***IF YOU HAVEN'T READ BOOK 1, THIS REVIEW WILL BE A MAJOR SPOILER!***
Even if you've read book 1, this review will contain some information from book 2, so spoiler alert there as well. :)
After reading this book I discovered something. My last post is accurate for that book...maybe...but doesn't seem accurate for the entire series. Why do I say that?
CONTROVERSY TIME!!!
In The Subtle Knife, there are 2 main sides with Lyra and Will (the newest addition to the main character list) not quite on either of them, but leaning more to one. Side one: Leader is Mrs. Coulter, Lyra's mother. She represents the church. She's created a zombie army by cutting out people's souls and is out to destroy Dust (or Shadow Particles) and "save" Lyra. Side two: Leader is Lord Asriel, Lyra's father. He is out to destroy not just the church, but the Authority, God. Creatures, people, and angels (the ones fallen from heaven) are traveling from many worlds to help him in his quest.
Obviously in the book Mrs. Coulter is the bad guy. She's taken people's souls from them for example. She is so charismatic that the specters, which suck out the souls of adults don't bother her. Instead, they obey her every whim.
On the other side, you have some of the witches who decide they will follow Lord Asriel and destroy the church. Jopari (aka Dr. Grumman) is on Lord Asriel's side. He goes as far as trying to convince Will (who is actually his son) to abandon Lyra to help Lord Asriel.
Based on this book and the one previous I have to say there is some merit to the idea he wrote this book as an anti-religious text. The "good guys" are trying to destroy not only the church, but God. Before I make my final opinion on the matter, however, I will have to read the next book.
Again, moving past the controversy, the book is well written. I could barely put it down. I finished it the same day I started (I had lots of free time at work!).
The whole "what time is it, what's going on with the church, etc" issues, including the terminology problem, gets resolved before the book even begins. The first page says that Lyra's world is a world much like ours, but different. Will's world is ours. Even Will and Lyra have issues when trying to explain the same thing. So, the fact everything was ALMOST the same but slightly different now makes sense. I can even live with the new words he put out there.
Will and Lyra travel between 2 worlds, earth as we know it, and the one with the specters. Then there's also travel back into Lyra's world (though not by Lyra or Will). According to the book, there are MILLIONS of worlds out there. Everything seems to be happening in the specter world for the time being.
Overall, I think I'd still recommend the books, regardless of the controversy.
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