Words From Me:(Spoiler)
I can't wait to open the 3rd book. There were a lot of sad things happening in this book. Yes... more death. But then again, the agitation and hatred for the circumstances in the character's life was eventually shrugged off as i continued reading on.. There is a new character involved. A 12 years old Kid named Will. I like this new character since he came from "OUR WORLD" as Pullman has described it in his book. It was so fun seeing Lyra (in my imagination that is) be scared of cars and trucks, Tartars (I presume are the Africans), the idea that she hates being ordered around by Will. But since she doesn't know THIS world, she would have to do as Will told her. So two kids finding their way into worst conditions.. but meaning to survive and do their tasks.
As usual, Pullman's books are full of twist and turns that its hard to tell what exactly is going to happen next. Death here is not as much explained as it will be in the third book. (Yes... i have started reading the 3rd book much to my excitement) Death is like an inevitable way that just happens. But then again, this is the 2nd book i am talking about. It explains so much that its really hard to say its all FICTION a Fantasy. If it was real... then there goes all the elementary particles they call dust.
Summary click herefor the link.
The Subtle Knife initially follows the story of Will Parry, a twelve-year-old boy on the run from unknown men looking for letters from his long lost explorer father that had been sent to his now ailing mother. He leaves his mother with a friend and recovers the letters, killing one of his pursuers in the process, and while fleeing he accidentally stumbles across a window to another world.
He finds himself in Cittàgazze, an otherworldly city whose denizens have discovered a clean path between worlds but their reckless use of the the portals (or windows) has released soul-eating Spectres that can only see and harm adults, thus rendering the world incapable of transit by post-adolescents. Here Will Parry stumbles into Lyra who travelled there by passing through the hole Lord Asriel creates in the Northern Lights at the end of the previous book.
The pair team up, travelling back and forth between the two worlds as Lyra tries to uncover more about the nature of Dust and Will unravels the mystery of what happened to his father, who it turns out was also looking for a gateway between worlds. Lyra meets a physicist by the name of Dr. Malone who has discovered Dust and a way to see it from your consciousness. Lyra quickly explains who she is to Dr. Malone because the alethiometer told her to and Dr. Malone is just simply staggered and slightly skeptical about her. All doubts go out the window though once Lyra shows her that she can manipulate Dust. Lyra shows her that she can speak to it in the language of symbols on the compass and tells her to find a way to convert what the Dust is saying into words. Dr. Malone pleads with her to stay but Lyra has to leave to get back to Will. Also the way Lyra has the alethiometer stolen by a man from her world named Sir Charles, and is sent on a quest to steal a weapon called the Subtle Knife from Cittàgazze if she wants it back.
Lyra and Will go to the tower of Angels to find the Subtle Knife. They find it and Will fights to take the Subtle Knife from a young man who is unable to unlock its power but uses it to hold the Spectres at bay. Will becomes the new knife bearer and finds that one edge of the knife is capable of creating portals between worlds and the other edge easily cuts through any form of matter. The man in the tower tells him that the specters come from a different world and were let in by carelessness use of the Subtle Knife. The man teaches Will how to use it to cut windows into different worlds and also shows him how to close the windows with his hands. In the fight to take the knife Will lost some of his fingers in a wound that refuses to heal and his actions cause the specters to eat the soul of the young man who held the knife. Lyra and Will use the Subtle Knife to steal back the alethiometer by opening portals into our world till they got close enough, however once they got into Sir Charles' house they find that Mrs. Coulter is there. They nearly were captured but managed to escape with the alethiometer and just barely with Lyra as well. Upon returning to Cittàgazze they find the local children are out to kill them for taking the knife. The witches from Lyra’s world eventually rescue them and they journey on together. The witches try to heal Will's wounded fingers with a powerful spell, but ultimately fail and he continues to weaken due to blood loss.
Back in our world Dr. Malone was having a terrible time trying to explain what had happened earlier with Lyra. Her co-workers were pretty skeptical about the story she told and were starting to think that she was crazy. In the middle of this debate Sir Charles comes in and proposes a grant to Dr. Malone. He says he will give her all the money that she needs if she lets them use it in the ways the magiserium wants. Though he does not flat out tell her these things, he hints at things such as manipulating people's consciousness. Dr. Malone denies the help and her collegues all but abandon her. Later that night she comes back to the lab with a program that will allow her to speak to Dust with words. The Dust reveals to her that humans were first posessed by Dust 35,000 years ago, after a rebellion of Angels. It also told her that in she would have a great role in the prophecy as the serpent. The Dust gave her instructions to leave this world and prepare for a long journey through Cittàgazze (also that none of the specters will harm her).
Lee Scoresby has been travelling through his and Roger's world on a quest to locate Stanislaus Grumman. Scoresby believes Grumman may help him uncover Asriel's plans and help Lyra. When Scoresby finally finds him (In a Tartar tribe as a shaman), Grumman asks the aeronaut to take him through the aurora into the other world so Grumman can guide the bearer of the Subtle Knife for he has learned through his shamanism many of its secrets. Scoresby agrees and guides Grumman through to Cittàgazze, where he ultimately dies at the hand of the Magisterium army while defending Grumman.
Mrs. Coulter, leading her own force through Cittàgazze tortures one of the witches travelling with Lyra and learns of the prophecy that Lyra is to be the next Eve. Mrs Coulter decides that she will have to destroy Lyra to prevent another fall.
Will, still bleeding from his wound, meets Stanislaus Grumman, who heals his fingers and instructs him to take the Subtle Knife to Lyra's father, Lord Asriel, to use as a weapon against The Authority. They suddenly realise that they are father and son but in that instant, a vengeful witch murders Will’s father, as he had not returned her love. Will returns to camp to find Lyra has mysteriously vanished and two angels waiting to take him to Lord Asriel.
