As I toyed with what I should rate this, I hovered over the 1 and the 2 button. Why am I being so harsh. Let me tell you a story. I've been looking for interesting books to read and have found many of them over the past year. At the beginning of my hunt, someone mentioned Pullman. Eventually I finished all of my other books and got curious about his books. Northern Lights wasn't there. This one was. So I start reading and I can't help thinking there's nothing interesting in this book. The characters, the plot, all seem contrived and even off-putting. I figure it's just me being pesky. So I continue reading. And if possible, it gets even worse. Eventually I just stopped reading (about 100 or so pages in) as I couldn't stand it any longer. This is the first book I've done that with in a good while (the last one being written by Tess Gerritsen). To round up, I found nothing redeeming or interesting about this book. Hence why my mouse clicked on the 1 rather than the 2.