Rating: 
Summary: The Best Book
Review: I think that this book is really good because the author likes to use his amagination when he writes, which alowd me to make really good pictures in my mind while I was reading the book. I would recomend this book to someone that likes exciting and ones with adventures in them.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely and Beautiful
Review: This is the best piece of written work there ever was and ever will be. I have never read a book so touching and moving ever in my life. This will be my favorite book until my death. This book solves all the mysteries of the past books and brings everything to a final conclusion. There are no more cliff hangers. All the characters change in this installment, every one of them. Lyra and Will grow up and all of the worlds depend on what they do. New and wonderful characters are introduced like the Galivespian spies, mulefa, and Balthamos and Baruch, the angels. The old characters like Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel make a return. All the while the war in heaven rages on. This book will make you cry, laugh, and it will break your heart at the end. As you read the book, you feel the pain, joy, and sadness of each and every character. It is as if you are really there with the characters. The book can truly change your life if you want it to. Adults will probably start a controversy over certain themes in the book instead of seeing the beauty of it. There is no need for me to tell you the story, because it is so much better if you experience it yourself. If you read this book, you will learn something about love and life that you will remember forever.
Rating: 
Summary: The least satisfying book of the trilogy
Review: All good things must come to an end, and so it's inevitable to feel a bit of disappointment with the third and final installment of Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy. Since the work was conceived in the epic tradition, it's inevitable that Lyra and Will make a trip to the underworld, but though the afterlife they encounter is authentically creepy (the harpies are a wonderful addition to Pullamn's mythos), there's almost no reason for the two young people to make the journey they do, or especially for Lyra to make the sacrifice she feels compelled to make to get there. In general, the largest problem in this third work is motivation: many things happen, but Pullman doesn't always seem to have a steady handle as to why his characters should do what they do. The new creatures Dr. Malone encounters in the new parallel world she visits--the mulefa--are wonderfully conceived, and authentically original; however, there's a somewhat boring war in heaven we have to slog through and a disheartening change of character for one of the trilogy's major players that seems to reduce her impact as a whole on the entire series. There are many rewards in this last installment of Pullman's trilogy, but it is by far the weakest in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I cannot believe how well Pullman has brought the His Dark Materials series to a close. I was worried that after the long wait, Amber Spyglass would be a disappointment. Yet this book surpassed both the others. Gorgeously written, with characters you think you could touch they're so real, this book is a must-read. My dad offered to buy it for me, if he could read it first. I declined, yet when it came in the mail he jumped on it before I could, and I barely could rip it out of his hands to read it first. The way Pullman brought all of the little loose ends together was so satisfying, so fulfilling, so completing. And his weaving in of a deep religious story - that of Adam and Eve, and the original Sin - made it seem more real than I would ever have imagined. I have one suggestion before you read this book. Read (or reread) the other two first, so you know what's going on. The abrupt ending of Subtle Knife flows right into the beginning of Amber Spyglass, without a 'review' of what's happened as in many series books, so if you just begin to read this without remembering the complex plot of the first two, it won't make much sense. Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Very impressive, heartbreaking! :(
Review: The Amber Spyglass is a fantastic novel, I was really touched with the riveting plotline, and the continuing suspense and adventure that Philip Pullman weaved me into! However, I can't help but imagine a COMPLETELY different Amber Spyglass! I wouldn't have made the story as painful and sorrowful, although I WOULD have kept each idea that Pullman created, as each one was unique and interesting in its own way e.g. reuniting with Roger, John Parry, and Lee Scoresby. The Golden Compass was nonetheless beautifully written! It's rich and exquisite use of vocabulary truly brought out each individual personality, and although each character DID have just as many positive as well as negative qualities, the reader's opinion was never ruffled, and a wholesome image of each individual was created! The Subtle Knife was none less than AMAZING! Truly, I can't think of any other word to sum it up... with a continuous riveting pace, I had to catch my breath many times to actually absorb what had just happened! AND the vocabulary was just as beautifully composed as the first novel in the series, even though it was VERY thorougly PACKED with information to leave the reader gasping! I think that this was IDEAL! This I believe, was the climax of the plot. :) BUT! Truly, I think The Amber Spyglass could have been improved in SO many ways, to fulfill the image that the previous two novels in the series created! I found that although the ideas in this novel were remarkable, true to Philip Pullman's style, the way in which he COMPOSED them was so sorrowful and they almost appeared to drone on and on! I also noticed that the elegance in which both The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife were written was somewhat lost, as the all-round descriptions of characters faded into the background, and I feel that we only experienced more of a one-sided image of them. I think that Pullman was concentrating more on HOW to make his characters actually cross the next hurdle, than concentrating on expanding their personalities. However, this DID reflect on his writing, and for this reason, I believe he could have improved and added more of a mix of emotions, rather than one particular emotion e.g. Will - throughout the course of the novel, we saw practically ONLY his passionate/angry side! I don't know about other readers' opinions, but I would have enjoyed maybe just a few moments of laughter, where Will might have been content and relaxed! I mean, I've seen quite a bit of his passionate emotions ALREADY in The Subtle Knife! His only MAIN personality change was in the ending, (and this was mainly because of what he felt about Lyra!) I won't say any more! :) Next, I believe that instead of writing such a detailed series of chapters MAINLY about Will and Lyra's journey to the land of the dead, I believe that Pullman could have had a more detailed description of the battle scene in which Will could have actually been on the battlefield, challenging the Authority. On the battlefield as well, could have been the thousands of ghosts, and along with them could have been Lyra's dear friend Roger, along with Will's father, John Parry, and of course, the kind Lee Scoresby. In addition, adding details about Will and Lyra's typical opinions/emotions (that so many readers have grown to love), regarding the catastrophic environment that they were in etc, would have created a better impact on the readers e.g. "Will's face contorted in pain," or "Lyra's desperate longing to help, but knowing that she couldn't" etc. However, the main idea that I am trying to convey is that in order to ENHANCE his remarkable ideas, Pullman should have done more character evolution GRADUALLY over the course of the story, so as to help to enhance the plotline as well! Pullman should have also written his plotline so that it was short, and YET elegant/rich in detail. However, I am pleased with the novel because these were truly the types of feelings/emotions that HE was trying to convey to the readers. The only other change I would have made would have had to be to the ending!! :) Come on! After all they've been through together! Will and Lyra should at least have had the satisfaction of seeing/visiting each other from their own worlds whenever they had the chance! :) All in all, I believe it deserves 4 stars, and if yet another novel is to be published in His Dark Materials series, I would be MORE than willing to read it!
