Alistair’s Reviews > The Subtle Knife > Status Update

Ok, now that the titular knife is in play, things are slightly more interesting. But only slightly. I still don't care for Will.

I am 5000% done with our world being in this. If I wanted Christian fantasy, I'd read C.S. Lewis. The spiritual aspect took me a little aback during The Golden Compass, but it was less obtrusive than in this book.

I know I'm only annoying myself at this point. You can't even get manslaughter out of this. The fact that the alethiometer calls him a murderer is downright stupid. I need an adult to explain to this child that he did not murder anyone because murder requires intent to kill. Will threw himself at an intruder in self defense and then the intruder fell over a cat and down the stairs.

I'm sick to death of Will thinking he's a murderer and that the police are after him. I don't know what British law was like when this was written, but I know that you can't charge a 12-year-old with murder when what actually happened was an intruder tripping on the cat and falling down the stairs. I get that we're in Will's mind and the poor bastard doesn't know the law, but come ON.

So far this is not winning The Golden Compass its fifth star. The jump to our world and then a different third world is very jarring and the sudden shift to Will's perspective is similarly jarring. Having a boy with a very depressing home situation suddenly shoved into this action-packed sci-fi/fantasy series with its cool female protagonist so far hasn't been the best move.