Friday Friyay: 'The Subtle Knife' (His Dark Materials #2) by Philip Pullman

Happy Friday everyone! How are we doing mid-January? I decided to make no resolutions whatsoever and rather just take each day as it comes, which has been working out ok so far. I do want to make more time for reading though. I've once again fallen into the trap of scrolling endlessly on social media at night, which is exactly 0% useful. So I'm putting my childlock back on Insta and Twitter and hopefully I will be able to fill that time with something good like a book! The book I'm currently reading is The Subtle Knife, the second of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, after falling in love with the first, The Golden Compass.

Lost in a new world, Lyra finds 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, and their destinies are bound together... until they are split apart.

Book Beginnings is at home on Rose City Reader, hosted by Gilion Dumas, and Friday 56 at Freda's Voice, hosted by Freda. I'll also be joining the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Billy over at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

BB:

'The Cat and the Hornbeam Trees

Will tugged at his mother's hand and said, "Come on, come on..."
But his mother hung back. She was still afraid.' 1%

I literally gave my entire heart to Will within two or three pages. This poor little boy and his mother, who is lost in her own mind. It is such a deeply sad but strong way to start the book because you already know and love Lyra from The Golden Compass, but Will is new. And now you immediately know him and feel for him. I made this meme to express my feelings.

F56:

'He was desolate. But then he felt the strangest thing, and brushed the back of his right wrist across his eyes to find Pantalaimon's head on his knee.' 56%

I remember enough from The Golden Compass to know this must be a major moment, so I cannot wait to get back to it and get to this moment. I tried to really do my best to not read around the quote, to just write down the first thing I saw. I do know this is about Will thought and I just don't want him to be sad... like, ever. And I know this will come to bite me in the *ss.

BBH:

This week's question comes from Billy himself:

Are there any new books you're excited to read in 2023?

Yesss, absolutely! I have a few books on my list which I'm really excited for, even if they're not necessarily coming out this year!

• The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance #3) by Naomi Novik
• The Oleander Sword (The Burning Kingdoms #2) by Tasha Shuri
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Singing Hills Cycle #1) by Nghi Vo
• The Faithless (Magic of the Lost #2) by C.L. Clark
• A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine
• He Who Drowned the World (The Radiant Emperor #2) by Shelley Parker-Chan
• I do also want to reread Les Miserables by Victor Hugo this year!

That's it for me this week! What books are you looking forward to? And have you read the His Dark Materials trilogy? Am I really heading towards heartbreak?!