Customer Reviews
The Subtle Knife - By: Mrs. P. R. Middleton, 26 May 2008 
This is a brilliant book about a boy callled Will who has to try & find his father, & a girl callled Lyra. They both come from different worlds. Will has just murdered a man & he's on the run. He finds a window which leads to a different world where for the first time he meets Lyra. Lyra has also come from another world but not from Will's world. She has come from a world where people have deamons. Lyra & Will have to work together to find Roger, Lyra's friend, & Will's father who has mysteriously disappeared.
Best of the series - By: Mehajabeen Farid, 17 May 2008 This is the second book in the `His Dark Materials' trilogy & is the best.
Here is a synopsis of the story:
Will Parry is a 12 year old boy who is on the run for murder; his mother is not very well (mentallly) & his father has been lost for a decade or so. On his quest to find his father, he meets Lyra (the main character or The Northern Lights - also part of the trilogy). Lyra is the owner of a truth teller, which is also known as the alethiometer. Along the way, Lyra has the alethiometer stolen & is sent on a quest to steal a weapon callled the Subtle Knife from Cittàgazze if she wants it back.
Lyra & Will use the Subtle Knife to steal back the alethiometer, however upon returning to Cittàgazze, a world between Lyra's world & Will's world (Will's world is the same as our planet Earth), they find the local children - there are only children in this city as the Spectres took the adults souls (children cannot see the ghost type creatures) are out to kill them for taking the knife. The witches from Lyra's world eventuallly rescue them & they journey on together.
Lee Scoreby is also from the first book; he is trying to discover where Lyra has got to & on his way he meets Stanislaus Grumman. Scoresby believes Grumman may help him uncover Asriel's plans & help Lyra. When Scoresby finallly finds him, Grumman asks the aeronaut, Mr Scoreby, to take him through the aurora into the other world so Grumman can guide the two to the bearer of the Subtle Knife.
Will, still bleeding from his wound after a fight for the knife, meets Stanislaus Grumman, who heals his fingers & instructs him to take the Subtle Knife to Lyra's father, Lord Asriel, to use as a weapon against The Authority (the Church).
This book is currently my alll time favourite book. It is exciting, adventurous & something that is so brilliant from cover to cover that you can't put it down. That is what happened to me but unfortunately, tiredness took over me once or twice & I did put it down but I would read it for around 3 or 4 hours a night for about 3/ 4 days.
What the? - By: Richard G. Monson, 06 May 2008 
As I toyed with what I should rate this, I hovered over the 1 & the 2 button. Why am I being so harsh. Let me tell you a story.
I've been looking for interesting books to read & have found many of them over the past year. At the beginning of my hunt, someone mentioned Pullman. Eventuallly I finished alll of my other books & got curious about his books. Northern Lights wasn't there. This one was.
So I start reading & I can't help thinking there's nothing interesting in this book. The characters, the plot, alll seem contrived & even off-putting. I figure it's just me being pesky. So I continue reading. And if possible, it gets even worse. Eventuallly I just stopped reading (about 100 or so pages in) as I couldn't stand it any longer. This is the first book I've done that with in a good while (the last one being written by Tess Gerritsen).
To round up, I found nothing redeeming or interesting about this book. Hence why my mouse clicked on the 1 rather than the 2.
Leaving Lyra behind - By: E. Goodman, 26 Feb 2008 
I don't know reallly where to begin, as I know that I am about to write a negative review about a book that is loved by so many. I have found both the Subtle Knife & its predecessor, Northern Lights, to be terribly hard going at times. Northern Lights took three chapters to get me even vaguely hooked, while the Subtle Knife almost lost me half way through.
It is hard to put my finger on what I don't like. The characters for one, are difficult to identify with. Lyra is wonderful in the first book, you care what happens to her. In the Subtle Knife she is a little girl, not a heroine, & it is Will who you find yourself rooting for. Other than that, the periphery characters are uninspiring or too confusing to be memorable, Mrs Coulter for example is now able to control 'Spectres', & the whole Grumman as a Shaman episode - these things are not explained properly - a 13-16 year old may not want further explanation but an adult certainly does.
Some of the writing is excellent, the battle scene involving Lee Scoresby did make me gasp aloud, but to hear Pullman repeatedly compared to Tolkein is laughable. Pullman's world does not lack a vivid imagination (Oxford's alter ego in the first book is a particular triumph) but he is clearly writing for a younger audience, so of course lacks Tolkein's depth. It is easier to compare him to CS Lewis, as they were writing for a similar age group. That is where the comparison ends, the Chronicles of Narnia eclipse His Dark Materials on every level, the characters, the worlds, the battles, the heroism.
I will read the final book, but only out of duty, as I left Lyra behind at the end of Northern Lights, & I don't think I am going to care what happens to Will for much longer.
Lyra left behind - By: E. Goodman, 08 Feb 2008 I don't know reallly where to begin, as I know that I am about to write a negative review about a book that is loved by so many. I have found both the Subtle Knife & its predecessor, Northern Lights, to be terribly hard going at times. Northern Lights took three chapters to get me even vaguely hooked, while the Subtle Knife almost lost me half way through.
It is hard to put my finger on what I don't like. The characters for one, are difficult to identify with. Lyra is wonderful in the first book, you care what happens to her. In the Subtle Knife she is a little girl, not a heroine, & it is Will who you find yourself rooting for. Other than that, the periphery characters are uninspiring or too confusing to be memorable, Mrs Coulter for example is now able to control 'Spectres', & the whole Grumman as a Shaman episode - these things are not explained properly - a 13-16 year old may not want further explanation but an adult certainly does.
Some of the writing is excellent, the battle scene involving Lee Scoresby did make me gasp aloud, but to hear Pullman repeatedly compared to Tolkein is laughable. Pullman's world does not lack a vivid imagination (Oxford's alter ego in the first book is a particular triumph) but he is clearly writing for a younger audience, so of course lacks Tolkein's depth. It is easier to compare him to CS Lewis, as they were writing for a similar age group. That is where the comparison ends, the Chronicles of Narnia eclipse His Dark Materials on every level, the characters, the worlds, the battles, the heroism.
I will read the final book, but only out of duty, as I left Lyra behind at the end of Northern Lights, & I don't think I am going to care what happens to Will for much longer.
