The Subtle Knife Graphic Novel

 

Publication date: February 22, 2022

From the Publisher:

This graphic novel adaptation of The Subtle Knife is a great entry point for readers new to the remarkable world of His Dark Materials and an exciting new look at the classic from Philip Pullman.

The stunning full-color art in this graphic novel offers both new and returning readers a chance to experience the story of Lyra, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary role to play in the fates of multiple worlds, in an entirely new way.

In The Subtle Knife, Lyra steps into a new world and meets Will--a boy on the run, a murderer--a worthy and welcome ally. For this is a world where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and witches share the skies with troops of angels.

Each is searching--Lyra for the meaning of Dark Matter, Will for his missing father--but what they find instead is a deadly secret, a knife of untold power. And neither Lyra nor Will suspects how tightly their lives, their loves, their destinies are bound together...until they are split apart.

My Thoughts:

Sometimes graphic novel adaptations are good to entice readers to read the original text. This is not one of them. Phillip Pullmanʻs Dark Materials Novels, are 300-500 pages long per book, so this adaptation of The Subtle Knife, with its 272 pages of graphic cannot address all of the characters, plots, sub plots and complexity of the original. For example, part of the anti-religion themes that run through the original novel, and one of the reasons why the original book has been banned in schools, is down played in the graphic. The violence, in its graphic form, however, is more intense, mostly because there is so much text or context missing. 

My suggestion is that this is for new readers who have not read the original book. Also, because of the way the story s summarized by just pulling the main action points, there really is no reason to then go and read the books. In addition, this is book 2 of the Dark Materials trilogy, but this graphic novel can stand alone, especially if readers have not read the originals.