His Dark Materials Part 2: The Subtle Knife (Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation) cover art

His Dark Materials Part 2: The Subtle Knife (Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation)

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His Dark Materials Part 2: The Subtle Knife (Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation)

By: Philip Pullman
Narrated by: Emma Fielding, Full Cast, Jack Klaff, Peter Marinker, Ray Fearon
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About this listen

 A breathtaking epic, the award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy spans a multitude of worlds. The second instalment, The Subtle Knife, introduces Will Parry – a young boy in search of his long-lost explorer father. Will’s discovery of an extraordinary ‘window in the air’ near the Oxford ring road leads him out of our world and into the strange and unsettling Cittàgazze. There he meets Lyra, a girl who is herself searching for something: the secret of the mystical substance Dust. Moving back and forth through the portal, Will and Lyra join forces in their quest. As they make allies and enemies along the way, they also learn of the subtle knife. An object which many would kill to possess, the knife has incredible powers, and Will finds himself reluctantly in a fight for its possession. Ray Fearon, Emma Fielding, Peter Marinker and Jack Klaff are amongst the cast in this gripping dramatisation.© and (P)2003 BBC Worldwide Ltd Action & Adventure Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fiction Adaptation

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Critic reviews

I'm delighted that His Dark Materials is being done on the radio. I've always loved radio drama – it can move from the epic to the intimate in a moment. The sweep of the whole thing seems to have been very well maintained; and the cast is great, especially the two leads, Lulu and Daniel. The makers have used all the resources of my favourite medium to create a vivid and atmospheric production. (Philip Pullman)
Fans of Pullman's original book will love this audio drama which helps to bring the characters vividly to life. (Pete Boomer)
All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely gripping and stretching your imagination beyond the realms of reality. At times the plot was a little far fetched and confusing, but it made you think different worlds. A big tip is to listen to the books in the correct order as I started Amber Glass before Subtle Knife and realised something was wrong! Brilliant book and excellent production very believable. Loved it loved it!!

The Subtle Knife (Dramatised)

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As this was my first ever Audible purchase, I should have read the full description more carefully, comparing it to the other Audible version available. If I had done this, I would have seen that the total running time was only 2 hours and 26 mins, compared to the other version which was around 12 hours. The difference was that this version of The Subtle Knife was entirely dramatised, missing out all the narration that was not speech. It also meant missing out on all the amazing descriptive words of Philip Pullman which beautifully tie everything in this story together.

Without any visual aid it can be difficult to appreciate and fully immerse yourself in the story as it’s hard to imagine locations or the mood and thoughts of the characters. I still enjoyed the story and the actors provided the voices of the characters were great, but when it finished I felt rather unsatisfied and that I had missed out on certain elements.

For the next book in the series, The Amber Spyglass, I made sure I chose the version that was narrated by Philip Pullman himself together with an excellent cast of voice actors. This book lasted around 18 hours and was stunningly good!

Too Short - due to no background narration

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I loved this action packed novel. full of drama and mystery. A great book to recommend to anyone. its a bit of a struggle to begin but gets better.

a great long listen

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I read this as a child and was captured by Lyra's world - so similar to our own, yet so fantastic.

It's still a marvel, and I didn't mind my time with it, but I'd forgotten just how much of a children's book it is. The whole world revolves around Lyra, and everything she tries seems to work out. In some ways it's the kind of story a child might tell - "I went here, and there were mean people doing evil things, but I said this and they believed me"

I'm glad to have revisited it, but it's not quite what I remembered from all those years ago.

Better for kids than grown-ups

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The script and performances are riverting - I listen to this every 6 months as i love it so much.

Read this over and over again

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