Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't lose a step.
Review: Pullman continues the His Dark Materials trilogy by opening in our own world, and shifting back and forth during this shortest of the three novels, weaving two parallel stories. The first concerns Will, a boy from the Oxford of our universe, whose sick mother has been pursued by some rather nasty men for a good five years. (Her sickness is never really spelled out, but it sounds quite a bit, from this layman's perspective, like chronic paranoid schizophrenia.) Will stumbles onto a hole between universes while fleeing said nasty men, and when he pops through, he runs into Lyra. The second story involves some of the other characters in The Golden Compass, who are off looking for a chap who's supposedly dead, but is supposed to be playing an important part in the events in which they're all caught up.Once again, Pullman manages to avoid most of the conventinos and pitfalls of the normal fantasy series (ever notice how in trilogies the middle novel drags a bit?). Oddly, he does it by doing what most fantasy series do in book one: setup. It becomes obvious that Iorek and Lee seeking out the mysterious and supposedly dead Dr. Grumman is setup, and if you've read more than three mystery novels in your life, you know what Dr. Grumman's role in it all is by a hundred pages into this book, but it's still fun to watch. Pullman also subverts the genre stereotypes by revealing some of the more concealed setups early on in the book. (When Pullman maps Dust over into our world, you realize just how well you've been played, and the true genius of this series starts to come out...) By the time you've gotten through this installment, you should be onto Pullman's style well enough to see what he's setting up for book three, but by this time, that's less an issue than just watching a master at plotting a work this large doing his thing. And trust me, there are still a few surprises left. *****
Rating:
Summary: Utterly compelling
Review: This second volume of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. There's a whole lot going on here - layer upon layer of plot, character, symbolism, worlds within worlds within worlds, and a deeply religious subtext. A new protagonist is introduced - the young boy Will - who serves as a counterpart to Lyra, upon which the first novel "The Golden Compass" centered. I found Will to be an even more compelling character than Lyra and the two of them together provide a very strong and utterly sympathetic and at times poignant center. The menace that was hinted at in The Golden Compass takes deeper root here (and some of it is quite horrible), as do the Biblical settings and theme. Pullman seems to be creating a battle between morality and evil akin to Milton's Paradise Lost. Some secrets and truths are revealed yet even more is shrouded in mystery. By novel's end you will be desperate to pick up the trilogy's final volume, "The Amber Spyglass". Pullman is quite a writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling,but........
Review: This book is the first one I`ve read,but it won`t be the last.Lyra,Pan,and Will are sort of friends to the reader,and the many enemies are foes.However,The Subtle Knife has some controversial issues about God which as a Christian,I find disturbing.It`s also at times a little hard to grasp. This series has been described as a rival to the acclaimed Harry Potter books,which I also enjoy,and it`s fun to read what Pantalaimon changes into(leopards,goldfinches,mice,moths?)
Rating: 
Summary: A warning to Christain parents
Review: Christain parents whose children may read this book, I would highly recommend that you read this trilogy before your children do. You should be prepared to discuss Pullman's series with your kids after they've read it. The premise of the trilogy is that the Christian God and his heavenly host are in a conspiracy to keep mankind enslaved. Indeed in Pullman's trilogy, the "fallen angels" are the force for good. Most Christian denominations would consider this story line to be questionable at best. I understand that Philip Pullman is an avowed atheist--one who doesn't believe in God--but what does one call someone who sides with the "fallen angels?"
Rating:
Summary: ?
Review: I loved this book! It is outstanding, stunning and much more, I would of gave it a 5 but I couldn't because I thought back and the beginning was pretty boring. Overall, I love Pullman's writing it inspired me to write a fantasy of my own that won a school prize!
Rating:
Summary: It just keeps getting better!