Rating:
Summary: amazingly beautiful
Review: Every minute of this book was breathtaking. It surpassed it's predecessors, and went to new heights. The plot twists often and everytime you think you know the outcome, it changes. My views on Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel changed greatly and had me doubting my assumptions on them. Will and Lyra find themselves throughout the book and a sense of time for anything in the book is lost. Something i liked about it was that the amber spyglass picked up right where the already captivating series left off. The book ends with on a sad, but elegent tone, leaving you wanting more, which we can't have. I highly recommend this enthralling series to anyone. this is in a class by itself,incomparable to any other book. ~*~ ACC ~*~
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful ending to a Great Fantasy Trilogy
Review: I just can't believe some of the people who are giving this book bad reviews, because its not a bad book by any means. On the contrary it elevates the previous two books to a whole new level. Scenes of great beauty and power abound, and the whole trilogy is brought to a brilliant and stunning conclusion. The book definitely deserves MORE than five stars. If you're looking for cookire-cutter "pure evil" badguys and "endlessly good" goodguys, you won't find it here. People complaining that Pullman doesn't stay true to his villains is absolute nonsense. Although Mrs. Coulter is still evil, she reveals new facets of herself to us. Didn't any of these people pay attention in Book1? Didn't Mrs. Coulter save Lyra from the 'guillotine'? Why did she do that? because it amused her? No, the reason is that despite all of Mrs. Coulter's other evil qualities, she did harbor a love for Lyra. Did she ever try to harm her? Can't a villain do a good deed, or harbor a good thought or a love? Lord Asriel, too, although somewhat patronizing, did what he did because he had a vision of the Republic of Heaven. Pullman displays his genius, not his idiocy, in showing us his well-crafted villains. The ending was the best part of the book, not the worst. Will and Lyra sacrifice their happiness for the greater good. Isn't the book about them growing up? And growing up DOES involve sacrifices, and maturing. Obviously Lyra is not the same little girl she was in Jordan College. What, are our characters forever to remain static? If you want those cardboad people, read Robert Jordan. And if you want a happily-ever-after ending, don't look here either. The ending is for those who are grown up enough to appreciate sacrrifice and the message of the book. And while the ending certainly isn't happy, its not sad either. In fact its very bittersweet, as Lyra and Will set out in their respective worlds with a new optimism, with a sense of places gone, victories accomplished, yet more work ahead. This book comes close to being a masteriece and in my mind is at least as good as Tolkien. After all, Tolkien's not some sort of God. His stories are epics, but all they did was reinforce traaditional thinking values, and create an intense (and partially useless) sense of nostalgia. This book provokes thought; it challenges, and it reveals great beauty. There is a joy that pervades the whole book thats infectious. Here there is optimism; there is work to do, and a paradise to build.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Magnificent, Unparalled, Wonderful
Review: This book, is, without doubt, the single greatest literary experience that I have had the privelage to partake in. The first novels in Pullman's trilogy were wonderful of course, but nothing prepared me for The Amber Spyglass. The story itself is a heart-wrenching epic and perfectly closes the greatest trilogy ever concieved, with this book being the pinnacle of that effort. I cannot put into words the emotions I feel at this moment, having just turned over the last page an hour ago. My fear is that this book shall be over looked as child's fair, but I will tell you that I am a seventeen year old, cynical American boy, and this book has marked me more than any other piece of literature that I have ever read. The characters have become so tangible to me over the course of this trilogy that (warning, cliche ahead)I literaly felt like I was walking just behind Lyra and Will on their quest. Pullman has drawn upon the philosophies of Milton and the character development of Tolkien to bring us the most gripping fantasy ever written. Yet the term fantasy should not be labeled upon this trilogy, because it is so much more than just escapism entertainment, it is life affirming as well as thought provoking. Listen to me lavish praise on this book, it IS that good. Lyra, Will, Ms. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Iorek, Balthamos and the wheeled creatures are the most beautifully concieved characters I've ever come across, except for maybe Harry Potter and Hermione Granger (you guessed it right, that's a tinge of sarcasm on my typing fingers). I hate even putting the two in the same sentence but the fact that Harry Potter will sell more copies than these books just reveals that our civilization is going to hell in a hand-basket. My eyes are closing and my neck is aching from my long nights with this book, and I feel an empty feeling now that this experince, like all good things, has come to an end. I have never been moved by any single thing in my life to the point of crying, but the final pages of this book accomplished that feat. Everyone should go out and purchase this book as a favor to themselves (and their daemons), people must experience the magic of this novel so that I can sleep well at night. You will not read a better story for a long long time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating:
Summary: even the love story...
Review: I finished this book last night and it's all I can think about. Mr. Pullman has written something very deep and profound that i think both,children and adults, can relate to - I was touch to the very bottom of my being with this book. It made me cry, laugh, ache, and wish so hard for everyone involved in the story. I am speechless. As for the love story, I think it's wonderful and probably reflects reality a little more than we like to think - I was thirteen once, i remember what a heart that young is capable of... My children will be allowed to read this and I will happily explain anything they don't understand even the love story.
