2021: Oof. I don't even know what is going on here. It certainly did not live up to its predecessor (which coincidentally, did not live up to ITS predecessor for me).

I mean, it started off okay, but once Pullman introduced the idea that Malcolm was attracted to Lyra, it all went downhill fast. He has watched her grow up! He is eleven years older than her, and was her TEACHER! There's no way I am on board with this new love interest. Also, I know whether or not every single female character is "beautiful" or "not beautiful", but I have no idea about the men. WHY!? Oh yes, patriarchy.

I enjoyed the eternal debate that surrounds all of Pullman's books between the church and the Church, but I must say, the crux of the issue here seems to have already been tackled in the His Dark Materials trilogy. It feels like he's setting up another Adam/Eve/Snake moment, only this time pulling from a new religion/book, rather than the Bible.

This entire plot revolves around other random people finding Lyra at the exact correct time, and she can magically trust them all. It's an infuriatingly straight path that she's on, and the only time it's deviated is to show a "potential" rape scene. It's disgusting, and gives off a "don't go to the Middle East, they will try to rape you there" vibe. Blah!

The book doesn't even end in a cliffhanger, so much as the plot just simply stops. There's not even an ellipsis: the final line of the book is "But Nur Huda tugged urgently at Lyra's right hand, and they hurried together along the colonnade, towards the heart of the ruins." ...??!

Pullman better have quite the finale up his sleeves. Will was dribbled all throughout this storyline, so there's hope, but I don't know...