Rating: 
Summary: Carelessly slapped together and unsatisfying....
Review: I think Pullman could have done a much better job in this series. The first book was so interesting and engaging, with great characters, especially a strong female lead. But book 2 and especially the new book 3, the Amber Spyglass, did not live up to what was begun in the Golden Compass. Characters change from good to evil without decent explanations, and important plot developments from book one are tritely dismissed with a phrase such as "I lied," because Pullman cannot come up with a good explanation. On a separate note, Pullman takes what could be an interesting exploration of different religious beliefs and simplifies it into shallow anti-catholic ravings.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so great
Review: After waiting for months, I finally was able to read this book and I was very dissapointed. The first to books of the series totally pulled you in; you did not want to stop reading. The Amber Spyglass was not like this. The begining was confusing and I thought that it would clear up, but it didn't. Some questions I would ask the author: Why did Mrs Coultler have a personality switch? In the first two books she was a villan, but she suddenly became motherly. Why was the amber spyglass created? It seemed to me that Mary Malone just woke up one day and decided to make some great gizmo. How did the ghosts of Wills father and the areonout fight the war? I thought that they dissapeared when they left the underworld. Why did Lyra and Will fall in love? I don't totally see how two 13 year olds can fall in love like that. Although I complain, there were still some good aspects of the book. The parts about the relationship of the daemons and how we all have one was fascinating. I also found the parts about God interesting. Basicly, this is a good book, but it falls way short of the first two.
Rating: 
Summary: Stop and Think About Life
Review: Philipp Pullman has pulled a masterpiece out of his magic hat once again, this one topping all of the others of the "His Dark Materials" series. I have very little to say because reading this is an experience one cannot be told about. This book touched my heart so much I found myself in tears by the end of how amazing life really is. It just made me think about what is watching over us and how we, as people, watch over each other. It really makes one think about the importance of they're relationships with people, it gave me a better insight to life, love, loss, and happiness. The Amber Spyglass is a truely incredible book.
Rating:
Summary: The most passionate book I've read
Review: I don't know about alot of you, but I loved this book more than most books. In my 15 years I've read alot books and never has one affected me as this book affected me. This book is one of the most passionate, wild books i've ever read. The Golden Compass and The Sublte Knife were also great books, but they were books that I had picked up and read. When I had finished reading those books I waited for The Amber Spyglass to come out and finally I was able to read it and I was astonished. That this book could affect me as no other book has. I was so happy to see that Lyra was going to be okey at the beginning af the book and then it got complicated and sad so sad. When Lyra had to make her sacrifice I felt for and Pan. But it was the ending that had captured me and had me crying with them. To find love so strong and then to leave it. The ending was so sad but the courage that they both showed was great. I won't tell any more but i do say that this book is the greatest book I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary conclusion to an exceptional series.
Review: This was a truly breathtaking work; I read it unable to stop turning the pages yet unwilling to finish. The Amber Spyglass is intellectually challenging, theologically shocking, extraordinarily beautiful in its prose and tells a great story besides. Don't read it without reading the other books in the trilogy first; this is a story in three books and Pullman is very light on the exposition by this installment. I won't give much away; most of the characters we met in earlier instalments reappear, including some you might not expect, and an awful lot of people die, but if you've read the first two books you will be used to that. In fact, my one complaint about this trilogy is that pretty much as soon as someone is described as brave or valiant, you know they're going to be killed within a chapter or two (I exaggerate: of course there are many exceptions to this rule). I wouldn't have guessed that 12-year-olds would like this book; certainly it is entirely satisfying to an adult reader. The book is an exquisitely crafted, brilliantly conceived novel that I expect to enjoy for the rest of my life.
Rating:
Summary: Some nice elements but an unsatisfying conclusion
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of this series, and while there were some nice moments in "The Amber Spyglass" there were also some extremely poor choices made by the author. The major flaw with these books was not the War in Heaven struggling against the Authority (I actually thought the use of the subtle knife in this scene was clever and well done). The problem was the sudden change in Lyra's parents. Their 180 degree turn from the previous books was extremely bad characterization. Sadly, the author chose to make his plot hinge on the unrealistic motivations of these characters. Despite that, I found the ending very moving. I have mixed feelings about "The Amber Spyglass". If Pullman would have made the change in his antagonists believable this would be a 5 star reccomendation. Unfortunately, he didn't. The series thus has failed to reach its true potential.
Rating:
Summary: A metaphor for the 21st century.
Review: I have just finished reading The Amber Spyglass after listening to the Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife. This trilogy is a masterpiece. Just as the Christmas story is a metaphor about the coming of Spirit into our world, these three stories describe the struggle between Religion and its concept of a God that inspires inquisitions and holy wars where the innocent are killed and tortured and the concept of a God that is Spirit, that is not anthropomorphized, that is Love, Truth and Beauty. "Dust" is a concept of a God that is everywhere, that is an indwelling Spirit. These books are beautifully written with a cast of characters that inspire or repel. They hold our interest.
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful but painful ending!
