She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn’t known was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, deep in the darkness of the building she felt other doors opening too, and lights coming on. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts of her body found themselves affected too. She had never been on a roller-coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognised the sensations in her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the slightest idea why. She felt a stirring at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster.

The Amber Spyglass: Chapter 33 ‘Marzipan’Īs Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. In fact the illustrator, Chris Wormell, has been documenting his illustration process for The Subtle Knife on his Instagram account, moving between sketch and engraving, and this is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in the process.

I’m very happy to say that the publishers have committed to producing the rest of the books in the series in a matching format. As an adult reader you would be able to infer what was happening there anyway so it doesn’t change the story, but I’ll add the deleted text below for any American readers who are worried they might have missed out.Īll in all, it’s a beautiful edition that I recommend for adults who love the series or as a special gift for a younger child who may not yet have read it. Well, there is not much of a difference in this first book, but there is a scene in the third book which was censored for American audiences, presumably because American publishers deemed it too sexual for a book they were marketing to children.

Some people have also asked if there is a difference between the American and British editions of the book apart from the title and regional spelling differences.

The subtle knife illustrated