Second book in a series. That usually says a lot ust by it self. In this case the second book is a little better than the first one, but not that much.
I am a slow reader, but fantasy attracts me, so I feel that I read fantasy books faster than other genres. But this one feels too slow to me (just like the first one did).
A friend once described the LotR movie to me as a 3 hour movie, where 2 guys go from point A to point B.
But in the LotR books, that's not all that happens, there is that great world Tolkien imagined.
But in this series is just little pieces great worlds, mixed and matched with little pieces of our world, created with a little bit of sci-fi theory, a theory that usually call theory of the multiverse (physics call it string theory I think).
And all that good versus evil, that to me just feels like choosing a lesser evil, but we don't even know who is the bad guy...
At the end of book one, we get the feeling that we will have a man vs god battle, and that Lyra will decide the result.
At the end of book 2, when all the characters talk about a great battle of man (Lord Asriel) vs God I get the feeling that it's really a battle of science (actually represented as a being, Dust) vs god. And please stop the Adam and Eve hints. I know that it will somehow end up with Lyra and Will kissing (and not more just because this is a children's book after all). ( )

Can't put my finger on why I don't love it. I am interested to finish the next book, but I really don't care much for it. ( )

THE PLOT THICKENS. This book turns the amps up to 11 and greatly widens the thematic scope of this trilogy. Think this was just a fun adventure based fantasy series? NOPE. ( )

I found myself confused mostly--also for teens. ( )

In some ways, less compelling than the first of the series. The mythology of the first one, I guess, was more interesting to me. I also liked the side characters from the first better—Iorek Byrnison, John Faa, Farder Coram—and the cultures they represented.

That said, this book was still a good one. The action & pacing were steady, and the suspense perhaps even increased. I'm ready for the next, to finish the series. ( )