This book and all the others in the series have a wonderful message. People talk about the message of "killing God" you obviously did not read the book or have not been educated enough to understand anything. I am a christian and do not find it at all offensive. The children release "God"/"The Authority" as he is called in the book from a prison that he has been encased in so that he could now be apart of everything. And he was being worshiped and used as a form of control through the churches when in reality he was not the real God the real God was never seen in the book only eluded to as the creator of dust and how he created dust which then created everything else...and the authority lied to everyone else claiming to have created it himself when he was himself created. Please read these books and allow your children to read it. It has an interesting twist and story that in timeless and should be read by anyone. Do not give into letting others dogmatically look at the book and please come at it with a fresh mind and openness to let yourself be transported to another world and time to truly enjoy this wonderful story set.

ok, i am catholic. I go to church every sunday. THIS IS NOT THAT BAD OF A BOOK. the whole "god is enemy" plotline is not that bad. They don't even say "god" in the book. They never say "god is our enemy". so, what's so bad about it? it's a really good book, and i enjoyed it.

Better than the first book, and don't worry about the message. This book has a wonderful messages about friendship, independence, freedom and thinking for oneself. The book is fast-paced -- I couldn't put it down. I loved it and my kids loved it as well.

Even though the story is well written, I was deeply disappointed to see the direction this book was going. God is the bad guy! This will send a deeply conflicting message to youth who choose to have faith in God. I felt the story was very anti-religious (regardless of what faith a person may belong). This story is more appropriate for older youth who are grounded in their faith. I was very disappointed as the story developed.

These books are riveting! I loved all 3 in the series. Definitely read them in order to understand the sequence. I love the strong female character and the platonic relationship between her and the boy. I also love the animal alter-ego idea.

If you loved THE GOLDEN COMPASS, then you'll love THE SUBTLE KNIFE, seeing as it's so much better. There's not really anything to say here, besides that it's an amazing book.

how can you say that?! Lyra's ability to lie convincingly DOESN'T teach kids it's OK to lie! and does it say anywhere in the book "It's OK to worship the devil! it's a good thing!"? NO! you are such an idiot. My mom is VERY christian and she LOVES this book! this is one of the best books ever written.

great, great, great book. i love how it turns everything you know about everything completely on its head. there are a couple of boring parts but they are few and far between and are worth the great story.

The best part was how there is action from page 1 all the way to 326. There was a little violence that may not be suitable for >13 including the fight for the knife where will looses his ring finger and pinky. This was amazing and I have just started on book 3. Language is the usual 4-letter words found in most literature with English characters. I hope the last book is as good as this one.

One of the BEST books I have read! Full of suspense and twists that you'll want to read the amber spyglass imediately! A fair amount of blood and violence makes it suitable for 12 and up.

This was the best book I ever read!

Its sad that if the author wouldn't have put so much athiesm in it it would have most likely been a good book. but he had to ruin it with his anti christian views. I mean the little girls ability t o lie, to me thats telling us that its okay to lie. and to be graphic and violent. this book is not good to read if you want to be confused between whats right and wrong. they are most definitley wrong bout it being for kids and teens. Its just trying to tell us its okay to disobey are parents,lie,cheat,kill,to worship the devil.I mean who in the world would want everything good to be bad and bad to be good????I don't! I must say I'm ashamed to have read the first book and i'm most def not reading this one!!!!

I read this series in 5th grade at age 10. There was a lot of ruthlessness and the knife is a very scary sharp weapon which can cut through anything, possibly even your soul. It did not give me nightmares and I rather enjoyed it, but the parents should know their kids or at least not give this series to them if they are under 11 o so. Its interesting though and has a completly different prespective on things.

It's really good, and I really like the way that it reaches back to the origin of chrisianity. Somehow it makes it different and more interesting then most books. I also like the way it got much more complicated then "the golden compass". Now you really feel the tension and want to go on.

After reading the first book, I wasn't sure if I would read THE SUBTLE KNIFE. Now, I'm glad I did! Masterfully constructed with a fast paced plot and alot of emotion!