Instruct: Classify an Amazon review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: I can't bring myself to like this book.

One the one hand, this book, like its predecessor, delivers an exciting story and an imaginary world that is weirdly compelling. On the other, it's often sloppily written and clumsily plotted. For example, I lost count of how many times in the first two books Pullman puts his characters into some tight spot, only to have them rescued by a deus ex machina arriving at the last possible second. This happened over and over again, to the point of comedy.In addition to its creaky mechanics, the book often seems to revel in suffering and violence, and its tone occasionally verges on the preachy. I was involved in this book while I was reading it, but now that I'm done I don't think I'll have the urge to pick it up again.