After reading the first 2 books which were really good, I was looking forward to this one. The storyline in this book has gotten very complex and to tell you the truth, I'm getting a bit annoyed. Since there are so many things going on, every chapter is in a different location with different people (One chapter its Will and Lyra, another chapter its Asriel, Dr. Malone...) and I don't like this!!! I like to read something everyday and get a complete meaning but with this book, I have to read like 10 chapters before I can get some meaning of what they are doing! I guess that Pullman was very clever by doing this because it makes the reader want to read further. Aside from the fact that it jumps from seen to seen, this book is pretty good.
Technical Stuff
I'm guesing that I am only one third of the way through the rising action because it sounds like this book is going to take a long time to reach its climax. The main protagonists in this book are Lyra, Will, and Dr. Malone. There are many other protagonists they are not mentioned that often. The antagonist in this book is god. Yes, that's right god. Unlike many other books, the main antagonist in this book doesn't have many scenes. So far in the book he hasn't been in any scene! Another main antagonist is Lord Regent. Lord Regent is sort of like a "vice-god" but has currently taken over most of god's power. Lord Regent has also not appeared many times although is his talked about by other characters. The main conflict in this book is tricky to identify. I would say that it is man vs. man because it is a conflict between good people and bad people. One could argue that it is also man vs. self because of the many times where Will keeps having to keep his thoughts away from his mother. Will also has to argue with himself to make tough choices. Lyra is also an example of man vs. self because she argues ad discussed with her daemon a lot and here daemon is basically herself. This book is written from a third person point of view because it always refers to characters as him, her or they.