Rating: 
Summary: Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil - Part II
Review: (Hoping that the title of this review has sent some endorphines rocketing up in readers of "It" by Stephen King...) I felt compelled to write this second review to the long-awaited (also by myself, alas...) and extremely disappointing "The Amber Spyglass" by some facts: 1) I used to be a big Philip Pullman fan. I issued an Amazon order for the whole trilogy (though I already owned the first two volumes in the Italian translation) a month before the publication date of "The Amber Spyglass". As another reviewer perfectly said, I loved "Northern Lights" (I prefer this title), liked "The Subtle Knife" a lot and I wish Pullman had written another and COMPLETELY different "The Amber Spyglass". In other words, he has botched his creation as no other writer ever did... maybe only James Joyce approached such a feat in the unique but uniquely unreadable "Finnegans Wake". But there's a big difference even there: Joyce had everything in the world to say and he chose to say it only for himself... Pullman... well... 2) One star was far too much... the right vote would be MINUS-INFINITE stars. Pullman would deserve it as a measurement of the difference between his infinite ambition (hey presto, he gives his "answers" to practically all the Great Questions) and his less than finite accomplishment. 3) I was sadly impressed by the fact that even 5-stars readers almost always complain about the ending. Now, this is a strange phenomenon. "The Lord of the Rings" has a rather melancholy ending, too, but I don't know that anybody ever openly complained against it. Leaving all the great tragedies in literature alone, of course. But the completeness of "The Amber Spyglass" as an artistic failure is this: even people who desperately WANT to like the book find no rhyme nor reason in its ending - and rightly so, because there isn't any. I will try to state this as clearly as I can, for everybody: Book, and the worlds they describe, and their characters, have a life of their own. By no means they are the property of the author to do as he pleases. That is the great rule that Pullman broke. He could have ended his trilogy in many ways. But nothing at all gave him the right to end it in a way where ALL the main characters were completely untrue to themselves, with no believable reason. (Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel sacrificing themselves, a most unworthy deed for such delightful villains, and Lyra and Will sacrificing themselves in another but no less terrible way... At the end, one feels that everything that happened has been simply USELESS, and that is the worst sensation any book can give you.) 4 and most important) OK, this book saddened you just as it saddened me... but don't despair, there are many good books around, for example... Of course, "It" by Stephen King. It'a a single novel, but it's as long as the whole "His Dark Materials". It gives everything Pullman promised but didn't deliver. Teenage heroes and heroines against terrible evil - metaphysical and otherwise. Love. What the teenage heroes and heroines did become after twenty years. Love again, the real one. Pennywise the Clown - you can't even conceive HIM (or IT?) turning good! Would you? And, of course, Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil... TWICE! Of course, The Lord of the Rings (if you have already read it, do yourself a favour and do it again). So you'll understand why any comparison is ludicrous. By the way, LOTR isn't really a trilogy at all. If you add "The Hobbit" (and you MUST add it) it's one of the two great tetralogies in the world, the other being "The Ring of the Nibelung" by Wagner... useless to say that Tolkien owes a whole lot to the German musician/playwright. If you like uniquely creative atmospheric stories of cosmic horror, anything by H. P. Lovecraft. If you like good science fiction stories about parallel Universes, with sympathetic characters, anything by Clifford D. Simak. If you like anything weird and supremely written, "The Gormenghast Trilogy" by Mervyn Peake. If you like great stories with a theological aspect that doesn't drown the book, "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Iain Pears (don't worry, he's no atheist... on the contrary, I could say that his theological outlook is right Pullman's opposite). At the very least, stick to Harry Potter. Nothing to write home about, I'll admit, but still some worlds better than the Spyglass. After ending Harry, it will probably be late at night. Take a stroll outside. Watch the sky. Feel the wind. Thank our Authority, or whatever is the name you give.
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