Rating: 
Summary: Different Worlds Just Like Ours
Review: The Subtle Knife is one of the most amazing, mind grasping fantasy ever to be written. It takes you into a world so real that you feel like you are part of their world. Pullman, being the amazing writer he is, weaves into the plot well known stories even from the bible. This book deserves nothing less than a five star. The Subtle Knife has it all, moments of heroism, love, tragedy, and happiness. Phillip Pullman is truly an astounding author.
This second part of Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials, starts off with a boy from a world as we know of, Will Parry, who suddenly finds himself in a situation where he is forced to put his neurasthenic mother into the care of his piano teacher for the sake of her safety. Ever since Will was a little boy, he played a game of invisibility so that the authorities wouldn't find out that Will's mother was mentally unstable and take her away from him. Accidentally having killed a man who broke into Will's house the night after he left his mother who wanted to find out traces of information about John parry, Will's long lost father, Will starts off on his journey with the guilt of being a murderer. Upon noticing a cat go through a nearly invisible window, he decides to follow. He stumbles into a deserted city where he meets Lyra, a girl who is in search for an unknown particle called Dust. Will finds out that Lyra is from another world apart from the two Will knew of. Where Lyra is from, the soul takes the form of an animal called a dæmon. When they are young, the dæmon can take the form of any animal, but when they reach adulthood, their dæmon takes a set form. This animal is part of them, if their dæmon die, the person dies also. Will and Lyra soon come to realize together that this city is in the control of children solely, because all the adults have been attacked by Specters, soul eaters. Lyra's search fort the knowledge of Dust proves to be unsuccessful, at one point she even loses her most prized position, the alethiometer, a truth teller. With Will's help she gets her alethiometer back, but that is in the cost of Will losing two fingers. Will's misfortune proved him to be the new bearer for the subtle knife (a knife that can cute through anything). Lyra changes her whole goal and makes up her mind not to do anything until they found Will's father.
While all this is happening, different clans are siding with Lyra's father for a spirit war against the creator. Lyra and Will are yet to know that they are going to play major roles in this celestial fight against the almighty that was once lost before.
Rating:
Summary: Completely brilliant, deeper than you expected!
Review: This book extends Lyra's journey from The Golden Compass (first book in the series) brilliantly by bringing her world into a context we can more easily understand. I'm fearful of giving away the joy of learning more about this universe, so let me just say that you will NOT be disappointed!This whole series is simply magnificent and the best books I've read since Dune. A good way to compare this series is a combination of Alice in Wonderland/Dune/CS Lewis. These are the best books I've read in years and am not just recommending them to all my friends, I actually purchased Golden Compass for all my friends and family for Christmas this year!
Rating:
Summary: Building suspense...
Review: The second book of His Dark Materials trilogy elaborates on the role of Dust and that of Lyra Belacqua and her new friend Will Parry. Lord Asriel, having opened the way between worlds, has disappeared on his goal to gain ultimate power. Lyra crosses the bridge from her world to the new world of Citagiazze, where Will has also sought refuge, having stumbled upon a window from his own world (that of which we know) to this. The children ally to seek answers and their own destinies. With this book, we discover a whole new face of the plot of this trilogy - one of moral stance. There is plenty more of the suspense and intrigue found in the first book and much more oracular theme. I seriously couldn't put this book down - except begrudgingly when my mom forced me to turn off the light at 12:30 p.m. Honestly, it's that good! For those of you that haven't read this trilogy - I wouldn't miss another day!
Rating:
Summary: my 11 year old son's favorite book
Review: My son liked this trilogy better than Harry Potter. Since it is also good for reading aloud, how can this be anything less than 5 stars?
Rating:
Summary: Majestic Storyteller
Review: Poisoned wine, child-stealing "gobblers", and a missing celestial-observing scientist, only hint
at the suspense and intrigue readers will find in The Golden Compass, Book 1 in the His Dark
Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Young Lyra Belacqua, raised by the scholars of Jordan
College in Oxford, discovers that Roger the kitchen boy, her playmate and friend, is missing.
Propelled into action, spunky Lyra is off on a quest to find Roger and other kidnapped
children. Aided by her shape-shifting daemon, Pantalaimon, and a golden "truth meter" called
an alethiometer, Lyra encounters a golden monkey, a beautiful woman, witches, talking
bears, dust from space, zombies, a silver guillotine, and betrayal. Fast paced action rich with
believable characters and descriptive writing weave a fantasy story with great depth, one you
may never forget. Young adult fantasy readers are in for a sophisticated treat.
