Review: Enjoyable
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 3, 2013
This book was an enjoyable read but not as good as Volume 2 of the series. Lyra went on multiple mini quests to recover information, and the books. All of these mini adventures were interesting in that knew worlds were opened to the reader, that made the story somewhat interesting. However, in all honesty this book lacked the ability to keep my interest for extended periods of time. I frankly had to motivate myself to sit still long enough to get through it. The biggest flaw for me, was that several times the author broke the logical rules that she had set up in previous books, or that was just so outlandish it did not make sense. I understand this is a fantasy book, but there are still some basic rules and laws that are created in this fantasy world, and it feels that several times these were overlooked. By the end of the book, what should have been the climax in my opinion was an anticlimax. I wont spoil it by revealing the details here, but it's a prime example of where the rules set up were broken. At least in this book, it became more clear that magic has some sort of cost, but then there are magical ways to restore the magic, and viola the characters are up and running again as if they are back to normal. At least Lyra, does not seem to suffer any from using her magic. In addition, this book was riddled with grammar issues, which could be overlooked, but it felt as if the book and the story and the telling was rushed. The pace of the book is also off, in that the rhythm and the flow of the text and chapters do not match.As for family friendliness, it still rates a 1 out of 5, for the same reason as the previous books. There are R rated sexual scenes that are inappropriate for children and young adults. This book is written for a mature audience.