I disagree with a couple of reviewers who felt that Pullman is deliberately attacking our world's Christian God.
Rather, he sets the series' church in a different world from ours so that he can show what it could be like if any religious body had become all-powerful, dominating all spheres of life i.e. he posits what our world might've turned out if the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagne had retained its power (all those inquisitions etc).
His point with the trilogy is that extreme religious dogma is bad. The extremist Spanish priest isn't necessarily a bad person, he is a product of his education and belief in the Authority and the specific extreme ideologies of his church.
We even find out later that the Authority is actually an angel, the first being of consciousness. Pullman leaves the question of whether there is a true Maker (God) uncertain and unnecessary. His attack is on beings/people who assume leadership and enforce their own ideologies on others, leading them to harm fellow beings. Thus, I don't view it as an attack on God.
However, this 3rd installment is pretty weak plot-wise and characterisation-wise. Some of my gripes are about...
* Why did he have Balthamos kill off Father Gomez in that violent, almost psycho-detached manner?
* In book 2, we expected Serafina Pekkala's role to be larger but she didn't appear in the final battle at all! And how did she enter the mulefas' world?
* Mary Malone's sojourn into the land of mulefas was distracting and slowed the pace of the book. Plus the amber spyglass turns out to be pretty unexciting really. Apart from one discovery made from it, it doesn't seem to help the plot along much after that.
* Who were the men chasing after Will? This was never followed up.
* And what was the deal with the Himalayan people? Are they under the jurisdiction of the church too? How come they're not?
All left unexplained.
Perhaps Pullman had bitten off more than he could chew with his themes and the numerous characters he's introduced over the 3 books. Books 2 and 3 lack the charm and cleverness of the first one. They've turned unwieldy and his sermonising could've been subtler.
I would recommend book 1 only.
Rating: 
Summary: A challenging young adult novel
Review: I enjoyed this series. The characters where rich, the Paradise Lost plot parallels were challenging even for an adult (though maybe I was trying to read too much into it), and the ending was great! Lyra, who many feel became Will's sidekick in book 2, is back at the forefront of action (as it should be!). This novel is full of adventure, twists, and surprizes. The ending is heart wrenching and left me quite sad that I was leaving Lyra and Will.
Rating: 
Summary: The end of the begining and the begining of the end
Review: Lyra and Will begin the third part of their adventure in this book. For most of their adventure Ms. Coulter has been pursing Lyra, and at the end of the Subtle Knife Lyra went missing. The Amber Spyglass is filled with many layers of detail, some of which are almost certainly known to the author alone. The stunning and vivid details are sure to delight anyone interested in imagery. The storyline follows many different people many different places. Some things that can't happen do and things that shouldn't happen... well that's for you to find out.
Some of the stuff in the book is a little "heavy", and some of it is hard to follow. But, inspite of all that it is a great book, filled with a clever mix of fantasy and reality.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: I found this book exicting to read. I believe that some of the points could have been expanded on. It is an extremly thought provoking book, and I would recommened it to anyone who doesn't mind a book involving religion. My quams are, I do not like how Pullman swithced between miniture stories. ... But all in all it was a wonderful experiance reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: derivative and unoriginal
Review: The Amber Spyglass brings Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series to its cataclysmic, blasphemous end. For all its flaws and its rather malevolent general meaning, this series is one of the most well written pieces of contemporary literature I know. Yet, I cannot recommend it.
One again, I find myself feeling akin to Pullman in much of his condemnation of man-made religion. The whole sweep of the His Dark Materials Series is a song that yearns for freedom. Yet such freedom is really bondage and blindness.
Pullman's fantasy worlds rightly expose the fact that there are those, in our own nonfictional world, such as Pullman's Oblation Board. In both the past and the present there are those who oppress in the Name of God.
Those who oppress and divide in the name of their god or gods have never met the true and living God. Those who hate God have never met Him either.
In the end (of the series, and this book in particular)--as is so often the case, Pullman's satyrical picture of the Church is misplaced. He is boxing shadows and attempting to have an argument against straw men.
