abandonment

ladythana's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Gun violence and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent

thehobbitbarbie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Mental illness, War, Bullying, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Classism, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Death, Sexual content, and Violence

deliriah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Torture, Suicide, Death of parent, and Mental illness

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide, Torture, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: War

gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I love this series. Will is a fantastic addition to the cast of characters and the universe is greatly expanded upon throughout the book. I'm very excited to read the third instalment in the trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Mental illness

asmallgremlin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Subtle Knife - the one I normally forget - is actually pretty damn good! The plots are more varied than Northern Lights and they are quite well balanced throughout - I felt the plot development of Lee trying to find Grumman was the quickest plot but this was still balanced and the witches plot was interesting as well. Lyra and Will’s plot of exploring Citagazze and learning about each other and the reader’s world was well written and interesting - and generally I really enjoyed this book’s plots! 

lee’s death is heartbreaking and John Parry’s betrayal is not very out of character

 

Loved nearly all the characters save for Lord Boreal - he was a bit weird. Lovely to see Mrs Coulter again - she’s such a fascinating woman and so evil! I love Mary Malone and I have always loved Serafina, and Lyra remains my favourite character. I thought her development from a streetsmart stubborn girl to a girl in an alien world was interesting - since our world and Citagazze are so different to hers. Will was characterised very well - he is smart and rational and a protector - and I enjoyed his developing friendship with Lyra.

The commentary on religion was less heavy handed than I had anticipated - this book is more about innocence and consciousness than religion I would argue. I look forward to the next book.

when they kill god because of COURSE they do

Would give this 5 stares (unexpectedly) and would recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, and Violence

fjerda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Pullman has crafted an intricate world so beautiful and sinister that I adored the read. Although perhaps not a strong as the first book in terms of plot, the descriptive language is effortlessly and incomparably luscious.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Torture, War, Animal cruelty, Child death, Blood, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

📱
This was an enjoyable good. This book was a little darker. I felt this book was like less focused on character and plot development. There was more worldbuilding. I had difficulty falling the plot lines and characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Body horror

Minor: Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Death of parent, Death, Religious bigotry, Violence, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Kidnapping, Bullying, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief