Rating: 
Summary: Great Adventure but Hypocritical Worldview
Review: Make no mistake; Pullman can write. His characters are interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed the romp throught the Universe represented by the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife. I would give Pullman 5 stars for creativity and for fun and adventure. I would give him fewer stars for depth of characters created, but still would rank him highly.Why, then, the 2 stars? Pullman's whole purpose in writing these books, as far as I can tell, was to blame all of the world's problems on the evils of authoritarianism. OK, fair enough. But _any_ authoritarianism isn't good enough; for Pullman, there is only _one_ authoritarianism, and that's the authoritarianism of the Catholic church. I won't go into the fact that Pullman's facts are wrong, and that his depiction of the Catholic church in Lyra's world is warped into the worst caricature of the worst abuses found in virtually any human institution. That's bad enough. But what really astounds me is that Pullman depicts, in the course of these three books, almost _all_ religions and philosophies other than Christianity and calls them good. At last count, I had seen instances of Paganism, Shamanism, Spiritualism, Agnosticism, Atheism, Scientism, and a watered down form of Buddhism. All these = good. Christiantiy, however = bad. For an author who seems to say that what's wrong with the world is the narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy, and bigotry represented by his version of Catholicism, I find it highly ironic that his own narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy, and bigotry is so obvious in this third book. What started out as a fascinating journey becomes a trilogy with a MESSAGE. And that message is so heavy handed and so bruises the issues of good and evil raised that the entire trilogy ultimately becomes a big moral muddle. I can't recommend the trilogy, even with its excellent writing and compelling story line. Even as a romp, it fizzles in the end, and apparently the big climax of the trilogy (pun intended) is the discovery that having premarital sex fixes all the ills in the Universe. Gimme a break....
Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the Dark Material Series
Review: Title: The Amber Spyglass I have been blogging about books at hoppinreadinreview at blogspot but this is great that Amazon has reviews here too The Amber Spyglass is about a boy and a girl named Will and Lyra. They go through many tough challenges and are part of four conflicts all happening at the same time! These are the conflicts:
Conflict 1: Good vs. evil forces Will and Lyra are involved in the main war by helping get the ghosts out of the world of the dead and letting them fight the Spectators. Spectators are lifeless soul sucking creatures that came from oblivion. The good forces are creatures that try to protect Will and Lyra. Will and Lyra are trying to preserve the dust. The dust the conscious of life and the Amber Spyglass allows you to see the dust. Conflict 2: Will and Lyra vs. the Church The Church thinks that Lyra is bad and they want to kill her. Lyra has special knowledge that nobody else ever had, she could read the alethiometer fluently. The alethiometer is device that allows the holder to ask questions, if they how to ask the question, and it always tells the truth. Conflict 3: Good forces vs. the Spectators
Good forces try to keep the Spectators from desouling them. Conflict 4: Evil forces vs. the Spectators Evil does the same thing as the good forces with the Spectators. The reason that they ward off the Spectators is because they want to preserve their own soul. Will and Lyra have to face these challenges and more in The Amber Spyglass. I have this book too many times to count, its that good. You can even find out what happens between Will and Lyra! PS. This is the third book of the trilogy His Dark Materials
Rating:
Summary: Not Uplifting but rather lacking in hope
Review: I'm sorry but to all of those who say that one is close-minded to say this book is evil have never believed in anything good. I love harry potter and laugh at those who scorn it for evil because Harry Potter is on the good side whereas Lyra never knows which side she is on. Yes, that may be human but this dehumanizes hope for a higher power (God, Buddha, Christ, Nature, Whoever) that guides us in goodness. I especially disagree that because things are done in God's or the Authorities Name that they be God's wishes. Almost every war is over religion and yet that doesn't mean God is leading either side. We are humans and do what we want to be right and Pullman is saying that we do what the Authority wants which isn't always the case. I started out loving Lyra and Will and now i feel cheated that they lead me to fight what is the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Great Adventure; Conflicted and Deeply Bigoted Worldview
Review: The story of Lyra and Will and their attempts
to understand the universe and its nature is fun and gripping.
Pullman's ability to evoke realistic worlds and images is
amazing. His characters, on the whole, are interesting and
compelling, and his creativity is second to none. The books
attempt to deal with the great themes of philosophic and theological
thought: the nature of evil, the nature of redemption, the
power of love, loyalty, the consequences of our actions and
choices, etc. However, the overall message
is fatally marred by what can only be described as the
personal blind spot of the author himself. It becomes clear in The Golden Compass that Pullman equates
the Catholic Church, and Christianity in general, with the
very _essence_ of evil and power-grubbing authoritarianism. And near
the end of the Amber Spyglass he has declared, unambiguously,
that there is no God and that Christianity is a compelling but
erroneous belief. He describes
an institutional Church that, apparently, preaches hatred, intolerance,
torture, and fananticism. Interestingly
enough, however, every _other_ religious worldview presented (secular humanism, Deism,
Scientism, Shamanism, agnosticism, paganism, pragmatism, and a watered-down form of Buddhism)
is seen as worthy. All beliefs about the world are shown to be valid and
honorable..._except_ Christianity (and Catholicism in particular). The incredible narrowness of the author's expressed hatred of Christianity may well be, as some reviewers have suggested, a personal
thing. But the very zealotry that he seems to display in his hatred
of Christianity is the very _essence_ of what his protagonists profess to
hate about the Catholic church...their intolerance, their inability
to see beyond their own closely-held worldview, the "rightness" of
their point of view versus everyone else's, etc. I don't believe this book tries to "take down" Christianity per se, although one could argue that Pullman tries to do just that. But
I believe because of Mr. Pullman's own confused moral sense and
bigotry, the books seem to show an incredibly lopsided view of what the universe
looks like. Lying, cheating, killing are all fine and have no long-term
consequences, according to Pullman, if the ends are worthy enough; you don't
even have to regret the wrongs you to do others along the way.
Morals are all relative, and all philosophies of the nature of life are
fine, just as long as they aren't Catholic. Deep truths abound in these books, but they always seem just out of reach
of its author, and thus, out of reach of the reader. We never seem to know
what the point of the journey was, unless it was just the fun of the ride.
But this moral confusion and undisguised bias against all things Christian
takes what _could_ have been a great trilogy...even a saga of the magnitude
and scope of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", and reduces it to a moral muddle. What a shame.
Rating: 
Summary: Everything is brilliant, except the plot ....
Review: Pullman's writing is exquisite: He convincingly utilizes interesting creatures ranging from miniature spies to armored bears and angels. His concept of the daemon is brilliant; and the development of the daemon concept throughout the series was fascinating. Some of the scenes are very moving and his descriptions make you feel that you are in them. Also, some of his characters are very interesting and/or endearing. Unfortunately, I think he dropped the ball with this last book. The plot dragged and the ending, while very moving, was a bit corny. However, he did everything else so well that I think the book still warrants 3 stars. I think that is great rating, considering that the overall outline of the plot needs a major overhaul. Although he might hate to hear it, his writing (other than having directly opposing themes of course) reminds me a lot of CS Lewis. It is, at times, actually beautiful to read and often includes statements that are stunning in their simply stated insightfulness. I look forward to reading more of his work.
Rating:
Summary: WOW! That Was AMAZING!!!
Review: The His Dark Materials series really comes to a breathtaking ending in Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass. At first these books may seem a little hard to keep up with but once you start understanding what things are you start to really enjoy the books and get excited about them. This series really gives the reader to think about something after reading the books. Even after the series is over you will find yourself thinking and wondering about the stories days after you have read them. Everything goes fast paced in the story leaving hardly enough time to even think about what's going on and when eventually the story is over you find yourself wishing it wasn't over. I liked the story so much I found myself reading exciting parts over and finding even more hidden meanings that make me think. The Amber Spyglass and the rest of the His Dark Materials series turned out to be one of my favorite series's of all time. I find myself thinking of the characters and reliving events in my mind over and over throughout the day. It's kind of funny how after you read a good book or watch a good movie you always seem to be thinking about the story days afterwards. I hope this review was of help.
READ HIS DARK MATERIALS!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Amber Spyglass: The inferior third
Review: You've written two books that have been great. Really great. You've created a grand and imaginative universe. You right a third book that has "deeper meaning" that happens to be anti-religious. You forget what your characters are like and leave the "Temptation of Eve" anologies and instead go for a bad ending that really doesn't leave you cliff-hanging. Bad idea Phil.
