Reviews

2.5 ⭐️
I’m not sure how this book has such a high average rating - it seemed just to be a filler book so this series could be called a trilogy. In the whole 320 pages not much happened, Lyra and Will just seemed to be running around aimlessly the whole time without a clear goal, and when they did have a goal they didn’t do anything to achieve it. There was a lot of info-dumping and build up to this final battle in which I’m not sure which side we as the reader are meant to be rooting for as both sides have been portrayed as being both good and bad?
But there were a few good things, I love Will as a character and the multiple worlds is really explored in this book, I also was a fan of the multiple POVs.

lottie1803's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

cursed10fold's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

trnolan's review against another edition

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4.0

Great sequel even if I was a little spoiled by starting to watch the first few episodes of the HBO show. Wasn't anticipating the further world building and build up to this enormous confrontation in the final book but I'm glad Pullman still put in effort there. Only complaints were some of the typical YA tropes with adults being one dimensional and some of the main characters (looking at your Lyra/Lizzie) growing irksome. Glad I'm reading this series and even without the nostalgia factor it still holds up.

hueofgray's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I think this book really suffers the dreaded middle book syndrome. It’s just so much less engaging as a whole. To clarify it’s still a good book. It got me closer to tears than that last one if that’s worth anything. But it’s just comparatively less engaging than the last. Which is such a bummer as I remember this being my favourite. But bonus points though for introducing Will and Mary I really like those two.

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