The Amber Spyglass

Philip Pullman brings The Amber Spyglass to the spellbinding "His Dark Materials" sequence, which dazzles everyone who reads it, children and adults alike. After the original Northern Lights, he kept up the quality in The Subtle Knife, the second title in the trilogy. Now he brings the series to an extraordinary conclusion. Will and Lyra, the two children at the heart of the books, have become separated amidst great dangers. Can they find each other, and their friends? Then complete their mysterious quest before it's too late? The great rebellion against the dark powers that hold Lyra's world, and many others, in thrall is nearing its climax. She and Will have crucial parts to play, but they don't know what it is that they must do, and terrible powers are hunting them down.

The pace of the book is compelling, the writing powerful. Pullman's plotting is intricate and cunning, surprising the reader again and again. Perhaps what is most striking of all, however, is the depth of the characterisation. Lord Asriel, Mrs Coulter, Iorek Byrnison the king of the armoured bears, a host of minor characters, most of all Will and Lyra themselves: the book is a library of beautifully drawn, remarkably convincing characters walking in worlds of marvels.

In this volume the cosmic dimensions of the story become more prominent, as a great conflict across many universes comes to a head--how well the narrative sustains such immensely weighty resonances is a question critics may well disagree on. The author's beliefs also come more into the open, and with them a polemic anti-religious theme that will please some readers and alienate others.

Philip Pullman's writing commands immense respect; more than that, it is raising the profile of the best children's books among adults, as demanding critics of all ages fall in love with this remarkable trilogy. --David Pickering

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Overrated - Rated
Although I generally enjoyed the trilogy there was a steady decline as you read each book. Whereas the first book is excellent the reader may get sidetracked by Pullman's strong atheist views which start to get on your nerves. I feel he should have concentrated more on the story rather than his viewpoint. Saying that there are some nice parts in this last book and the ending is a good one for the trilogy.

eventual satisfaction - Rated
Some of the reviews of 'His Dark Materials' seem to show disappointment that a promising Potter-esque fairytale concludes with a fractured essay on existence. For me, it has the opposite effect. 'Northern Lights' was OK, but it never really grabbed me. I kept going because I trusted that the series would eventually say something, and it did.

'The Amber Spyglass' is a wonderful meditation on the nature of life. It is healthily anti-theist without ever making its message obvious and preachy. The chapters concerning Mary Malone's stay in a bizarre parallel world could have been an irritating diversion, but they're the most beautiful, convincing passages of the whole trilogy. If they ever get round to filming it, they'll have a tough job converting it into a family-friendly Christmas movie.

Easily the most satisfying book of the three.

A great disappointment - Rated
I have just finished reading this final book in the trilogy & frankly I feel cheated at the abrupt and unsuprising ending! I enjoyed the first book & agree with other comments that it is best read as a stand alone novel. The second book is merely a middle section, but unfortunately this final novel does not really draw a satisfactory conclusion after the build up of the 3 books! I do not agree with others that the love between Lyra & Will was a suprise as it had been obvious to me since their meeting. However after the entire story had been built around these two pivotal characters I had at least expected a spectacular conclusion which tied together the many threads of the story. Unfortunately it appears that the author simply ran out of ideas and after fighting many insurmountable obstacles our hero & heroine simply bow out like little lambs. It seems a shame that after all the complex themes of the book the ending was such an anti-climax

A poor ending to a thought provoking trilogy - Rated
Whilst I enjoyed 'Northern Lights' as an interesting, pleasantly entertaining piece of fantasy writing, I became increasingly disappointed as the trilogy progressed. Once the action shifted into 'our world' in the 'Subtle Knife', I had difficulty viewing it as a piece of fantasy and then by the 3rd book, once Pullman had began his anti-christianity diatribe at the expense of meaningful story and plot, I was completely underwhelmed. As a Christian, it would be easy to feel threatened by the book that points to Satan as the saviour of all worlds but it is not that good a book to be remotely bothered by!

I must be missing something. - Rated
I'm not going to beat around the bush with this review. This book was awful! I had gone into the series with much trepidation because no-one, and I repeat no-one with whom I had discussed the series, had liked it. However I must admit to rather enjoying the first book - The Golden Compass. It moved along at a reasonable pace, the story was taut and I could identify with enough of the characters to ensure that I read it quickly and was eager to move onto The Subtle Knife. This was more disappointing than the first with a number of bits that didn't seem to make much sense but that was nothing to what transpired in the final volume - The Amber Spyglass. Almost nothing in the final book made any sense whatsoever. Characters and events introduced with no warning and with no necessity. The 'story' seemed to fly off at too many tangents to be coherent and I had frankly lost all empathy with the lead characters before the book's ending. However I do think that the ending has something to recommend it. It was the end and I will NEVER have to re-visit this series again. My recommendation? Read the first volume and pretend that it's a stand-alone book and never dirty your bookshelves with the remaining two.