Review: I thought The Golden Compass was good, but this was a real page-turner! I made the mistake of putting it down, and it took me months to pick it up again. It's one of those books where you need momentum, but once you get going, you are reading it every chance you get.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Continuation - and more
Review: I try not to give away any spoilers, but it's not always possible to discuss a book meaningfully without referring to its contents! The Subtle Knife (TSK) is the second published part of the three-volume novel His Dark Materials (HDM). The middle section of a large novel, where the plot strands widen and separate before converging again to the climax, is the hardest to bring off successfully. Philip Pullman (PP) meets the challenge of managing the expansion of his story brilliantly, to the extent that a reader could, should he or she be very pushed for time, skip The Golden Compass (TGC) and launch straight into TSK, confident that there would be no serious gaps. Actually, such a reader would be very foolish, as TGC is full of fabulous things... PP achieves this by the device of introducing a brand-new character, Will Parry, from our world. This allows him to reintroduce Lyra Silvertongue, the heroine of TGC, as seen by Will's eyes. It also gives us the great pleasure of seeing our own world through Lyra's eyes. The parts set in our Oxford are among the most enjoyable in this book, as are the scenes where Lyra and Will initially rub each other up the wrong way. "People wash themselves in my world," Will tells the distinctly unwashed Lyra, an aristocrat who resents being ordered about. It's clear pretty early on how Will and Lyra's relationship will develop and his down-to-earth doggedness is a quality that she clearly lacks. If the character of Will never seems to amount to very much more than strong, silent and loyal, it's because PP uses him as a foil to the mercurial Lyra. PP tries hard to establish Will as a strong lead character, but I can't help feeling that his heart is elsewhere. The other new viewpoint character is a particle physicist from our world, Dr Mary Malone. She is well realised, although she only really comes into her own in The Amber Spyglass (TAS). The other protagonists and minor characters maintain consistency with their previous appearances in TGC. Readers of the earlier book will enjoy the large part played by Lee Scoresby and regret the non-involvement of Iorek Byrnison. If I'm giving the impression that TSK is just a well-managed continuation and expansion of TGC then that's only half the truth. As well as the interactions of the new characters there are the beautifully described haunted city of Ci'gazze and the discovery and use of the Knife itself. There is excitement and wonder and the sense that events are rapidly gathering pace and moving to a grand conclusion. As with TGC, though, the ending is extremely sudden, marring the book as a stand-alone read. It's only fair to add that the theological subtext, which was only hinted at in TGC becomes far more prominent here and may upset some people. To summarise, The Subtle Knife is more than just a bridge between TGC and TAS - it's an exciting and involving read by itself.
Rating: 
Summary: As compelling as the first, but a bit more disturbing....
Review: Philip Pullman still has an incredible mastery of powerful language that brings strong imagery to mind and definitely pulls the reader into the story, and I really appreciate the new character of Will. However, as a deeply religious person, I find the idea of a new rebellion against God -- particularly as strongly advocated as this book seems to make it -- with no positive representation, disturbing. It's one thing to portray a god that is aloof & absent, accurately represented by & responsible for reprehensible 'agents' on the earth, but to use our own Scripture to describe this god tells something that I not only don't believe, but I find offensive to something most important to me. I hope that this is better resolved in the 3rd book.
Rating:
Summary: Improves on Golden Compass
Review: The second book of the His Dark Materials series, The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman is a revelation. It has the excitement of the first book with the added addition of layers and layers of complicated and intriguing ideas sprinkled throughout. It is hard to remember one is reading a book meant for children but then the reader must just remember that this is because the author respects the intelligence of children and it shows in his writing. The intense religiosity and philosophy of the book can be a little daunting at first but then when the ideas and characters begin being moved around like chess pieces it is a wonder to behold. It is hard to imagine how the author can sustain the intensity in the final volume but it will be a joy to find out. This entire book is about quests as all the many (well-developed) characters begin seeminly different quests that end up in the same place. The first book was Lyra's quest, this volume expands the story to epic proportions. An amazing read.
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but not a great one.
Review: When I read THE GOLDEN COMPASS, I was blown away. It was, and is, the best novel I've read in the last thirty odd years. But this sequel doesn't measure up. It's not that it's bad. It's really quite good. I enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it. I think the new character Will Parry is very well done, the worlds he & Lyra explore are fascinating, the Angels are intriguing, and the story advances. But ... At the end of THE GOLDEN COMPASS, Lyra 'Silvertongue' Belacqua had seen Mrs. Coulter and her allies doing immense evil, while Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter's one-time lover and current rival had cold-bloodedly murdered a child for his Cause. Lyra, and the author, seemed equally outraged at both of them, and Lyra vowed to oppose both's efforts. But THE SUBTLE KNIFE begins to take sides between these two villians, and does so without any reasons being given. I can't see any moral difference between them, or why so many automatically trust one side but not the other. Also, some of the people who clearly seem to be intended as 'good guys' don't strike me as at all admirable. And where THE GOLDEN COMPASS was near perfectly plotted, THE SUBTLE KNIFE has several clunkers, e.g. the way in which one major character dies stupidly. It's not given to many authors to write a multiple masterpieces, but THE SUBTLE KNIFE fails to do justice to the book that preceded it. Read it, but be warned.
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