Home :: Books :: Science Fiction & Fantasy  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3)

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3)

List Price: $6.50
Your Price: $5.85
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 .. 70 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Excllent Ending to A Fantasic Series!
Review: Phillip Pullman has now become one of my all time favorite authors. After writting the pervious two novels in His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass and The Subtile Knife), I eargerly bought The Amber Spyglass.

With his tradmark flare and skills, Pullman creates a dark, wonderful and tragic ending to his triology. It picks up right where The Subtile Knife left off. From the first chapter on, there's no rear-view mirror on the Pullam car. The War between Heaven and Hell starts and our young heroes learn the vaules of love and loss, good and evil, and the most important aspect, the complex characterzation of man.

There are no words that can describe how excellent and rewarding this series is. You just have to read it for yourself! And good news for all us His Dark Materials junkies: The long-awaited "Lyra's Oxford" will be availble toward the end of this month. We will get a first-hand glance at Lyra's new life after the Triology and a detailed look at Pullman's fictional Oxford.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not as good as the second but better than the first
Review: I liked the Golden Compass and I REALLY,REALLY LOVED the Subtle Knife, but this book was not up to par with the Subtle Knife. Also alot of it was kinda disturbing, i dont like the idea of 12 year old lovers, creeps me out. And his ideas or theories in the book about dark matter and such, are kind of silly to me, im a physics major, but it was cute.

Im not sure that I understood all of it, Dr Malone was to go through the window to do something, but how she do it. Was it just telling them stories? I thought she was supposed to tempt them. I didnt get that part. I did love her friends though, the mufla, oh i forget how it was spelled, but how cute were they? I love the way Pullman has her friend Atal ask questions about humans because they're so freakish.

The end of this book, though, is just retarded, he is just trying to drag out some drama from this story, like these poor kids need any other bad things to happen to them. It upset me that he split them up, they could have found a way. Splitting them up like that after, well i wont say to give away part of the story.

If you have read the other two read this book to get closure, dont expect it to be better than the second though.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Breathtaking Masterpiece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Philip Pullman's last installment of his Dark Materials masterpiece stands high above the previous two books.Pullman builds this phenomanal world through his books which fully captivates the reader. Pullman artfully ties up the loose ends from his previous books creating suspense which builds to a massive climax near the end of the book. The best thing about the Dark materials trilogy is the different levels at which you can read it. You must remember that the book was aimed originaly at children and you can definitely see the appeal it has to children through Lyra and Will's adventure, one which many kids will envy. To escape to another world! Do not pay attention to stuffy reviews about the blasphemy and anti Catholic theme of Pullman's writing. Although he displays many theological and metaphysical ideas in his world,some of which are anti-
Church,they do not actually affect the story in any way. The fact is if you put those ideals to the side you still have a great book!

The only fault of the books is that it ends!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Book I ever read, hands down!
Review: This book is amazing and twice as good as any harry potter book. The tons of plot twists and wonderful characters bring this book to life. It's much more intense and detailed than most other fantasy books I've read. The ending brought me to tears. I recommend it for older readers, probably above 12. You won't be disappointed!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cool!
Review: I only give it four stars cause it's very wordy and not as fast reading as Harry, Artemis or Playtrain. But very very cool, and just as good!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Heartbreaking
Review: This is quite possibly the most heartbreaking thing I've ever read. While not necessarily my favorite of the series, this does bring the trilogy to a satisfying, yet bittersweet ending. At times it does move a little too slowly, but the end comes at break-neck speed. You won't be disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: really powerful
Review: So much of the first and second book foreshadowed the third book, so if Philip Pullman did not pull it off right, then he would have made a real let down of a closure. However, with his great writing skills and able storytelling, he keeps the reader's rapt attention. This book does not have to introduce any major new character from the beginning, so the action just runs throughout the whole story and takes you right along with it. I was amazed at the connection that I felt with the characters, but especially near the last moments of the book. I really love books when I feel I can relate to them, and this book has something for everyone to connect to. It is one, if not the best ending book of a trilogy, I am pretty sure he is not writing another, that I know of. I highly recommend this whole series. However, if you have read the second I can only say this. Read on, read on.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: What was That??!?!
Review: ive read quite a few other reviews of this book and i was fairly suprised at the differences in reviews. Some people seem to praise Philip Pullman as a God and i can just about see why they would. However i read a few reviews which disturbed me slightly. I think it is right to say that the Christian faith gets attacked in the books and i feel for people with a strong christian faith but some people can take it a bit too seriously. I read one review where someone said Philip Pullman was aiding satan in his battle against God and wants to go to Hell. People have also said that The His Dark Materials trilogy is evil (some of these will be the same people who burnt Harry Potter books for ,as far as i can see, unknown reasons.) Now i can see why people would see these books as anti-christian propoganda but i also think the christian faith has thrown around some pretty awful propoganda around the last few years. I feel that the Christian faith does force its views down your throat a bit too excessively (a picture comes to my mind of a red faced priest yelling at 7 year olds about how they will burn for all eternity if they do not confess their sins.)
Anyway as far as the book goes i thought it had some very powerful descriptive and emotional writing (i almost cried at one point much to my anger as id never cry at anything so corny)
but also had some blaitant attacks on the christian faith and also had a very dissapointingly weak battle. I was expecting a huge fight but all i got was a few beings made of light being set on fire an angel so powerful and feared which annoyingly could be destroyed by two human beings and some ghosts fighting other ghost type beings and less heavy weapony than i could find in my own kitchen.

