Rating: 
Summary: I missed Lyra.
Review: This little treasure of a book was like getting a letter from a loved one abroad. Something to let us know that Lyra's okay, Pantalaimon's settling into his new form, and that there is more to come.
The various "extras" within the book make the world of Philip Pullman seem all the more real and attest to his thoroughness and attention to detail. Lyra's Oxford, I'm now even more convinced, really is another world moving along in parallel to ours, and I'm glad Pullman let us peek through one of his windows, even if it was briefly. I hope we'll hear more about Lyra soon, though in the meantime, I'm glad she's staying out of trouble.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting short story following "His Dark Materials"
Review: This short story (only 64 pages) shows Lyra a couple of years older than at the end of the His Dark Materials trilogy, and a couple of years more mature. Her daemon has (as it did in "Amber Spyglass) settled on a form, she's at an Oxford school for girls, and Will seems more a source of inspiration than sadness. The story begins (I won't give away very much) when a witch's daemon arrives and demands help finding a person unknown to Lyra . . . Well written, and well done within its boundaries. The "artifacts" (a map, a postcard from Mary Malone (showing, incidently, Oxford sites some of which are significant in Pullman's works), a cruise brochure) are interesting, and contain some inside jokes, such as adverts for books written by characters we met or heard of in the trilogy. The map is of course most useful in tracing Lyra's footsteps across Oxford in this short story. I am a little preturbed (and withhold a fifth star) about the fact that such a short story bears a rather high price. At about fifteen cents a page, it is only worth it because of the quality of Pullman's works. And if the other artifacts (there's an annotation on the cruise brochure which might be significant) play a part in "The Dust" (the forthcoming, longer book), I really, really hope that the artifacts are republished with that book. Recommended. But you might want to think about sitting down in Barnes and Noble or Chapters and spending an hour reading this one, rather than buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but too short
Review: This was a very good book but it needed a little more depth. It was way too short (I read it in less than 30 minutes) and I thought it needed more detail or perhaps more characters from the His Dark Materials series. I would have liked to know what happened to Will and Mary Malone, but perhaps they will show up in further books. I was almost half-expecting the subtle knife to return, or something equallly amazing to happen, but nothing like that did. This would have been a good start for a longer story or something like that. I was also wondering what happened to the alethiometer, because it doesn't even mention it, and it only talks about Will a couple of times. However, I am consoled that the books about Lyra are far from over.
Rating: 
Summary: Pullman must have had fun!
Review: Three kinds of people will enjoy this book. First, those who after the three-course feast of HDM are anxious for any crumbs (or should one say coffee & liqueurs) that Pullman has to offer. They will find a precious glimpse of Lyra and Pan at 14, and feel encouraged that their story is far from over.
Second, the book will delight anyone who knows, loves, or has visited Oxford. With its absence of cars and urban sprawl, Lyra's city has much to recommend it over ours. It is what the imaginative may still sense on a Sunday morning in the Botanic Garden.
Third, the book will charm the bibliophile and connoisseur of literary curiosities. Beside the story, there are wonderful pages from a Baedeker's Guide, and advertisements in the quaint style of Lyra's world. The wood engravings by John Lawrence are in the best early 20th-century tradition. He and Pullman must have had fun putting this together.
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