Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

His Dark Materials 2: Das Magische Messer: 11 CDs by Philip Pullman

22 reviews

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide, Torture, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: War

charliewarliee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The Subtle Knife is the second novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I definitely enjoyed the first novel more. I started reading this just after finishing the first one in June, and got 75% of the way through before I lost track of it and put it down, not picking it back up again until November. I had forgotten quite a bit but remembered the basics, although it was still difficult to get through. I didn't want to re-read everything else so I just read from where I was, and ended up having to use an audiobook for most of Chapter 14. I am glad to have finished it and will probably read the third novel but will need to watch a recap for the series beforehand.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death of parent

gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love this series. Will is a fantastic addition to the cast of characters and the universe is greatly expanded upon throughout the book. I'm very excited to read the third instalment in the trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Mental illness

asmallgremlin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Subtle Knife - the one I normally forget - is actually pretty damn good! The plots are more varied than Northern Lights and they are quite well balanced throughout - I felt the plot development of Lee trying to find Grumman was the quickest plot but this was still balanced and the witches plot was interesting as well. Lyra and Will’s plot of exploring Citagazze and learning about each other and the reader’s world was well written and interesting - and generally I really enjoyed this book’s plots! 

lee’s death is heartbreaking and John Parry’s betrayal is not very out of character

 

Loved nearly all the characters save for Lord Boreal - he was a bit weird. Lovely to see Mrs Coulter again - she’s such a fascinating woman and so evil! I love Mary Malone and I have always loved Serafina, and Lyra remains my favourite character. I thought her development from a streetsmart stubborn girl to a girl in an alien world was interesting - since our world and Citagazze are so different to hers. Will was characterised very well - he is smart and rational and a protector - and I enjoyed his developing friendship with Lyra.

The commentary on religion was less heavy handed than I had anticipated - this book is more about innocence and consciousness than religion I would argue. I look forward to the next book.

when they kill god because of COURSE they do

Would give this 5 stares (unexpectedly) and would recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, and Violence

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

📱
This was an enjoyable good. This book was a little darker. I felt this book was like less focused on character and plot development. There was more worldbuilding. I had difficulty falling the plot lines and characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Body horror

Minor: Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Death of parent, Death, Religious bigotry, Violence, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Kidnapping, Bullying, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

aliteraryescape's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Blood

Minor: Suicide and Death

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A fascinating sequel to an excellent beginning. This time, we get perspectives beyond Lyra's with more frequency, and I rather like being able to read the story from all sides. We end on a very compelling cliffhanger, ready to start the next book. My only complaint is that in this second part of the trilogy, Lyra loses a good bit of her charm and free will. It's a bit annoying to see Lyra immediately fall into an almost subservient role the second a male character comes into play. Where is that independence and determination that so greatly defined her in the first book?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Grief, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Animal death, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Medical content, Ableism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Torture, Classism, Abandonment, Dementia, and Death of parent

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, War, Child death, Animal death, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Bullying, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

hedsek's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Again, super cool world and story but pretty bad dialogue and relationships. I rated it a bit lower than the previous book because I really think Lyra went downhill as a character. She was a pretty strong female lead and now she mostly just listens to Will which is a pity. Still, love the religious themes and such.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gun violence, and Mental illness