However the thing that annoyed me most were the extremely unrealistic coincidences. How the hell do 4 different people on 3 different journies end up in the same world out of 1,000,000s of different worlds?
Oh and i never really understood where that bit about Lyra being tempted came in and wasnt Mary supposed to tempt her (she was told to play the serpent, which if im not mistaken was the creature which was supposed to tempt Adam and Eve/ Will and Lyra, but that part of the story never came about.

After the book i felt moved by the nice but corny ending but after a while i became annoyed.

In short i dont know what the books were about at all and i am left deeply disturbed as most books give you some sort of closure. it was as if the books didnt follow on at all!

Anyway read the trilogy as its some of the most powerful writing youll have the chance to read but dont be suprised if your left shouting "WHAT ... WAS THAT!!" at the end of the trilogy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent read... beautiful book
Review: I was unsure if I could capture the magnificence of this book in a review, but when I saw how so many have needlessly attacked it, I thought I should compensate. Seriously, my friends, if a mere (but yet in numerous ways, phenomenal) fantasy novel could tarnish the standpoints of one with confidence whatever their religion, then this person surly would have lost faith long ago, or was bound to. Even children know when to separate fantasy from reality, and that is why the harsh criticism of the Harry Potter series is also ludicrous. It is most obvious in the many worlds with kingdoms of speaking armored bears, bands flying of witches who travel from parallel universe-to-universe, inner daemons that we can see if we try, and amazing and unlikely adventure that this is a genuine fantasy story.

One can not overlook the beautiful side of humanity that Pullman has also emphasizes- such as pure, innocent and honest love, goodness that we all can share that is unlimited by a higher power, that no matter how twisted and cruel a person may have been in the past- that person may change his outlook on the world because of natural inner-goodness that will always shine through, and that in some way, we are all connected through our thoughts and legacies. If any message is received by kids who have read this series, it is that no matter what shocking truths that have yet to be discovered, what evil there is in an all to close universe or even in our own lives, whatever conflicts we may face- we are still humans, and we possess the most powerful emotions and drives that make life worth living. This book was my favorite in the series because it presents a comforting meaning for life in whimsical way. You may be entitled to your opinions, but you're definitely missing out on a quality experience.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Thrilling and Adventurous
Review: The book "The Amber Spyglass" is an amazingly thrilling and surprising novel, full of adventure and betrayal. Though it does somewhat critizise the Chistian religion it is still enjoyable for both children and adults. if you are a fan of action and adventure books this is definatly the book for you. Comparing this to famous Harry Potter leaves him predicable and unrealistic. Pullman throws you into a thriling, detailed, and complex story from the first words. Will and Lyra are in greater danger than ever before, and old and new chacacters add to the unpredicable plot. In this book that proceeds "The Subtle Knife" you will learn who captures Lyra, who returns from the previous books, and whether Lord Asriel succeeds. With a breathtaking and exciting close you will never be able to put "The Amber Spyglass" down.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 .. 70 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates