Rating: 
Summary: Parents beware...
Review: I just finished book 3 of the trilogy, and I have to admit I'm quite disturbed. All three are extremely well written. The characters are fully realized. There were a few brief moments where I felt the "hand of the author" tweak the plot to make something happen, but for the most part I was convinced by the world the author had created. However, PARENTS SHOULD BE WARNED BEFORE LETTING THEIR CHILDREN READ THESE BOOKS! Pullman has been compared to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis and Tolkien write from and use metaphor to express their Christian beliefs. Pullman blatently attacks all religion. Parents should be aware of the following (Normally I would never give away plot points in a review but in this case I feel I have to make an exception): In these books God is senile, the blblical Enoch is now a power mad angel who lusts after women and is trying to take over all worlds, the afterlife is depicted as a prison camp, and the only way for the world to be saved is when two twelve year old children become lovers. Depending on how you feel about things you may also be shocked to find the two main angels who help our hero and heroine are gay. Pullman's point, ultimately, is that you can take one of two paths in life: Religion, which is followed by the "stupid" (his words, not mine) and Wisdom. In Pullman's world the two aren't compatable. I give it three stars for the writing, though I completely disagree with the message.
Rating: 
Summary: ACE
Review: He's don it again, Phillip Pullman has written another literary masterpiece, which puts fanticy and phisics in the perfect ballance. Unlike the first one the begining of this one is set in the real Oxford with Will (a boy the same age as Lyra) as the main charictor who lives with his mum. I'm not going to give alot away but I will say that he findes the knife in a different world plaiged by specters. My conclusion is that this book is ace.BUT if you are a strong christian I would advise you not to read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: And things just keep getting weirder...
Review: This is a great fantasy read for kids and adults alike, and it is packed with suspense, action, etc. Basically the formula of a good action book. The thing I really hate is the main character though. SHE IS SUCH A HIC (Farmers of Amerika, please don't kill me...)! It really irritates me when she speaks, because she speaks like the characters in Huckleberry Finn and most Steinbeck novels. Also, right wing Christians should stay the hell away from this. I don't get why the Church is [complaining] about Harry Potter, when the people in this book are calling God evil! What is with that? Anyways, this book is worth trying. Read the prequel first (can't remeber the name).
Rating:
Summary: Better than the First!
Review: I managed to finish this within a few weeks after I finished The Golden Compass. This is, I believe, is much better than the first. While I'll praise on how in the first book Lyra is the star, we finally meet her conterpart Will, who acted near his age. I could diffently connected to him better than I could with Lyra. I also could not spot any flaws, but I noticed that this was much shorter than the first part of the triolgy, which was fine by my standereds. This leaves any unaswered questions to be answered in the third book, The Amber Spyglass (which I am currently reading). What more can I say, I am very pleased and I cannot wait to finish His Dark Materials!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Philip Pullman has succeeded in creating another literary masterpiece. In The Subtle Knife, the second book in the trilogy His Dark Materials, Pullman has bended the genre of fantasy and science fiction into a whirlwind classic that is quite possibly one of the best books of our time. Unlike The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife begins in our world. In Oxford, Will is trying to protect his mother from being tormented by a mysterious band of men who want to know about Will's father, reported missing several years ago. As if caring for a family wasn't enough, Will must also go to school and try to live as normal a life as possible for one under those circumstances. One night, however, the men break into his house to search for a green leather writing case, which was valued by his mother. Will tries to escape and runs into a man, causing him to fall down the steps and die in a grotesque heap at the bottom of the stairs. Somehow, while running from the police and the malevolent band of men, Will stumbles into another world, the world of Cittagaze, where the streets are filled with gossamer Specters only visible to adults. Lyra Belaqua from the Golden Compass stumbles into Will, and she reluctantly agrees to search for Will's father. This proceeds into a blend of fantasy-style creatures and people, with a slight science and physics approach to the theory of Dust, combined into an action-packed plot filled with danger and situations which may not be suitable for ultra-conservative or highly-sensitive readers. It's no wonder that critics are raving Philip Pullman's work. In his literary masterpiece, he has intertwined skeins of his beliefs, which make it a truly inimitable and satisfying book. However due to some controversial elements, this book may not be the right one for you. If you are one of those people who are sensitive to certain views of religion and the church, by all means, pick out another book. This is also a book that will make you contemplate the storyline, along with several moral values that appear often in The Subtle Knife. Personally, I enjoyed the book very much. I felt that Pullman had, in fact, utilized just the right blend of fantasy, physics, and theology, and enough of a touch of his own personal ideas to make The Subtle Knife unparalleled by any book so far. Even though I finished the book a short two days after starting, it has given me something to think about for entire weeks. Powerful and classical, The Subtle Knife will hold your attention until the last page if you give Pullman a chance to show you his worlds.
