Awesome book - a complete page-turner. My only issue would be that Lyra seems much more passive than she did in The Golden Compass. She seems to just follow Will around rather than acting for herself. I can understand the idea that she is sacrificing her own desires to help Will accomplish his destiny, but it just seemed a shame to have the female character acting in such a way to a male character. 
 Reading some of the reviews on Shelfari, I have to agree that this book was more of a page-turner than the first one, but had less substance. Certainly, the action moved along quite quickly and a great deal of information was given out about the subtle knife and the Authority, but I guess that because we already know most of the characters, less time was needed to establish them. The result was a more plot-driven book than the first had been. 
 Also, Pullman used variations of the word "wary" far too much in the first dozen or so pages. Other than that, it was a fabulous book and I can't wait to read the third instalment!