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

Lyra's desperate adventures continue as she passes into a world called Cittàgazze, where she meets a boy named Will, destined to become the Bearer of the Subtle Knife, which can cut anything, even the boundaries between worlds. Meanwhile, the nefarious Mrs. Coulter is out to stop Lyra from fulfilling her destiny, everyone is after the knife, and Lord Asriel is amassing the greatest army ever gathered for an assault on The Authority who is, well, God. And as happened once before, the angels are lining up on both sides.

Nonstop action and stunning imagination make this a more-than-worthy sequel. In fact, these two elements make this even better than The Golden Compass, its astonishing predecessor. First, this book starts with a bang and never lets up. Second, this book showcases Pullman's incredible imagination. The author writes poetically, and with a scope of vision that goes far beyond that of ordinary fantasy, and which is, at times, astonishingly reckless and even bizarre. Readers not only experience the beauty of his words, but the excitement of seeing just how far he can and will go. The relative simplicity of Pullman's lyricism is what makes this trilogy accessible to bright tweens and teens, while still challenging adults. The ambition and the sheer audacity of this series are breathtaking.