A review by brycestevenwilley
The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Religious bigotry, War, Torture, and Suicide