Review: i only started reading pullman's dark materials trilogy on my younger sister's (insistent) recommendations, but i have to say i'm glad i gave in. once i'd started i read one book a weekend, but it wasn't until near the end of the last one that i realised quite how much they'd affected me. all three are very enjoyable reads, but they do become progressively more bizarre from first to last. "the amber spyglass" is unquestionably the weirdest of all, and i found myself disagreeing at times with how odd the storyline had become. the idea of a personal "death" stalking you (in fact, the entire world of the dead itself) was far too odd for my liking. another minor gripe is that i was quite taken with the human-daemon interaction in "northern lights" (pan and lyra in particular), and it was disappointing not to see more of it in "the amber spyglass." the daemons seemed to lose some of their closeness and intimacy in "the subtle knife," and even more so for the final book. pan certainly seemed more distant (physically as well as otherwise!), and i can't help thinking that someone reading "the amber spyglass" without the benefit of the first two might wonder why pullman included the daemon concept at all. i would stop myself from spoiling the plot any further at this point, but most of the reviews here already have so i'll go on anyway (stop reading if you want to enjoy the book!). i finished "the amber spyglass" a few days ago, and still can't stop thinking about the ending... i can't really fault pullman for it -- it was masterfully done -- but will and lyra having to choose to split up as they did really got to me. it was unbearably sad to have them fall so deeply in love, and then to pull them apart, never to see each other again. i honestly can't remember a book affecting me for so long before, and it's not as if i'm unused to reading. to add to it all, i don't even think i'm in the age bracket the books were intended for. well, i thought i'd write this review to try and wrap things up in my mind, and stop thinking about poor will and lyra... hope it works! there are a number of unresolved issues, but you can always find holes to pick in something like this if you look for them. tantalisingly, some of them -- like lyra's re-learning of the alethiometer and the angel's hints at between-world travel -- leave scope for will and lyra to meet again in life. the aurora world seen in "northern lights" is another possibility - that wasn't a window, was it? of course, lyra's conversation with pan at the very end of the book is a last, teasing possibility, referring to the words -- i forget whose -- that they (will and lyra?) can finally build the "republic of heaven." the ending hurt, and i almost wish i hadn't read it -- but at the same time i'm glad i did. well worth reading, even if you haven't read it yet and i've just spoilt it for you (sorry)! i think i'll be taking my sister's recommendations more seriously in the future...! btw: i've read most of the reviews here and i'd be interested to hear other people's views on the book and its ending, particularly in my age group (i'm 17). you can reach me at baz@chickshardware.com
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary fantasy with unusual theological underpinnings
Review: This book brings to an end a rich and strange fantasy trilogy. The books tackle huge themes: the nature of consciousness, the Fall, the relationship between body and soul, and the conflict between what Pullman calls the Kingdom of Heaven and the Republic of Heaven. It's interesting to think about this trilogy in comparison with C S Lewis's "Narnia" chronicles. Like Lewis, Pullman writes out of total immersion in the Western literary tradition. His obvious influences are Blake, Milton and the Book of Genesis: but there are also traces of Homer (e.g. the fight between Iorek and Iofur in the first book of the trilogy reads like a clash of two Homeric heroes). At a less exalted level, I suspect that Kingsley Amis's "The Alteration" contributed something to Pullman's picture of an alternative Oxford. But in Tolkien's words a book like this is written "out of the leaf-mould of the mind", and if one can discern the shape of one or two of the leaves that doesn't in any sense devalue the originality of the work. Both the Narnia Chronicles and Pullman's trilogy are imaginative responses to the Christian tradition. The difference between Pullman and Lewis is that Lewis's reading of the Bible is that of orthodox Christianity, whereas Pullman's reading derives from Blake and from Gnosticism. In Pullman's version of events, the God of the Old Testament is not the creator of the Universe, but is a lesser figure (like a very powerful angel), and also a tyrant; the serpent in Eden is an embodiment of wisdom, not a malevolent force; and Eve is a heroine, whose choice of experience over innocence is the very thing that makes us human. The Church is seen in unremittingly bleak terms: Pullman's Church is a synthesis of the worst bits of medieval and Counter-Reformation Catholicism with the worst bits of Calvinism. Is the book anti-Christian? It's certainly anti-Church, and in a sense also anti-God. But the most curious omission in the book is that Pullman (unlike Blake and unlike the Gnostics) appears at first sight to have nothing at all to say about Jesus (either directly or allegorically). Yet at the same time, although his heroine Lyra is presented as a new Eve, she also has Christ-like characteristics: a child whose destiny is to save the world, threatened by cosmic forces, and capable of sacrificing herself for love (even at the cost of a descent into hell). Pullman would certainly endorse St Paul's view (on this point if on no other) that the greatest love is to lay down one's life for one's friend. In short, the book embodies what are usually regarded as Christian values, but it then uses those very values to attack both the Church and the God who is portrayed in the Old Testament. Should you read the book? If you are interested in speculative fiction or in theology, then yes. Like C S Lewis, Pullman is the sort of author who can be a gateway into the Western literary tradition. Like Lewis also, he needs to be read consciously. Agnostic parents who give their children the Narnia books should be aware that these books are brilliant Christian propaganda. And Christian parents who give their children Pullman's trilogy should be aware that it 's brilliant Gnostic propaganda. In short the comparison with Narnia is apt (despite, or perhaps because, of the fact that Pullman has gone on record about how much he hates the Narnia books). In both cases readers may get considerably more than they bargained for!
Rating:
Summary: A super sad ending
Review: First of all if you havent already read this book dont read my review i may give the ending away! This is the best series of books i have ever read. You must read the first two books before the Amber Spyglass. This was a great book full of adventure, and fantasy. The entire book kept me reading it constantly. The first two were the exact same way! The only sad thing was the fact that @ the end Lyra and Will fall in love but can never see each other again. THis is the most exciting book i have ever read yet the saddest. I would still recomend this to people who wouldnt be offended by it.
| 
