| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Author: | Philip Pullman |
Book 2 starts in our own world, where your soul lives in you. We get to know a new character named Will(William Parry). Will is a very mature kid. He’s mother is mentally ill and will although only 12, grew up taking care of his mom. But now, there were bad men after them and he could not protect her in their own home so he had to leave his mom in the care of his piano teacher Mrs. Cooper. Once he was alone in the house, the men broke in; they were after something, something that Will’s dad owned. Will figured that it must have been the letters his dad had written to his mom. He took it and knocked off one of the guys and that killed him. Now Will not only had to run from these men but also from the police. He had one goal now, to find his dad, who was missing from an expedition in the north. On his way to Oxford he finds a window to a different world and enters it. No one was in this world, so he ate and slept in the desolated town(Cigazze). The following day, he met Lyra. Lyra who’ve been wondering for three or four days now ate omelette. Lyra who is looking for dust and who followed her father into this world. Will said may be she can find Dust in his world where there are physicists/scientists.. in Lyra’s world they call them experimental theologians. They go to Will’s Oxford.
Back in Lyra’s world. After the battle in Svalbard some of the witches rebelled against the Magisterium. One of which was tortured by Mrs. Coulter. She wanted to know about the prophecy regarding Lyra, her daughter. But before the name was revealed Serafina Pekkala killed the witch.
All the witches now met up to discuss the matters regarding Lyra, Dust and Lord Asriel. Serafina Pekkala decided to bring a few witches with her to the other world to find and rescue Lyra. Lee Scoresby on the other hand will Look for Stanilaus Grumman the German scientist who became a shaman. It was rumoured that he died
Back to will’s world. Will asked around for his dad, finds out that his dad has gone missing. Lyra on the other hand met Dr. Mary Malone a physicist who studies about Dark Matter/Shadows or Lyra’s Dust. This substance ,that seems to have been the source of consciousness and is found in the very core of the alethiometer, is now studied by Dr. Malone. It seems that the dust is consciousness itself. Lyra and Will head back to the Cigazze. This time they find out why there are no people, only children. This world had been plagued by Specters. The Specters are floating misty beings that eat adults souls. Children can’t see them so the Specters can’t harm them (Sounds a bit like the dementors? Don’t you think?). Lyra consults the alethiometer and it tells her that she should just help Will find his dad and nothing else. Lyra goes back to the world of Will and meets up again with Dr. Mary Malone. But instead she bumps into the very men that were looking for Will. Lyra runs into a man and rode inside his car. This rich powerful knight (Sir Charles) steals Lyra’s alethiometer. When Lyra got back to Cigazze, she told Will of the clumsiness that she did. Will and Lyra went back to Will’s world and to Sir Charles’s mansion. Lyra asked for her alethiometer back. But the Sir Charles refused her. He needed something in exchange, the subtle knife. This knife can be found in the Torre di Angeli in Cigazze. Will and Lyra went to retrieve the knife. There they found the knife bearer who’s tied up and a kid who stole the knife. Will battles the kid and loses his two leftmost fingers on his left hand. We won the battle and was now the official bearer of the subtle knife. The subtle knife had two sides; the first side is so sharp it can cut any material in the world (even angels and Specters). The other side can cut a hole a world (to go to a different world). So Lyra and Will go back to Lyra’s world and decided to steal the alethiometer from Sir Charles. On that same night, Sir Charles had a guest, a very important guest, none other than Mrs. Coulter. Sir Charles was in fact Lord Borreal, a person who came from Lyra’s world. He had a snake deamon that he kept hidden under his sleeves. They were successful at it and went back to Cigazze.
Meanwhile, Lee Scoresby finally finds Stanilaus Grumman. He became a shaman for the tartar tribe. He is not from Lyra’s world but from will’s world! His real name is John Parry, Will’s dad. He now had a new task for Lee Scorseby. Lee Scoresby must bring him to Lord Asriel because the shaman needs to tell Lord Asriel about the subtle knife. Only with the subtle knife can Lord Asriel win in his battle against the almighty. (Oops, i didn’t mention this) Lord Asriel is planning a battle against God, the Almighty, the Creator, Yahweh. He is gathering the biggest army ever seen. This is the second rebellion for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Cigazze: All the kids in Cigazze formed a mob because Lyra and Will got the subtle knife and they want it. Good thing Serafina Pekkala came just in time to save them from the kids. The witch tried to cure will’s wound but the spells won’t work. Now they have decided to help Lyra and Will to seek Will’s father. They are navigating via the alethiometer.
Will’s World: Dr. Mary Malone and her partner where supposed to shut down their research about dark matter, when Sir Charles showed up. He wanted them to continue in his direction so that he may fund the project. Dr. Malone decided to quit. That night she figured out how to talk to Dust in the same way that Lyra talks to the alethiometer. Dr. Malone uses her computer for this. The Dust/Shadows tells her to play serpent and follow Lyra. She then destroys the computer and heads off into the world of Cigazze.
Lee Scoresby’s side: they are travelling on Lee Scoresby’s balloon. They have been followed by 4 zepellin’s of the magisterium. The shaman, with his magic was able to bring down three while Lee Scoresby died in battle to help the Shaman escape and pursue his goal. Lee Scoresby called Serafina Pekkala for help to no avail.
Lyra’s side: While resting one night, Serafina had to leave to answer Lee Scoresby’s call. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Borreal are now, not so far behind Lyra. Mrs. Coulter has some sort of control on the Specters. One of the witches looking after Lyra was caught and tortured to give out their position. Now it is revealed what Lyra’s name was in the prophecy. She is Eve.. mother of all. And like in the bible she will fall. And the church must stop this from happening again to avoid the ultimate sin of mankind. Mrs. Coulter tells the Specters to attack all the witches. She also learns about the power of the subtle knife by poisoning Lord Borreal.
In the dark, Will gets up alone and is attacked by a man. This is in fact the shaman/stanilaus Grumman/John Parry. He tells will of his purpose and that he must take the knife to Lord Asriel. John also heals Will’s wound. When they saw each other’s faces, recognition drawn in.. an arrow hits John on the heart and he dies instantly. A witch scorned by Stanilaus hit him, then kills herself. Will enraged by this, could not understand the scorn spurned from love. He goes back to camp only to find Lyra missing.
Thoughts:
Go Will! You’ll really immediately like will the moment you get into his mind. He’s way mature and very very responsible about life. He had to grow up quickly for his mom. I also thought the Specters where really creepy, reminded me of the soul sucking dementors. Little has happened in this book, although they never explained why Mrs. Coulter was able to command the Specters. She really is the most ruthless being on this trilogy. We also discover Lyra being EVE! The author’s really creating a fiction from the bible. I got hooked after reading this book. Very very exciting, so I immediately read Amber spyglass afterwards. Why is it when there are trilogies, the second book’s cliff hangers are ALWAYS ALWAYS annoyingly addicting?
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