Overall, I was very pleased with Thomas Gilbert's artwork. That would have given me a better baseline here. Perhaps that is because it has been so long? I should have re-read the novels first. However, I'll confess that not all characters looked how I pictured them in my mind. I am happy to say that The Subtle Knife's graphic novel doesn't disappoint – every key scene made its way onto the pages, including several of my favorites!
I'm always excited to see an adaptation when it occurs, even if they don't always live up to my hopes. Likely because many of the details turned into visual elements – always a delight if you ask me. Not only did she tackle a pretty daunting task (adapting Pullman's works), but she was able to effortlessly streamline the series. So I'm going to have to give major credit to Stephanie Melchoir.
Given the density of the source material, I wouldn't have been surprised if it took several volumes to get the story out. I was a bit surprised to see that the adaptations are one-to-one. The Subtle Knife is the second novel in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, which is also the second novel in the adaptation set. Accept no substitutes!Īre you a fan of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman? Well, did you know that there's a graphic novel adaptation of the series in the works? I certainly didn't! It wasn't until I spotted The Subtle Knife on NetGalley that I realized this fantastic creation existed. Still, despite my philosophical disagreements with Pullman he is one hell of a writer, and so at this point I should just knuckle down and reread the original books again, ("DM" only definitely not "BoD").
Also, as the TV series was my most recent revisit to this tale, I had forgotten how blatantly anti-religion Pullman is (much removed by HBO to encourage a larger audience) and - even though he's not physically in this book at all - what an overall asshole the abusive and murderous Lord Asriel is.
That said, however, I just wasn't a huge fan of the artist's style here, and I would have been WAY confused - actually way MORE confused - if I didn't already know the story so well from the original book and Season Two of the excellent HBO series. That said, The Subtle Knife was my favorite of the whole "Dark Materials" trilogy, (all three of which were far better than Pullman's on-going "Book of Dust" follow-up). The Golden Compass was a revelation, with its alternate world building, daemons, armored bears - everything, really.
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