Dark Is Rising, Philip Pullman, Warriors Don't Cry

[Jennifer Piersol]

Amber asked about _The Subtle Knife_, the sequel to _The Golden 
Compass_, which she couldn't get into...

I was a little leery of the second book, because all the reviews I 
read weren't very enthusiastic.  There were a lot of "it's a typical 
middle book - no real beginning, no real ending" type reviews, which 
make sense if you're thinking about it.  There was a lot of story 
action before the events that take place in SK, and there is a lot of 
action in the last book.  But I want to say here and now that I like 
SK (despite the lack of resolution at the end!) just as much (or 
more!) as the GC.  I think it has to do with the fact that we finally 
see an interaction with our "real world" and Lyra's world.  We 
finally find people that don't have daemons.  I look at SK this way: 
this is the book that explains a lot of mysterious things.  You have 
GC, the introduction and the "hook" that pulls you in... you have SK 
that explains a lot and furthers the action enough so that you *have* 
to read the last one, and then you have _The Amber Spyglass_ which 
brings it to a dramatic end.  

If you're not into the series by the end of GC, I have to say that 
you probably won't enjoy the rest of the series as much as if you had 
a deep "relationship" with the characters we've met already.  Of 
course, my favorite characters are the new ones introduced in the 
second book, so I guess my reasoning isn't very solid there.  Give it 
a try - if you have some extra time, it won't hurt you.  However, 
check it out of the library first.  It's not quite as popular as 
Harry Potter, so they probably have a copy available. ;)

Jen (who had a bit of trouble getting through some of _The Amber 
Spyglass_ ... I have no idea how they can market this trilogy as 
children's books... they're MUCH more complicated than anything I 
read before I got into high school at least.)