Rating: 
Summary: Twisted
Review: I can't bleive that so many people like this book. The first book in the series made me only slightly uncomfortable like when they had witches, ghosts, and reworded the Bible, but this was much worse. The only two things I would say that are interesting about this book is the reapearence of the daemons and the traveling to the other worlds. But the rest of it totally spoke against God. It said that evil and rebellion is good, and that the angels who turn away from God are good, and that God is an evil Authority who wants to depress everyone and torture them. FURTHERMORE, it said that somewhere there is a knife that was made that can destroy anything, even God. I hardly want to read the last book now, this book made me sick to my stomach. If you are caught up with the Golden Compass and really can't wait to find out what happens,you are going to be majorly disapointed, especially if you are a Christian like me.
I would recomend that you forget that there are other books and make up your own ending to the series, most anything is better than this. ...
Rating:
Summary: The Amazing Story Continues
Review: After reading "The Golden Compass", you'd think they couldn't get any better. But then, Philip Pullman pulls quite an amazing accomplishment out of his hat, and produces the second book in an astonishing trio called "The Subtle Knife". It's everything a reader can hope for, but more, much, much more. Continuing the heartfelt saga of Lyra and her amazing quest of truth, Pullman introduces us to Will, a character as equally as wonderful and complex as his first. Will's destiny seems to be leading him to discover the identity of his father, but it's deeper, much deeper than that. When he meets Lyra, they join together in an adventure that intertwines, science, theology, physics, and magic. The final result is a book that transcends the craft, and soars with such intensity and drama, that you simply cannot put this book down. What amazes me is that until recently, I hadn't heard of these books before. Perhaps its too controversial with its unique blending of science and theology, perhaps it doesn't draw the lines as clear as people expect. This is a thinking persons book, and perhaps that's too much for some people. At any rate, Philip Pullman has granted the world an incredible story, incredible characters in an incredible book. I am eagerly off to finish this series, both saddened and excited to do so. You will be too!
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily good fantasy writing . . .
Review: Many trilogies suffer from having a weak middle volume, but that certainly isn't the case here. Where THE GOLDEN COMPASS told the adventures of young Lyra Belacqua, at the beginning of this volume we meet Will Parry, a boy of our own world with his own quest. The two connect in Ci'gazze, a third world adjoining their own universes, a place haunted by Specters and mobs of vicious children, torn asunder by Lord Asriel's bridge-building. But we also find out what Asriel is really up to: He wants to reopen the war between Mankind and God, to liberate Man from the Authority. And Lyra's nemesis, Mrs. Coulter, is aligned with the Church on the other side. We find out what Dust is in our terms, and why it (and the Specters) are attracted to adults but not to children. And we meet both Dr. Mary Malone, physicist and specialist in "dark matter," and John Parry, explorer and shaman in the world of Ci'gazze. The strong characterization and narrative vigor of the story are remarkable and you'd better have Volume Three ready to hand when you finish this one.
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic adventure
Review: Not going to spoil anything there but if you like fantacy, semi-religious, adventrue, and thought provoking books I would say buy this one now. It's beautifully written and bings up a lot of questions about human nature.
Rating:
Summary: A great read, but the series disappoints
Review: I wrote the following review before reading the last book of the series, which ended up to be a big disappointment to me for it's unbalanced view of Christianity. "Did this book really just come out in 1997? It is bound to be a classic. Like C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle, Pullman is able to create new worlds that are as believable as they are strange. And his characters--children just as memorable as L'Engle's Meg and Charles Murray and complex as Lewis's Edmund and Lucy--move between these worlds with a heroic mix of courage, sadness and innocence that has me completely enthralled. This is the kind of book that can grow up with you. Younger readers will love Pullman's talent for adventure and fantasy, and find a layer of ethical, theological and metaphysical questions to ponder as they get older." Unfortunately, Pullman's answers to the theological questions he sets up in this book are ultimately disappointing. Read it with this in mind.
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