This is the second book in the Dark Marterials trilogy that started with The Golden Compass which I read a few months back. Lyra discovers two more worlds, one of which is our (real) world. The three worlds are three simultaneously existing worlds in parallel universes.
I mentioned previously that I don't go in for the fantasy stuff because so many people actually believe (or profess to believe) in it. It's sort of like the Bible. It's so beautiful when it's looked as like any other book -- but when people say they actually believe this stuff, ya can't help wondering if they're serious. Still, this story was quite intriguing.
Centuries ago Plato's Socrates asked a question: Is a thing good because the gods love it, or do the gods love it because it's good. This is a profound question, really, because what it's getting at is whether goodness is a limitation of the gods. Christians think they can get around this by saying, "Well now, God IS Good...it's his Nature." But it doesn't really answer the question. An objective observer reads some silly stuff in the bible and thinks, "Wow! That was pretty evil!" But the Christian thinks he's addressing it by saying either "Well, mere humans are not capable of understanding God!" or "It must be Good! God did it!" Of course neither of those are even close to a sufficient answer.
Pullman is probably not the first person to compare the myths of Satan and Prometheus. Another name for Satan, after all, is Lucifer. The real god, the creator is a pretty nasty, petty creature, who demands blind subservience and wants everyone to be mean and petty like him and to remain ignorant and suffering. Lucifer wants to make us happy and wise. Lucifer may have lost but his protege is Lyra's father (who may actually be Lucifer reborn...not sure about that).
In this second story, Lyra meets up with someone is sure to become her love interest. We also think we've discovered what her father's ultimate purpose is. (He's Prometheus, of course.) Apparently the only way to stop ignorance and make the universe just is to kill the creator god and the subtle knife is the thing that can do that.
As I read this story, I was reminded of a movie I saw called "Rapture." It was a pretty good flick: erotic but also thought-provoking. God exists, but he tortures people and those people who aren't willing to sacrifice their children lose out in the end. (Really, if you haven't seen this movie, rent it and enjoy it.)
I'm not much into the mystical crap, but as a story this book is as good a response to C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia as Twain's Letters from Earth was to Lewis's Screwtape Letters . (Yes, I'm aware which was written first. Don't be silly.)
The story is interesting and the writing acceptable, though predictable and a little formulaic.
