Eh, not as great as "The Golden Compass." I was really looking forward to exploring the new world with Lyra. "The Subtle Knife" began in our world with a new character, Will. I was not excited by the new storyline. Once I accepted that the 2nd book seemed completely different, I started to be ok with it. I did enjoy Lyra and Will's new friendship. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter did not make enough of a prescence, and there lacked awesome characters meaningful characters, like Iorek and Ma Costa. The ending made me mad with the now blatant war on God from all angles and one other thing that I won't spoil here. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book, eventhough I am somewhat curious to see how Pullman concludes the series.