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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

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than the first three...a pity it's over.
Review: It is truly a pity that the trilogy is over. Never have I read such an amazing, heartbreaking story. I felt like I was right there with the characters, with Lyra and Will and Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter and the rest of them, from beginning to end. The ending was very sad, and it made me cry, but it was SO real. Pullman has a talent I could never imagine. I would never have thought that Mrs. Coulter loved Lyra, and tried to help her, or that Will and Lyra would accept the fact that they had to part. It is the most wonderous trilogy written in years, and I doubt anything better will be written in the years to come.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I simply loved this book! I couldn't put it down for the life of me! I found it to be even better than the first two in the series, and that's saying something. The Amber Spyglass is full of breath-taking action, intriguing new characters, mystery, surprises, suspense, and above all, intense emotion. The thing literally moved me to tears! I really felt for almost all of the characters, even the secondary ones (and even Mrs. Coulter, whom I couldn't decide whether to despise or admire). I also loved the morals in this book and the way it led me to think about what is wrong in our world. I just can't get over how amazing and powerful Pullman's writing is! If only everybody would read this book, the world would be a better place.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Caution: This book may not be what you expect
Review: I have nothing but praise for Philip Pullman's style and skill as a storyteller. However, I feel a warning is in order, in view of the fact that the book has been classed as juvenile fiction. I believe that there are some potential buyers of this book who would want to know that--despite the vital role played by angels in the story line--"The Amber Spyglass" reveals that the universe Mr. Pullman has created in this trilogy is most definitely *not* the kind of universe envisioned by other noted fantasy authors to whom his work has been compared (Madeleine L'Engle, JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis, to name three). To say more would reveal too much of the plot. However, I strongly recommend that parents of young people who are reading this book also read it themselves and then discuss it--and the feelings that its premise may evoke--with their children. I would not give this book to anyone under the age of 14.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Amazing Work of fiction!
Review: Pullman once again takes us to his magical universe with Lyra, Will, Mrs. Coutler, Lord Asriel, and Dr. Mary. In the beginning of this book Lyra is traped under a powerful sleeping spell my no one else than her own mother. And Will (my favriote charecter), with the help of two guardian Angels must find her before the people of the Church do. This book answers all the questions about dust, and the subtle knife.

