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Cover of The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife

Philip Pullman

  • 350 pages · about 6 hours
  • First published 1997
  • 106 editions
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1 About this book

As the boundaries between worlds begin to dissolve, Lyra and her daemon help Will Parry in his search for his father and for a powerful, magical knife. She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy? The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer. When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once.

Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.

On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.

Good for readers who want: fantasy, science fiction, and magic.

  • Fantasy
  • Science fiction
  • Magic
  • Quests (Expeditions)
  • Kidnapping
  • Missing persons
  • Arctic regions
  • Children's fiction

2 About Philip Pullman

Born 1946

Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. The first volume, Northern Lights (1995), won the Carnegie Medal and later the "Carnegie of Carnegies". The third volume, The Amber Spyglass (2000), won the Whitbread Award. In 2017, he started a companion trilogy, The Book of Dust, of which the final novel, The Rose Field, was published in October 2025.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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