The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman

Book two of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (audiobook format). I'm not sure what to say about this book...I think I liked it, but it took me nearly a month to finish (listening to, not reading) because I couldn't make myself stop listening to Broken River Prophet and put this on instead. That is partly due to BRP being awesome, but it was also due to Subtle Knife not being very engaging. Yes, that might be a good description, not engaging. I can think of things I liked: I loved Will (a lot of that might have to do with how good the actor's voice is); really liked Mrs. Coulter who is the kind of villain you love to hate, though there wasn't enough of her in this book; inter-dimensional travel is a plus to any fantasy story IMO (check The Riftwar Saga); the Specters turn every adult in one particular world into essentially zombies (zombies always being another plus in any genre); you get a relatively decent cliffhanger at the end, enough to make me read the first chapter of the last book right then; and, kinda unrelated, it was very well acted.

But, overall, it was a bit of a sleeper. There wasn't enough intrigue, not much mystery, and nothing totally unexpected happened. Will and Lyra meet up in an alternate universe from their own, where they realize they are both on related quests and must help each other (or, I think Lyra is told by her golden compass that she has to help Will, but same deal). After that, they run into some good people, some bad people, lose some things, acquire others, travel a lot, escape the "authorities," realize they are destined for greatness if they can only overcome their personal doubts and fears (Will), don't get to realize that they are destined for greatness if they can overcome the people that are trying to kill them (Lyra, but hang tight, your time will come in book 3), and get help from others who must make sure these two succeed above all else.

I sound mean, I know. To be fair, it's not a terrible setup, and there are a lot of different bits and pieces going on at once that will lead up to something. But, it sounds kinda rehashed, the story-telling is too serious, and maybe I'm going deaf, but I'm not really sure what this is all leading up to. At this point, I think the main conflict is that there's a side that wants to bring down God and another side that doesn't agree (yes, God). Why bring him down? Well, as far as I can make it out, Pullman is turning the tables: instead of a God that represents good (the way we know it), God in this story is the bad guy. Long ago, when the angels rebelled in Heaven and lost, things started to go bad. Now a similar war is coming, but this time "the right side must win."

Now I'm not saying that this plot is objectionable. It's actually pretty interesting, the idea that you would need to overturn a Supreme authority that you consider your God because, in actuality, he's a jerk. It worked for Stargate. But Pullman doesn't give us much in the way of back-story. Presumably that's book three.

That’s my take, anyway. At this point, I’m not jumping up and down with excitement to start book three (I’m certainly not using two Audible credits to get it, rather than the customary one, so I’ll have to read the hardcopy at some point). I’m hoping that the twist in book three is that Lord Asriel (the guy leading the rebellion against God) ends up making things way worse and everyone that supported him is left standing with egg on their face. Then again, if that does happen, it won’t be much of a twist. And if it doesn’t happen, then we just end up with a story about a guy beating God with a subtle knife and a golden compass (I guess an amber spyglass will feature somehow, as well).