With charecter's you can't help fall in love with and others you never know when to trust or not ::coughMrs.Coutlercough::, The Amber Spyglass is an amazing book and well worth the 2 year wait! It's now one of my favriote books on my shelves. If you've read the first two books reading this is a must!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Writing and Thought Provoking
Review: This series of books is about free will, the relationship between man and nature, the oppressive nature of dogmatic ideology, and the ambiguous effects of scientific knowledge. It is also a superbly written and at times poetic fantasy novel. Written for older children, this series can be read by all ages and in terms of themes, is really an adult work. Admirers of Pullman's ability to create imaginative landscapes and characters will not be disappointed. In one crucial respect, the construction of this book differs from its predecessors. rather than concentrating on a single character to carry along the narrative, The Amber Compass has overlapping plotlines which Pullman handles quite competently. It is also a thicker and more complex book than its predecessors. The ending is satisfying, thought provoking, and complex. It is claimed that Tolkien's aim in The Lord of the Rings was to produce an articulated mythology for the English speaking world. In many respects, Pullman's work accomplishes that end more effectively than Tolkien in this richly detailed work of art. Where Tolkien aimed to produce a Romantic view of the past, Pullman has developed a mythology for our age.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not disappointing, but too sprawling
Review: I, also, anxiously awaited this book's publication, and stayed up all night to finish it. Although I enjoyed reading it, it didn't have the tight and seamless plotting that I enjoyed in the first two books. There were scenes that seemed too lengthy or even unnecessary. This was especially true of the epic laborious journeys that characters kept making to reach each other, purportedly to share crucial information; they usually had little new to tell. The ending, also, seemed to drag on too long; while I must admit I hated for it to end, it would have been more powerful with tighter editing. Despite these complaints, I found the writing beautiful, the plot moving, and the ending ultimately satisfying. Not as good as the first, but a worthy conclusion. (P.S. By the way, British writers *can't* win the Newbery.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another Marvel for Pullman!!!
Review: Pullman has done it again with his new novel "The Amber Spyglass." Once more, he has written a work of true power and beauty, creating worlds that scream to made into a major motion picture. "The Amber Spyglass" is a story of revolution and of sacrifice that brings the story of Lyra and Will to its logical, and heartrending, conclusion. It focuses primarily on the story of Dust and on Lyra and Will and, while there is a beautifully described epic battle scene and struggle, leaves the story of Lord Asriel's war against the Church and the Authority dangling at the end. Also, the character of Mrs. Coulter, probably my favorite storybook villian, undergoes a slightly unbelieveable change of heart that makes her final role in the story (I won't tell!!) a little bit weak and confused. However, the overall story is marvelous and is sure to become a modern classic, enjoyed by future generations of both children and adults. "His Dark Materials" could not ask for a better conclusion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Stunning Conclusion
Review: For the past two years, I've been wondering how Phillip Pullman would pull off the conclusion to his ambitious trilogy. How would he explain the subtle knife, the Specters, the angels, how would the complex motivations of Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter be resolved? What would Lyra do? How would they all coalesce? I felt in my heart that he had set his sights too high and the final novel would fail its promise. Well, it hasn't. The Amber Spyglass has crystallized for all of us to see Pullman's vision of heaven, the underworld, and the relationship of "god" and people, good and evil, to it all. I didn't realize until beginning this book that Pullman had undertaken a retelling of Paradise Lost (maybe I'm just slow), but when the realization dawned, I was mesmerized. Having just finished the book, I find myself thinking of how humankind has struggled to understand god, and death, good and evil, and how this understanding (or at least our conceptions of same) have evolved from Homer's Illiad, to Dante's Divine Comedy, to Milton's Paradise Lost. I'm almost ready to believe that His Dark Materials stands along side these great works. Surely this trilogy is one of the great literary works of the century. My only regret is that Pullman didn't describe the meeting of Farder Coram and Serafina Pekkala, because we know they met again, we know of the love they held for each other, and we know that Lyra chided Serafina Pekkala for not meeting him again after the time she left him to become queen of her clan. Such a scene would have added, rather than detracted, from the bittersweet poignancy (excuse my atrocious spelling) of Lyra and Will's fate.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fitting end to such an unbelievably moving series
Review: When I was first given the Golden Compass as a present a few years ago, I had no idea what to make of it. Within a week it was placed on my bookshelf and forgotten. More recently, I took another look, read it again, and have been spellbound by the series ever since. In trilogies, I've learned not always to expect the same caliber of writing as in the first novel, but here, Pullman doesn't disappoint. This final chapter was worth the long wait. The characters of Will and Lyra seemed to almost jump out of the pages. Their excitment was my excitement, their pain was my pain. The new friends and foes they encountered kept me intrigued, and the places they visited thrilled and shocked me. Though the ending was not as I, and I'm sure some other readers expected, it moved me to tears that would not stop falling, even after I had turned the last page. This is simply a wonderfully written, beautiful story. I honor it above even some of the fine, classic literiture I've read. In all the novels I've seen, none has better captured the true human feelings that were portrayed here, and seemed so touching. The only fault I can find with this book is that I finished it far too quickly. I hope that although this may be the end of Will and Lyra's adventures, this author grants us with more books as fabulous as this series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Definitely a little disappointing
Review: This book was almost as good as The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, but I was disappointed by a number of things. For one thing, the villain, Mrs. Coulter, who practically gave me nightmares in the first two books, didn't seem villainous in the least! And Pantalaimon and Lyra didn't really seem at all close after they had been seperated. I had enjoyed reading about how they were connected to each other. And most of all, I hated the ending. It made it seem as though nothing had happened at all, plus it was so sad for both Lyra and Will. But this is still a very good book. It had a good plot with twists and turns that put me on the edge of my seat with suspense.


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