Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

The blurb stated that this would be a good way to start the Dark Materials story... I was lost from the get-go.
It was a DNF for me after about 20 pages.

This was a wonderful adaptation of the Philip Pullman novel. I know many readers that prefer graphic novels and this one will let readers get to know a classic with beautiful illustrations.

His Dark Materials has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in middle school. The graphic novel is a treat and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I will definitely be purchasing all of the graphic novels for my bookshelf and to share with my kids.

First, I love this series and it was so great to enjoy it in a (new to me) format! The illustrations were immersive and this was very well done. I enjoyed it very much and would definitely recommend it to Pullman fans.

The Subtle Knife is my favorite book in the His Dark Materials trilogy so it was a lot of fun to revisit it as a graphic novel. I think it managed to tell the story well and while it was long for a graphic novel, it was a lot faster than re-reading the original.

I got the opportunity to test read a digital copy of The Subtle Knife: The Graphic Novel courtesy of NetGalley. While I wasn't enthused with having to try to read a literary novel in graphic novel form, I was surprised that even though nearly all scenes were included, it was still a relatively quick read. Now, mind you, this is still a very long graphic novel, so it'll take a little while to get through.

The rendered size of the comic was generally easy to read on a mobile phone, but there were times I needed to zoom in to read the dialogue. If you read this on a tablet, I doubt there would be much of an issue. The hardest part was that there were not chapter headings, so scene changes can be a little jarring. Sometimes you can tell when you're transitioning due to a change in prominent coloring or shading, but other times you have to read a couple panels before you realize where you are.

While some of the characters have altered slightly from Pullman's description, I generally enjoyed the artist's depiction of the characters and creatures of the novel. There were subtle nuances that were particularly good, such as including the Orthodox cross in the flag of Muscovy, that helped demonstrate some of underlying context of the scene. Also, the scene where Mrs. Coulter tricks Sir Charles into revealing his plan was put into more of a seduction, which I did not notice in the novel form, but certainly explains that scene better.

All in all, this is a great rendition of the Pullman's second His Dark Materials novel. If you choose to pick this one up, I'd suggest reading the first graphic novel version (or the literary version) before hand. And, if you're reading a digital copy, a tablet will be much easier to use than a phone.

Will Parry, a twelve year old boy tries to keep his mentally unstable mother from two men who come and harass her about information on her husband who traveled to the artic but has disappeared. Will ends up fleeing when he accidentally kills one of the thieves that came. He runs into a door that has him in another world. In this world, He meets Lyra with her daemon in this alternative world. Will finds refuge and Lyra is looking for answers about the Dust. Will she find her answers? Will is willing to help her find the answers. Many of Lycra’s friends are looking for her as they wish to help her. This is just a brief introduction to this book. There is so much more to the story.

This is the second book in the author’s series “His Dark Material.s” I enjoyed reading this graphic novel with beautifully illustrated pictures perfect for this novel. The action and adventure of Will and Lyra held my attention especially with the twists and turns in the story. It’s a fantastic read!

"The Subtle Knife" has been read and reviewed many times over. It is a modern classic, and should be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. This review is specifically about the graphic adaptation quality of the book. As a novel, it is a fantastic read, but as a graphic novel, it was clunky and difficult to follow. Unlike "The Golden Compass" which adapted well and had beautiful, easy to follow art, "The Subtle Knife" missed the mark. For some reason, the same artists were not used, and the art was sub-par at best, especially the characters' eyes. If the artist had been different, it might have been a better adaptation.

I loved this graphic novel! I was so excited to see the sequel to The Golden Compass. It did not disappoint. Lyra and Pan continues their adventures and meet new friends and foes along the way. The art is colorful and engaging. An excellent read!

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Subtle Knife graphic novel by Philip Pullman is a decent graphic retelling of the Subtle Knife print book. The major negative that I found was there were no transitions between the multiple storylines and that became very confusing. Otherwise the illustrations are excellent and the story felt true to the original.

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.

The 2nd book in the His Dark Materials Series follows Lyra as she travels through a rift into a new world. She comes across a young man named Will (from our world) and teams up with him to complete both their destinies.

I'm going to talk about this in two parts, the story and the artwork.

First off the story. The story was fine, an interesting look at multi dimensional travel. I also think the ideas of souls being represented as animals through the daemons is a very interesting concept. My only real problem with it is its SUPER religious, but not how you'd think. Philip Pullman is obviously very anti-Christianity. The ultimate goal of the characters in this series is to kill God. I don't personally like book that focus this much on religion, even though this is against the religion it focuses on. Provided you're not heavily into Christianity I think this is a good series to give to your pre-teen.

