Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but inconsistent
Review: "The Subtle Knife" is like a Hollywood movie--it has great action sequences, but not much plot.Like "The Golden Compass," this novel sets up various metaphors for the soul; but these metaphors are inconsistent. When people from our world go into Lyra's, Pullman makes it clear that their daemons become visible. But when Lyra is in Oxford with Will, she has to hide Pan in her pocket. There is little coherence to the elaborate system Pullman sets up. Pantalaimon (in spite of Lyra's protests to the contrary) really is more like a pet than a soul. I think "The Tin Princess" is still his best book.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing - don't expect it to match The Golden Compass
Review: If The Golden Compass hadn't been so good, Iwouldn't be so disappointed. The Golden Compasshas texture, intricacy, and strong characters. The Subtle Knife is bland. Damn! I was looking forward to it.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book for all ages.
Review: This is a great page turner for all ages
Rating:
Summary: A worthy successor to "The Golden Compass"
Review: When Dickens' novels were first serialized, anxious crowds gathered at American docks, waiting for each fresh installment from across the ocean. Readers of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" have found themselves similarly looking across the water for its sequel, and after an eighteen month wait "The Subtle Knife" has finally arrived.
"The Subtle Knife" is the second installment in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, in which Pullman has created an alternate universe nearly as vivid and credible as our own. Whereas "The Golden Compass" was set in a parallel world in which bears talk and witches fly, the action of its sequel occurs primarily in our own world. The book introduces a new protagonist, Will Perry, who joins the heroine of "The Golden Compass," Lyra Belacqua, in an eschatological quest for the nature of "Dust" -- subatomic particles which correspond to the mysterious dark matter of modern astronomy. Will and Lyra meet in Cittagazze, a frightening world in which spectres suck the souls from adults, and thus the only fear children have is of growing up.
Reviewers of "The Golden Compass" made inevitable comparisons to Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. While it is difficult for any fantasy book to escape the long shadow of Frodo Baggins, the Dark Materials series admirably avoids the painful kitsch that so often mars Tolkien's work; Pullman's characters seldom burst into song or sigh as they contemplate a noble past where men and elves walked tall and... well, one gets the picture. Indeed, what sets Pullman apart from so many fellow fabulists is his respect for restrained, inventive language. For instance, the following passage describes a spell of invisibility: "True invisibility was impossible, of course; this was mental magic, a kind of fiercely held modesty that could make the spell worker not invisible but simply unnoticed."
I resisted the initial temptation to review the book immediately upon completing it; rather, I passed it off to a friend to compare her reaction with mine. We were in agreement on the verdict: "The Subtle Knife" ranks among the best modern books written in any genre. It is that good.
Rating:
Summary: Well, How Do You Sum Up This Book?
Review: I love reading (well, my English teacher tells me, "You don't know how to read a book.") She's on my list of teachers-i-dont-like. Anyway, this and the Golden Compass are the best books! Anyone who knows me can tell (even if they dont know what the books are or anything). What's that "Lyra Silvertoungue" ever-imprinted on your right hand? they ask, as if i could explain. What's your screen name (GldCmpsGrl) stand for? Could it be Gold Campus or Computer girl? Nope! Everyone should read this book for a couple of reasons: 1. I wouldnt have to answer all those ?s. 2. It's the best book in the world. 3. My friends wouldn't think I was as strange as they do now. 4. I could talk to them about something not stupid. 5. What is all that 'stuff' on ur walls? would be a comment like, cool walls. And the list continues... Oh yea, one last comment, If they change the date The Amber Spyglass is comming out one more time (unless sooner than April) ill scream!
Rating:
Summary: The Magic Continues
Review: In the debate people have over sequels versus originals, I'd have to chalk one up for the sequel camp. Having just read "The Golden Compass", I wouldn't of believed Philip Pullman could top himself, but boy does he ever. The second installment of the "Dark Materials" trilogy begins with the introduction of Will Parry. Twelve years old, smart, and fiercely protective of his Mother, in self defense he commits a murder.Consequently, this sends him on a wild chase that at its' end finds him face to face with our heroine, Lyra. What happens then, and how their individual quests are related through possibly hundreds of worlds is the heart of part two.I loved this book. I loved the addition of Will, and the beautiful friendship he and Lyra develop. I thought the action never let up for a second, and had no idea where it was headed. I also loved the focus moving from just Lyra, as it was in the first book, to ample time with all the other various characters. It made them more tangible, more easy to connect with. The only thing that's misleading about the book is its' reading level.The cover art makes you think you're about to read something lightweight and sugary. A fairy tale to share with the kids. It's not! I would love to give these to my nephew who loves the Harry Potter books, but don't know if he'd grasp all the concepts Pullman is weaving. He's constantly making you question who's bad and who's good. And maybe that's his intention, and it will all be clear in the final book. I can't wait. Cause this one ended as a true cliff hanger.
