LCE 6th grade Electronic Book Review Form

Student Reviewer’s Name: Isabelle S.
Date of review of book: February 25, 2008
Complete Book Title: The Subtle knife, His Dark Materials Book II
Author of Book: Philip Pullman
Year the book was published: 1997
Genre: Fiction
Student rating of the book (1 the highest, 5 the lowest): 1

Main conflict in the book: After watching her best friend Roger die, Lyra seeks the whole meaning of dust, and whether it is good or evil. Lyra is an 11 year old girl who is the daughter of Lord Asriel and Mrs. Matilda Coulter who are enemies and both studying dust. Lyra has to find out what her own destiny is, and quickly. All of her actions affect how the whole universe will turn out with respect to a war between the Rebel Angels and the all so powerful God.

Setting of the Book: The setting of the book is in an alternate universe than Book I. Lyra and Will are in the universe of Cittágazze where soul eating specters live. The strange thing is, Specters only suck the life out of adults and not children. Is this related to dust, or something even bigger?

The main characters and part they play in the book:
Lyra owns the golden compass, which is a truth reader. She is very ambitious and clever. She lives in a different universe than Cittágazze, so she doesn’t know what it is like in different worlds and not always thinks things through, and just does what comes first to her mind without always thinking ahead. She is also trying to help Will find his father.
Will is the owner of the subtle knife which can cut through any substance on any world. He also knows how to plan very well. He always puts things into perspective; he is looking for his father who is supposedly dead. His mother is very sick and he needs to take care of her.

Are the characters believable and interesting? The characters are very realistic and very interesting for a lot of different reasons. First, you can really relate to their problems and feel what they feel. They have the same kinds of problems as we do such as getting in trouble and are very descriptive about them. There is also action that every kid dreams of at least once in their life, such as exploring other worlds, which is the only unbelievable thing about these two extraordinary kids.

One excellent direct quotation from the book:
A horse rider who helps children go from one world to another says “And then there came a fog that lasted for days and covered every part of the world that I know of, and no one could travel. And when the fog cleared, the cities were full of Specters, hundreds and thousands of them. So we fled to the hills and out to sea, but there’s no escaping them this time wherever we go. As you saw for yourselves.” (page 136) .

Good reasons to read the book: There are many reasons to read this incredible book, one of the main one is it has a lot of genres mixed into one book that is very descriptive. It has action, history and fantasy. It also made me feel sad, happy, joyous, angry, and much more. If you like the action packed kinds of books, you should try this one.

Any reasons not to read the book? If you like books that are nice, boring and mellow, then don’t read The Subtle Knife because it has too much action for you. Another reason might be that in order to read The Subtle Knife you have to have read The Golden Compass and then you have to read Book III which is The Amber Splyglass. If you do not wish to read about Christianity, then this series might not be for you.

Did you like this book or not? And why… I loved this book so much! It has everything I like, and it was a savior when I was just plain bored. It made me go into a whole other world with Lyra and Will. I felt like I was helping them out whenever they needed it which is saying a lot. If there was something bothering me, I picked up the book and when I was done reading, I usually found the answer to my problems. I loved this book, and I hope you will too!

1. Student Reviewer’s Name: Meghan F
2. Date of review of book: March 2006
3. Complete Book Title: The Subtle Knife
4. Author of Book: Philip Pullman
5. Year the book was published: 1997
6. Genre: Fantasy
7. Student rating of the book: 1.5
8. Main conflict in the book:
Escaping from Mrs. Coulter and searching for the mystery particle, Dust

9. Setting of the book:
Lyra’s world, Will’s world, and the in between world

10. Main Characters and part they play in the book:
(1)Lyra, the chosen one who is expected to do great things

(2)Will, The knife holder/ protector

11. Are the characters believable and interesting?
Lyra isn’t because she has a dæmon attached to her soul who takes shapes of different animals, but Will is like our kind of human

12. One excellent direct quotation from the book:
“When I was traveling north to Bolvanger with the gyptians, the child Lyra told me some thing that happened in the college she used o live in, back in Oxford. Lord Asriel had shown the other scholars the severed head of a man Stanislaus Grumman, and kinda persuaded them to give him some money to come north and find out what had happened…”(pg 45) -Lee Scoresby

13. Good reasons to read the book:
It is interesting and suspenseful and you can imagine what the setting looks like

14. Any reasons not to read the book?
It is confusing at some points if you have not read the other book in the series

15. Did you like this book or not? And why….
Yes, because it is interesting and suspenseful. Also, it is a great book to imagine what the setting looks like