About 50 pages into The Amber Spyglass, it struck me that this series, which gets better and better as it goes along, is something of an anti-Chronicles of Narnia, and that impression had been considerably augmented by the time the book had raced to its close. The Subtle Knife suffers slightly from middle book syndrome, though it does well enough for itself in introducing some important new characters and keeping the central plot moving forward, but from very early on in The Amber Spyglass, one gets the sense that all the pieces are coming together and converging upon a single point, and the pace never flags from there - an extremely good trick for a 500+ page book! This whole series is fabulous - I'm glad I came across it.
(Northern Lights)