Rating:
Summary: More gripping.
Review: This is the second book of His Dark Materials (after Northern Lights, or The Golden Compass in the US, and before The Amber Spyglass). Will Parry is a twelve-year-old boy living in Oxford with his mother, who's suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and his cat Moxie. His father, an arctic explorer, has gone missing almost since the boy was born. Will's mother has been facing more and more crises of late, and strangers have been harrassing her repeatedly, asking questions about her husband, about the letters he sent her twelve years ago. Will decides to send her to his old piano teacher's house to keep her safe, but when these men come back and search their home, Will accidently kills one of them. Not wanting to call the police because they would put his mother into hospital, he takes his father's letters from their hiding place in the sewing machine, and flees. But walking on the side of the road, he sees a cat much like Moxie suddenly disappear. Examining the patch of grass more closely, he discovers a window, resolves to cross it, and finds himself in Città gazze, a sun-drenched, palm-treed city on the sea shore, in another world. The city looks as if everyone just left in a hurry though, and when Will is looking for food in the recently abandoned cafés, he stumbles onto a lost young girl, Lyra. Although shocked to see a human without a daemon, and after asking her alethiometer for advice, she knows she can trust Will, and they finally decide to help each other. The rest of the book describes how they travel back and forth between worlds, Will searching for his father, Lyra gathering information about Dust, both making new allies as well as meeting new enemies, facing new, more deadly dangers. I liked The Subtle Knife more than Northern Lights (US title: The Golden Compass), was more gripped by it as a whole. I particularly enjoyed the connections between Lyra's and Will's (our) Oxford, when Lyra discovers what is similar, and what is not, to the place where she grew up. There's still a rather mystic edge to the story which I don't quite get, but I guess everything will clear up in the last chapter.
Rating:
Summary: The middle book of an amazing series
Review: Middle books are hardly ever as good as the first and last but for a middle book, actually, for a book at all, this one is pretty good. Sure, it had some very boring parts involving the witches but the only reson these parts were so dull was because you were so excited to find out what Lyra and Will were doing. This book is also better than the others in some aspects, and entirely different in others.
The subtle Knife continues in the amazing creatures such as daemons that we learned about in the first. Now we are introduced to spectors, soul-eating creatures that only adults can see. I also love the sense of culture-shock for Lyra when she enters our world. It really makes you think-"What would someone from an other world think of the place we live in?" and since we have never known anything else we can barely imagine. But Philip Pullman can. And he gives us an entire view on Lyra's surprises, horrors and joys at this different civilization (us). I also find Will a fastinating character. One of the best things about these books is that none of the characters are perfect and flawless but not so unlikable that you start rooting for the antagonists. Lyra also undergoes such a change over the course of the three novels that it makes you feel like you really knew her.
This is an amazing book and my advice to you is that unless you are majorly religeous or under the age of ten, you should read this book as soon as you can.
Rating:
Summary: Short but sweet, this book is as good as the original.
Review: The Golden Compass ended with Lyra entering another world, practically begging for a sequel. This book, however, opens in our world with the story of Will Parry.
He has a mentally disturbed mother, a father who dissapeared on an expedition to the north years ago, and his cst Moxy. Now his house has been burgled repeatedly by two strange individuals. When our story opens, Will has accidentaly killed one of them. He drops off his mother at his piano teacher's house, and, with a briefcase full of letters that his father sent, heads out of the house. And, lo and behold, he comes across a gatexay to another world: Citagazze, plagued by specters, evil creatures who feed on your daemon, visible or not. But they only attack you if you are beyond puberty, suspicously like Dust. It is in this world that Will meets Lyra, and they set off together. Lyra meets up with some old aquaintances, and Will gets the subtle knife, a weapon with immesurable power. One side of it can cut through any material on Earth, while the other side is sharper still, letting you cut a gateway between worlds.
Definitely a worthy sequel to The golden Compass, this book will have you reading it again, and again, and again. Slightly darker than the prequel, this book will leave you speechless.
Final grade "A+"
Adieu!
Rating:
Summary: Hard to find a fault...
Review: I was unsure as to how I was going to like it for the first five pages or so. That is only because The Golden Compass ends with the title charater heading off into a new world, but this book starts with a completely new character. Lyra showed up soon enough though, so no worries.
I don't want to give anything away, so I will try to be a general as possible. The author does a spectacular job of weaving an incricate tale and at the same time keeping the story moving forward that you don't get lost. Lyra finds herself in a new world with no idea how to do anything for herself. She meets a boy form yet another world who....'gasp'....has no daemon. They befriend each other and evutually are traveling between worlds looking for the answers to the questions of Dust and other 'new' things. The appearance of new character types, such as angels and humans from are world, are a very nice addition. And, just wait until you find out what the "Subtle Knife" can do.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy fiction that intertwines real life themes. If you are a staunch Christian who is easily offended by different takes on theology, then stay away.
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