![]() Though he doesn't remember his father, Will sets out on a rescue mission, and along the way he slips into a parallel universe and into Lyra's story. ''The Subtle Knife'' introduces Will Parry, a modern English boy of about 12, whose father disappeared in the Arctic. It continues the plot of ''The Golden Compass,'' in which Lyra Belacqua sets out to learn the nature of a spiritual particle called, in her world, Dust. ![]() ''The Subtle Knife'' is really two books spliced together. Now we have ''The Subtle Knife.'' Though this second volume almost succumbs to middle book syndrome, Pullman, who has written many other books for children and adults, avoids it, adroitly, by force of theme. The first installment, ''The Golden Compass,'' was received with hallelujahs and literary prizes, including Britain's Carnegie Medal. ''His Dark Materials,'' by the English novelist Philip Pullman, is the latest trilogy to step up the pulse of kids and adults alike. But the second book is prone to middle book syndrome, a parlous condition characterized by too much development and too little resolution. ![]() The third book reveals secret identities, reverses what seemed irreversible and resolves the conflict. ![]() In a high fantasy trilogy, the first book is usually a Baedeker to a brave new world and its regulation-issue mortal conflict. ![]()
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