Rating: 
Summary: A very worthy sequel...
Review: After I read The Golden Compass, I waited with anticipation for The Sublte Knife. I had to wait a year and a half for this book. I must say...it was worth the wait.Will manages to stumble upon a strange city without adults. He meets Lyra with her extraordinary compass and they become reluctant friends. One day, Will acquires a mysterious knife that can cut between worlds. It is stolen from him. Will needs it back so that he can take it to Lyra's uncle, Lord Asriel. The plot for this story os really to complex for me to be able to say it all in such a brief summary. But get this, it is very very very good.
Rating: 
Summary: BORING
Review: Normally a book of this size would take me about 2 days to finish. This one took me 3 weeks. IT WAS BORING! Most of it is just LOOKING for stuff... I mean yeah, theres a little action, but not enough. No where near enough.
Rating:
Summary: W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L
Review: To all ye open minded and unbound of heart- THIS HAS GOT TO BE SECOND TO NONE BUT IT'S SIBLINGS IN THE TRILOGY! This is a masterful weaving of soaring phrases. It has a wonderful plot with a cliff hanging edge that kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole half year it took for the Amber Spyglass to come out. And yes, I pity the poor people who consider this offensive to their religon. I am known to many friends as a recomender of top-quality, exciting, magical, fantastic, descriptive, soul-carrying master-pieces of books. And yet, one girl I know kept herself wallowed in her religon and denounced this classic for one dumb reason: "Oh," she whined, "They're talking about killing god! Oh! OH! I just can't read it!" and so on and so forth. She doesn't know what she's missing.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing follow-up
Review: Although I am not typically a reader of fantasies, I loved The Golden Compass, and was quite anxious to read its sequel. However, although The Subtle Knife was somewhat interesting read, its plot and characters absolutely paled in comparison with The Golden Compass. This sequel focuses on the play between several parallel, yet different, worlds. The exploration of these worlds was interesting ideed, and some of the plot twists were creative. However, it seemed much more contrived than The Golden Compass. The biggest disappointment was Lyra. The focus shifted from her to her new friend. Suddenly Lyra went from being the confident, brave, mature, interesting girl in Golden Compass to a little girl with not much common sense or confidence. Since she was the most interesting part of Golden Compass, this change was quite sad to see, especially since the other kid, on whom the focus now is, is not nearly so charismatic or interesting. Despite my disappointment, The Subtle Kife was still an interesting exploration of the various worlds, as well as a commentary on how too much religion, science, and just plain messing with the way the world works can change things in terrible ways.
Rating: 
Summary: A book that made me think
Review: I have just finished The Subtle Knife and have found that it really made me think. After reading reviews writen by other readers who were not pleased with the book, I found that it was mostly because of the fact that Philip Pullman challenges god. This upset a lot of people, but I believe i should say for thoughs who have not read the book yet, that it is not god he goes against, but more of what harm is done in his name. It says nothing in this book against the bible but more so against the acts of evil people have done in the past that were said to be in the name of god. (i.e. the salem whitch trials) I felt i needed to get that out of the way so that now i can actually review. The subtle knife was a book that kept my attention the entire time. Though I am not a big fan of science fiction type reading, this book had enough of other things in it to satasfy me. In this story you follow the paths of different people who are in some way all connected. The main characters here are Lyra and newcomer Will parry. These two meet up and work together against sole eating specters and mad children. Too say much more would spoil this story and that would just be a crime. But remember as your reading this book (hopefully you will) that the most important thing to do is keep an open mind.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Continuation -- Enlarges As It Deepens
Review: This novel wastes no time in getting us back into the action. And, what action it is! In this book Mr. Pullman introduces some important new characters -- Will Parry (a boy looking for his long lost father who ends up crossing paths with Lyra and joining her in her quest) and Mary Malone (a scientist studying "dark matter" who ends up being drawn into the perils of Lyra and Will). He also expands the plot and reveals the central theme of the novels. This was hinted at in the first...but here it is stated clearly and we begin to sense where all of the previous action is heading. But, there is still plenty of intrigue and much more action ahead! Pullman's ability to develop and advance a relatively complex plot is amazing. This book had me reading page after page, feeling moments of jaw-dropping awe, heart-racing panic, and even a few moments of deep, aching sorrow. Pullman can be surprisingly frank at times...still, his writing allows for tenderness and compassion. The stand against formal religion expressed in these novels -- which has kept many people from seeing the true beauty of the writing -- is to me somewhat refreshing. I am a Christian and I am set in my own beliefs...but I like to entertain possibilities and allow others to express their views intelligently. Pullman has done this and created a fine work of literature.
Rating:
Summary: A Non-Stop Reading Book!
Review: I have already read The Golden Compass and I got very excited to read The Subtle Knife. I loved the book, it is as good as the first one of the trilogy. But now, Lyra, the main character of the first one, gets a new friend to help her in her mission. Together they fight eivel forces and obstacles in two different worlds.
Rating:
Summary: The second book in the trilogy adds more complexity...
Review: Pullman succeeded with this second book in his trilogy (His Dark Materials) in adding more complex weft to the warp of the theme he is weaving here. More threads come into play, more characters (young Will, the bearer of the Knife in question), more worlds to explore, foes to fight (or avoid), more moral and theological questions are raised. This series is a very ambitious one, and raises questions that only older teens are ready to deal with (most of this would be lost on a ten year old). Many of the concepts and philosophical questions are suited mostly for adults, but that should not lessen the experience for teens. In this installment "the plot thickens", as it were, and we're introduced one of the objects around which the books revolve, a knife which can cut open doors between worlds. As well, the religious concepts are expanded, we're introduced to the bene elim (the angels), the meaning of Dust is made clear to us, and the fight between the Creator and the rebels becomes distinct. All in all this middle installment of this series works quite well. It focuses things which the first book brought into play, introduces complexity and density of plot, and gives us new characters to flesh out the cast. It's a good staging ground for the third book in the series, which pulls all these elements together into a dazzling tapestry of light and magic. A wonderful book...
Rating: 
Summary: Completely awful...
Review: Sorry, I found it confusing, boring, and uninteresting. The whole idea of god being the bad guy is awful. The spectres or whatever did not improve the story one bit, except as a plot point. I didn't like that all the witches got... whatever, and it was overall unpleasant. They make out the church to be the evil one, and while I am not of that specific religion, I think that it is simply wrong. Go ahead and disagree, but I have no intention of reading the next one. The first in the series was almost interesting, but I hated this.
Rating:
Summary: An All Around Great Book
Review: This is a GREAT book. I've read first one too. I read this book. I loved this book. This book is just as good as the first book, just not as complex. I think the knife is really cool. The Specters sound creepy, I can imagine them right in front of me. This book has no sad parts, except for when ................... die.Anybody who has read THE GOLDEN COMPASS but not THE SUBTLE KINIFE, I suggest you read it A.S.A.P. This book will hold in suspense from beginning to end. 100% guranteed. Trust me.
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