Rating:
Summary: The Subtle Knife
Review: This book is one of my favorites. The way Phillip Pullman writes is amazing. this has much more description and emotional depth than the first book in the series, and is a must have for anyone who reads Pullman novels.
Rating:
Summary: The quest continues!
Review: Mysterious people are upsetting Will's sick mother. The house is ransacked and now Will has killed someone in self-defense. Rescuing a green leather case, treasured by his mother, and coveted by the intruders, Will hides it hidden on his person and begins a quest to find his missing father, a former Royal Marine, now an explorer on expedition, believed to be lost. Will meets up with a strange girl he rescues after an accident, and thus begins the play of two different worlds in simultaneous time. A continuation to The Golden Compass, this second novel joins two strong characters, Will from Citagazze and Lyra from Oxford, who jump from one simultaneous world to another to form a friendship joined by common quest. Specters, cliff ghasts, shadows, angels, windows to other worlds, magnetic fields, and witch queens color the tapestry of which this fantasy tale is told. Teen and older fantasy aficionados will enjoy this page-turner from Philip Pullman, entitled The Subtle Knife, the second book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: A Smashing Sequel
Review: The Subtle Knife, by Phillip Pullman is the second book in a three book trilogy. The trilogy is about a young girl named Lyra and her quest to help Will, a boy with as much destiny as Lyra, to find his father. Along the way she encounters soul-eating Specters, and angels that soar the skys. This book really captured me from beginning to end. It was interesting to watch Lyra as she adapts to this new world that she enters. The world she enters is exactly the same as the world that we live in. Lyra has to learn about can openers and how to cook omelets. In sone of the scenes the story stalled, but most of the scenes really kept the story moving, so it rarely got boring. There is one really good chapter where Will and Lyra need to find the Subtle Knife, and Will has to fight someone in order to get it. Unlike the first book, Lyra isn't the powerful girl that she used to be in the first book. That role now goes to Will. Will has his own destiny that he must fulfill. The Subtle Knife is quite a fairly simple read. I'd say for ages 9+. It might take a while to finish, but it sure is worth it it.
Rating:
Summary: a more than worthy sequel
Review: The Golden Compass pulled me in with its wild, spunky heroine, and the wonderful and creative concept of daemons, animal companions that are external manifestations of the soul. More than anything else, it made me want a daemon of my own.
The Subtle Knife brings the story to a whole new level. It introduces moral and philosophical questions that some might say are too heavy for young readers (although I think we ought to give kids more credit). It adds a science-fictiony flavour to the story, which, although far from hard-science, is an interesting twist. It also introduces a second hero, a boy named Will. Yes, he does take a great deal of the focus off Lyra, but let's be fair. She did, after all, have the first book all to herself, and the trilogy is clearly meant to be both of their stories. Besides, Will is every bit as likeable a hero as she is. Best (or worst, depending on whose review you're reading) of all, it pulls our own world into it. How many people, after reading the first book, wished they could cross the bridge into its world? Now Pullman is saying, yes, it's possible to do just that. In the context of the story, anyway.
The plot of this second book focuses more on revelation than actual story development, although the friendship between Lyra and Will is quite touching, and a few characters, some fairly important, die (one of the death scenes actually brought tears to my eyes). Primarily, though, we discover what makes the alethiometer work, what Lord Asriel *really* intends to do, and a lot more about the nature of the mysterious Dust.
And now, the inevitable comparison to Harry Potter. His Dark Materials is much darker, and requires more effort on the part of the reader. The target age group is a little older. Like any number of fantasies aimed at kids (Harry Potter, Narnia, Prydain), it speaks to adult readers just as powerfully. It lacks the commercial appeal of Harry and his wizarding friends, but on the whole, it's a much deeper and more involving tale. At the very least, it's an excellent read for all those who are gnashing their teeth and waiting impatiently for JK Rowling's next effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Nowhere close to the original
Review: Let's face it. Pullman used up all he had 15 pages from the end of Golden Compass. This book is just churning for dough. The wonderful parts of Golden Compass - the characters, scene, and plot - give way to a contrived and pointless mysticism. If only Pullman had been capable of writing an ending to the Golden Compass, we would have been spared this disturbing and shallow read.
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