The Subtle Knife

 The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, 370 pages

Another great re-read! I read through this very quickly, but still managed to discover new things in this reading. This is the second of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy and introduces a new and very important character, Will, who lives in the world the reader knows. He must escape to a different world because he's being pursued and in this world, he meets Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon of the first book of the trilogy, "The Golden Compass". 

Lyra and Will are mistrustful of each other at first, but soon join forces to help each other on their individual quests: Will is searching for his father, who has been lost all of his life. He fears that the men who are pursuing Will and his mother are also searching for his father. Lyra's goal is to right a terrible wrong and she will travel to new worlds to do so. 

Just like in the first book, we are introduced to shadowy and nefarious adult characters, but also adults and witches who are fighting on the side of right. In particular, we once again meet Serafina Pekkala, a witch who has vowed to help and protect Lyra, and Lee Scoresby, an aeronaut who sees Lyra as the daughter he never had. Just like the first book, there are some violent and difficult scenes. The themes of this book are for mature readers, but the writing is complex enough that young readers who aren't ready would also not be able to tackle the reading.

It's interesting to me that some reviewers really dislike Lyra. I find her to be a flawed character, yes, but the mistakes she makes she does because she is young, not because she is mean or unintelligent. I don't know what's not to like about her passion and drive to do the right thing. I can't wait to dive into the third book and was very excited to know that the second prequel to these books (another trilogy, this one titled "The Book of Dust") has been published! While it will be a lot of reading before I can get there, it's worth it to me!