Yong (8/26): The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Whoa. If The Golden Compass didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations I'd been led to have for it, this second book makes up for it, and with a vengeance. Where the first book turned out to be a fairly straightforward fairy tale, this sequel is in a whole different league in laying claim to the adjectives gripping, intense, and dark. Lots and lots of dark. And if the first impressed me with the kinds of real life science and theological issues it tackled, it was barely a taste of ambition and scope that Pullman fully unleashes here. I actually did a doubletake when I realized just how much he was attempting to bite off.

Two caveats: Did I mention this book was dark? In the library in Canada, it surprised me that they'd filed the first book not in the children's section but in adult science fiction. In our library here in Alameda, the opposite surprises me, that book two is actually found in juvenile fiction. The second caveat is religious. I'd read articles defending Pullman from attacks by the religious right and agreed in principle. But now that I've read book two--and without knowing where it's all going yet in book three--I can definitely see how some Christians might see the can of worms Pullman is ripping open and be a bit taken aback. To say the least. Is he Christianity's Salman Rushdie? I'm heading to the library to get book three to find out.