Ok, so the audiobook was a bad idea.

I typically love full cast audiobook recordings. They're like a bedtime story but someone's doing the voices! And the voices here were indeed done, which emphasized how ridiculously irritating Lyra was.

Sigh.

It feels so wrong to call a frightened twelve year old girl irritating, but I promised myself not to sugarcoat reviews so there it is. Lyra's main character trait seems to be saying "the street urchin children are people too and you mustn't be cruel to them!! You mustn't!!" with all the preciousness of a Victorian child university protege. It gets old fast.

I was also surprised by how formulaic and repetitive the events were. Battle, resolution, battle, resolution, battle, resolution, and we've made it! But we made it thanks to many deus ex machinas along the way.

The nostalgia factor wasn't worth it for me. I was hoping to do a reread of the trilogy because I remember really enjoying it as a child but... I'll leave this in my nostalgic past.

Recommended if you're looking for some YA fantasy that features a precocious narrator, multiple battles, and Evil Adults. Two stars because it's objectively decently written but did not resonate with adult-me.