I was no a fan of the artwork in this graphic novel. The characters were all drawn with an intense look, especially around the eyes, that didn't always suit the situation they were in. There was a sense of insanity in the characters depictions that I don't think are accurate to the story.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I have read the “His Dark Materials” series and I loved it. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for this graphic novel adaptation. While it’s interpretation of the original work is interesting, I didn’t like the style of artwork. It made everyone look too garish, which makes it unsuitable (in my opinion) for children. This doesn’t make sense to me because the initial target audience for the original work is indeed children.

I wouldn’t recommend this graphic novel. It doesn’t do the original work justice.

This is a spoiler free review.

The Subtle Knife Graphic novel is ok but not great. I had trouble reading this iteration of His Dark Materials. The story is there and this is a great companion to HBO’s His Dark Materials show but was just not for me. I was hoping for more from this graphic novel.

The Subtle Knife Graphic Novel is a great story and stays true to the original books but the artwork is lacking. I was drawn to the art on the cover of this graphic novel but the illustrations inside the book are not great. I was really bothered by the art. I was hoping for beautiful illustrations to compliment such a rich, fun, detailed story.

If another His Dark Materials graphic novel is published, the artwork needs to be different and the same tone of the story. The artwork needs to compliment the story and help draw the reader further into the world of His Dark Materials. I wonder if water color illustrations would enhance the fantasy aspects of this terrific series.

I recommend The Subtle Knife Graphic Novel to fans of HBO’s His Dark Materials show but I think this graphic novel could be so much better.

Stay awesome and keep reading!

This was my introduction to this series. I received this to review, thought it was a good idea to determine is I should read the novels. After realizing this was the second book, got the first book to read first. Both graphic novels were good, story and characters. Can't wait for the third, and will read the books now. #TheSubtleKnifeGraphicNovel #NetGalley

Ok, it’s been a long time since I read the book (which I remember fondly but I rarely reread…) and I’m caught up on the tv show. Overall, I think I remember the plot and characters quite solidly. I thought the graphic novel did a fine job with covering the plot of the story. It did a fine job with the characters. I wasn’t wild about the art style though. The art dropped it down to a well, that was fine if you’d rather read this that the whole book. Your mileage on the art could well vary! I’m sure there’s going to be reviewers that like the art. It was kind of a sloppy looking style and I felt like for a fantasy story it didn’t quite work. Felt more like it should either be for a literary story where they wanted to be a tad bit pretentious or a horror story that didn’t want to be too gory. It wasn’t that the art was terrible it was just meh.

This is a great book to turn into a graphic novel, but also a difficult one, since some of story was hard to picture while reading. The interpretation of the book was very interesting, but I cannot speak to how faithful an adaptation was because it’s been a while since I’ve read it. So I feel like I can’t be too harsh with it. The art is good, but I’m not sure if it fit the tone of the story at some points.

Despite loving the original story, I struggled with this volume in graphic novel form. Some stories just lend themselves to imagines better than others. While the art was great and the story accurate, it didn't flow well for me as a graphic novel.

This is a graphic novel adaptation of Phillip Pullman's second novel in the His Dark Materials series. The story is easy to follow and you do not need to have read the first book to understand what is happening. There is a small introduction that tells you the story thus far. At the same time, you'll appreciate the characters better if you do read the first book before this one.

Story: Lyra has escaped into a new world. Betrayed by her mother, abandoned by her father, and reeling at the loss of her friend Roger, Lyra is searching for more information on Dust. Will, on the other hand, is a boy from our world devastated by the lapsing mental health of his mother and disappearance of his explorer father. Their destinies will collide as they meet in the new world - one ravaged by strange specters who steal the lives of the adults but leave the children unharmed. The two band together to each accomplish their goals - find out more about dust in Will's world and to help Will find his father with the Alethiometer. At the same time, the witches and Lee Scoresby also set out to find and help Lyra.

From what I understand, Will is a new character in the story, introduced with this book. There are several allusions to Will being very much like Lyra's father Lord Asriel in terms of bravery and Will is featured in the prophies. Together, the two will traverse several worlds in order to each find out more about their objectives. Little does either know that their destines are more intertwined than they could have imagined.

I was not a fan of the illustration work - it felt better suited to a horror novel and really took the fantasy aspect out of this book. As well, nearly all the 'steampunk' leanings were jettisoned, giving the story a much more raw and less elegant feel. It was as if Munch drew the work with a lot of loose lines and emoting.

I have not read the original so cannot attest to the adaptation. The story did flow decently enough and I wasn't lost too often. But I also didn't get a strong feel for the atmosphere of the book, either. Some interactions were mystifying and likely were clearer in the original book.

In all, it is something that can be read whether you have read the original novel or its predecessor. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.