Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book, will stay with me for a while...
Review: When I first read The Golden Compass, and then The Subtle Knife, I was completely drawn in by not only the discriptive writing style, but the compelling characters as well. I waited for two long years for this third book to finally come out, and I wasn't disapointed. (well, not much anyway) It once again took me back to this fascinating world, and once again succeded in making me long for my own Daemon! This book not only lived up to the first two, but even surpassed them all the while giving fine closure to the series. Anyway, in this book Will is called by angels to go and fight at Lord Asriel's side as he wages his epic war against god and heaven itself, but instead he goes to the aid of his friend Lyra, who has been kidnapped by those Will believes may want to destroy her. I won't say anything else because I simply can not bring myself to spoil if for you, but take my word for it; this is one heck of a series! However, I think this is a book I will definitely read again in four of five years, because often I could not shake the sensation that some of the sybolism and such was going over my head... Also, while the Will/Lyra thing was sweet, it was somewhat (forgive me) unbeleivable. I mean really, eleven and twelve year olds falling deeply in love? Get real! Also, I would have liked to see more if the action focusing on the battle of heaven and earth, that was the climax of the series wasn't it? Or am I once again missing something here? Anyway, besides those things this was an excellent book, though I would mostly recommend it to teenagers and adults. Also most definitely read the first to prior two this one, since otherwise it will make little or no sense.
Rating:
Summary: the genious who we call Philip Pullman & the amber spyglass
Review: this is the best book i have ever read.literally.Pullman is the best writer i think ever lived. his writing is so descriptive and so well thougt.also he explaines things like when u first fall in love,the feel of starlight on your skin, etc.i felt it was happening to me.also his characters are not perfect. in the beginning lyra was kind of a bully whereas madeline l'engle's characters are perfect in every way(exept meg).
Rating: 
Summary: A Dissappointing Wait
Review: I read the whole "His Dark Materials" series, and it would have been better if I had not read the third one. This book, although it includes some exciting parts, has nothing to do with the plots of the other two books. In second book it says that Lyra will be tempted by Dr. Mary Malone. In the last book, which I excitedly awaited only to my dissappointment, there was absolutely nothing about this. I think Phillip Pullman, of whom I am a huge fan, should rewrite this story that doesn't stick to the plot of the other two books. I suggest to all readers who have or will read the first two books that they use their imaginations for the third book. This book was as if the author scribbled in down in an hour. Nothing fit! It litterally ruined the whole series. Don't even bother waisting the time or the money on this book.
Rating:
Summary: The best in the series
Review: Needless to say, if you've read the other books in the "His Dark Materials" series, you're GOING to pick this one up. Leaving Lyra and Will (and Roger!) hanging at the end of the second book would be criminal.If, on the other hand, you've not read ANY of the series, this book should be the one that pushes you in that direction. Pullman has taken all of the loosest elements from the previous two books and ties them together so perfectly, so seamlessly, that even the seemingly most trivial aspect that you would assume could (or should) be overlooked is addressed, highlighted, underscored, and filed neatly away. Without wanting to give too much away, you can bet that Roger is back, along with Mr. Scoresby, Lyra's parents (who meet a far more appropriate fate than I could ever have imagined), and Serafina. Lyra and Will, in the last three chapters, will leave you gasping for more and if you don't shed at least one tear by the end of the book, consider yourself among the most granite-hearted to tread the earth! Make no mistake about it, however; the book should be approached by wary (albeit open-minded) parents if you're looking at it for a gift for the kids. There are are the casual vices they see on prime time television (deaths, drinking, despair, grief), but nothing is without its own punishment (or reward). I'd save this for the pre-teen to teen years; even reading these aloud to the 2nd and 3rd graders might be a bit too much for those tender minds. If nothing else, buy the books for your own enjoyment, put them away until you feel the kids are at an appropriate age, and then let them dive in to a world like no other. An excellent read!
Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL
Review: Pullman leads up to this book with great suspension that keeps you reading late into the night. Although Asriel's "revolution" is kind of a let down, the rest is definately bypassing all of Tolkein, Rowling, everything.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I've never written a review in more than three years of using amazon.com, but this book is absolutely, amazingly good. This is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read, and it's one that everyone should read.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book
Review: Oh my god. This is the best book. Everyone in the entire world has to read it! I cried so hard when I read it. I don't want to give too much away, so all I'll say is that it has many surprising twists and it's a marvoulous love story. Also, the descriptions and details are very vivid. However, I would strongly suggest reading The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife first. But, once you read the entire trilogy, I assure you, you will be happy you did read them.
Rating: 
Summary: Rowling and Tolkein good, Pullman better
Review: A great book, but be sure to read the first and second books beforehand. The political stuff, like religous hypocrasy, will fly over kids' heads but the book is still good for everyone. This book isn't as cosy as Harry Potter and is more believable, but Coulter's unexplained personality change throws part of the story. The same goes for Asriel's "revolution" - a dissapointing anticlimax. Overall, great story, valid points, too many holes.
Rating: 
Summary: A let down for a trilogy that started with promise
Review: Philip Pullman completes his "Dark Materials" series, and, sadly, there are few surprises. This last book ends as a preachy muddle, and most of the promised climaxes turn out to be anti-climaxes (the foreshadowed betrayal, the end of the Authority, etc.) As radical as Pullman fancies himself, this work also seems to keep trying to reconcile its anti-Christian impulses with Christian morality (dying to self for others, the value of truth, the gifts of the body and physicality). Pullman fashions a straw man of Christianity that actually much more resembles various Christian heresies such as Manichaeism or gnosticism, all the while espousing some of their tenets. For someone who has vocally criticised C. S. Lewis for a tendency to sermonize, Pullman surprising falls to the same temptation, blunting his craftsmanship in this final book of the trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: A damaged conclusion to the trilogy
Review: I regret that my remarks cannot be all positive. Pullman's work is filled with exciting and fun concepts. A universe with multiple dimensions. In Lyra's world, everyone is connected to an external anima/animus-like soul. Lyra has a golden alethiometer (a truth meter). In Will's world, there is a subtle knife capable of cutting through the fabric which separates the various worlds. In the first two books, the Church constitutes the bad guys, which I find not unreasonable. But use of the word "catholic" shows a lack of good taste. But the third book shifts from Church-bashing to God-bashing, and Pullman's lack of good taste is replaced by a lack of good judgment. There is absolutely no excuse in a fantasy for young people to bash the God of the Bible. In the well over 1000 pages of the trilogy, only a few pages are needed to taint the work. And it's so unnecessary! The biblical fallen angels cast out after the war in heaven become the good guys. From there, Pullman has a good fallen angel name the biblical "Creator, the Father, the Almighty, etc. etc." as the evil Authority who is a great and power-hungry LIAR! The Authority uses Enoch as his muscle (his evil Regent). So the Holy One of scripture as well as the holy Enoch become the personification of evil. In the end, the biblical god is portrayed as a senile old man who is "demented, powerless, fearful, crying, whimpering, groaning, without a will of his own, who finally dissolves into extinction in exhausted relief." By weaving such garbage into the very structure of the story, Mr. Pullman requires the reader (a young person) to contemplate and tacitly accept great blasphemy in order to maintain an imaginative, emotional connection with the storyline. I am so disappointed. Magic is fine. Witches work. Harry Potter is delightful. Pullman's work could have been as well. But unfortunately, it is damaged goods.
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