Why Pullman has chosen to swing his literary sword against the Judeo-Christian God in particular is a mystery to me. Undoubtedly, Yahweh is the "easiest," most politically correct target--particularly when God's antagonist (actually, the protagonist of the story) is an oh-so liberated and endearing adolescent female who is known most prominently for lying (to impugn such a character in today's cultural morass will no doubt make me seem a paleo-conservative, though I am the furthest thing from it).
My most powerful suspicion is that Pullman chose Yahweh as his mark because it was easiest to copy off of and twist Milton, Lewis and Blake's works (which deal with the God of Jesus Christ). Those who are blown away by Pullman's supposedly masterful creation should pick it up first in its original versions--Milton's Paradise Lost, Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet and Blake's Prophetic Books.
For what it was, I found the Amber Spyglass a predictable end **oh the Sensucht of the separation!** to a rather predictable series.P>Really, this is the worst of the three books in the series (they get worse in descending order). Where book one was speculative and book two was disorganized, this one is inanely politically correct.
The one moment in the whole book that struck a chord with me was the final scene with Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel. I don't want to spoil it, and whatever its intent, I must say it was a fine act coming from two characters who always struck me as a little soulless.
Unless you like prose for prose's sake (in which case you might as well turn to D.H. Lawrence--at least his stuff was original) don't turn in here. Forget The Amber Spyglass.
Rating:
Summary: Pullman outdoes JK Rowling, and just about everyone else
Review: When a friend's 12yr old daughter recommended this triology I was reluctant as she'd also recommended Harry Potter, which I'd found lacking in intelligence and imagination. I couldn't believe that everyone was Potter-mad yet someone with the talent of Roald Dahl never had quite as much acclaim. This triology is better than anything I've ever read - It was like a drug, I was up late reading it, trying to tell my fiance everything that was happening with Lyra and Will and Iorek...The whole idea of daemons is just incredible in itself, let alone Pullman's brilliant concept of dust and the emergence of consciousness through evolution. You won't find a book with brains behind it like this for kids anywhere - and it far surpasses adult fiction. It is wonderful to read a STORY so rich in ideas, and beautifully written. I felt like my daemon was being torn away when I finished the Amber Spyglass.Its a book that you will want children everywhere to read - something challenging, deep and intelligent with enough excitement to encourage reading at every opportunity.
Rating:
Summary: the most wonderful book of all time
Review: The Amber Spyglass made me burst into tears with its stunning array of love, mystery, and betrayle. People you thought were evil were simply afraid of showing emotions due to being too sensitive...I love this book so much and cannot wait until the Book of Dust to come out. The philosphy about God being an angel still makes me feel weird...
Rating:
Summary: Phillip Pullman
Review: Phillip Pullman is an amazing author. I have followed this series from the very beginning, when The Golden Compass was released. I actually had the chance to meet him before The Amber Spyglass came out. I would recomend this series to everybody, because even if fantasy is not your preferred choice of genres, everyone can relatate to the emotional stife that the characters have to go though. The selfless sacrifices characters make for the common goal are incredible to anyone from the current selfish mindset of our culture. Following Lyra and Will through their emergence of concsiousness is a experience where one can relate and examine one's own development. I would also recomend reading the books in order, it will be a much more satisfying experience.
Rating:
Summary: Offended?
Review: This book is simply divine, i loved all the little bits that linked it with paradise lost, which i recommend anyone who read the trilogy should read it'll help make ideas clearer and i love allusions. And christians reading shouldn't think its just supposed to show their religion in a new light (it's not offensive if you really read it, anyway all god is today is Dr Eckleberg from the great gatsby) this ones for all religions, religious people who read it will deffinatley have to re-evaluate their faith, as will most aithiests.
With this book, with this trilogy, phillip pullman has pulled ambrosial prose, wonderfuly real charachterisation and all action plot into just 1300 pages of perfection. I read harry potter after reading this and laughed, actually laughed that jk rowling could win awards and high praise for her book with somthing this good kicking about.
This is your favourite book waiting to be read, like the hindu scriptures in ambition and depth, and like steppenwolf for contravsy and gripping plot, you will love it. And if you don't then you should probablly go back to your bookshop and buy another copy to make sure they sold you the right story.
