The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials 2), Philip Pullman

It took me a long time to get through this one. Too many other things to do I guess. I was a little disappointed in the second installment of this series, especially since I liked the first book so well. In this story, Lyra Silvertongue is joined in her travels by a teenage boy named Will. They have several hairy adventures, jumping between this world and the next. It must have been character building time during this book because the action didnt really start until the last 100 pages or so. If it hadn't done so, I would not have been interested in getting the last book in the series. I was little puzzled also when the author decided to kill off two of the best supporting players in the last 50 pages of the book. Didn't make sense, not even for shock value. I will let you know how the last book goes, hopefully better than this one. Perseverance. That's all I can say.