Rating:
Summary: Questioning
Review: I can understand how Christian readers of this book might be offended at first glance by Phillip Pullman's allegorical depiction of their god and church. However, I cannot understand the close-mindedness it would take to throw this book away without considering it or its message, to brand it as evil, or - worse yet - leave a review without even reading it! That last seems to me to be the ultimate in hypocrisy, but that's getting off the subject. The point is, I was shocked to see how many denunciations of it as heresy, blasphemy and sacrilege there are in these reviews. First of all, "The Amber Spyglass" is a fictional story. For anyone unclear on the meaning of this, the author is presenting a scenario in a different world with made-up people. It's just as ridiculous to get upset over "Harry Potter" for 'witchcraft and Satan worshipers!' ... as it is to slander this book for (gasp!) questioning a common viewpoint - namely, that Christianity is 'right' and that the monotheistic god worshiped by most Christians is just and good. Instead of sticking to this safe recipe, the author goes further - what if that god really wasn't just or good? What if the angels that serve this god were actually human, with human faults and frailties? What if the entire basis for the church in Lyra's world doing awful things to people it claims to save was all just an ancient lie? Many will dislike it because even though they may or may not be Christian, Judeo-Christian influences have played a huge part in Western social and ethical tenets for two thousand years - and this author dares to question those beliefs. For instance, the author criticizes the Catholic doctrine of original sin and the nearly universal blind acceptance of another person's ideas most eloquently through Dr. Mary Malone, who in the allegory plays the snake who tempted Eve, or Lyra. Both of those things caused Dr. Malone grief, and I personally was so moved by her marzipan story that I cried at how senseless her pain and confusion was. Furthermore, he criticizes those laws and ideas of religion that do cause suffering, either directly or indirectly. He also makes a darkly humorous pass at the hypocrisy shown by the church in Lyra's world, who preemptively absolve one of their zealots for the murder of a child - when it serves their main purpose, that of keeping their power. So, I do believe that it definitely is a criticism of the things that the Christian church has done in their god's name - in fact, almost every abuse of the church's power described in the book has actually taken place, save the splitting of children from their daemons. What I don't believe, however, is that it's saying Christianity is bad, in and of itself - just like the way he raises the idea that no person is bad, in and of him or herself. It's their acts that are good or evil. In this case, it is the acts of people who never question this religion that lead to suffering, and are therefore evil. This book demands that everyone who reads it thinks and questions and wonders, because it presents something that is very different from the regular viewpoint of this world's church. And that's what's so wonderful and refreshing and different about it. Besides, of course, Pullman's awesome writing. I admit to taking a certain measure of satisfaction in the fact that even most of the people who left one-star reviews admitted that his writing was good, which points to the inference that it wasn't really the book they had problems with, just the ideas it represents. So, finally, if anyone has problem with reading about ideas that may run very contrary to their own, they'd probably be better off with an author that agrees with them and reinforces their beliefs, instead of Pullman, who aims to leave them questioning.
Rating:
Summary: Sold his soul for a pot of message
Review: Philip Pullman is a good writer. His vivid storytelling captures one's imagination. Unfortunately in the words of poet John Ciardi "he sold his soul for a pot of message". Much has been written about the religious or anti - religious message of Pullman's trilogy. The problem with the book is his storytelling is forced to conform to his message. He badly want to say something of "GREAT AND SIGNIFICANT MEANING". But his story while told well is so convoluted, he has so many important things to comment on - religion, God, consciousness, relationships, love and compassion - good - that he can't even remember his characters natures. And that is the most important element in such stories. He has too many balls in the air and can't remember how to tie them all together. In every book the personality of Lyra and her mother Ms Coulter change, with no reason why. Lord Asriel is noble for taking on the totalitarian Kingdom of Heaven but he is also cruel heartless and completely self absorbed. Truly it was hard to know who to root for in the book. To those who would compare JK Rowling and her Harry Potter series unfavorably with this series, they must have a chip on there shoulder from Rowling's popularity. She is truly a magnificent storyteller, original where Pullman merely tweaks convention, lucid where Pullman is convoluted and lost, a sense of humor where Pullman is so awfully serious. And the ending - why? It just fizzles out. All of the lead in - we are tempted with analogies to the Temptation of Eve story throughout the first two books, lead to nothing. The only thing this book was really good for was wasting time until the new Harry Potter book comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Kingdom of Heaven vs. Republic of Heaven
Review: *~The Amber Spyglass~*, by Phillip Pullman, is a breathtaking novel about love, symbolism, and the quest for the purpose of exsistance. To those readers, like me, who enjoy science fiction and fantasy, this golden instant classic is a true tresure. For those of you that like discussions about political issues, religion, or current beliefs, this is just a spark to light your candle of knowledge and wonderment. As I have heard and read from previous reviewers, some do not like this trilogy for the same reasons Harry Potter has been accused. I myself do not favor them much, but it is more because of J.K. Rowling's writing style than anything else. It is true Pullman's references to G-d, church and angels are not Christian, but there are a couple of "good" angels in the story that help Lyra and Will from time to time. Also: Pullman did not write this story to be taken literally. The author uses such terms as "The Kingdom of Heaven" as a symbol for how the Church had such a dominant power over people's lives. "Dust/Shadows/sraf" is symbolistic for the spritual or mystical side of matter; small particals that each of us possess determine our destinies and make us kindred to each other. This, of course, is only my interpretation of what Dust is. Pullman's writing is flawless, and surpasses all the other *~His Dark Materials~* and (as much as I have read) all his other books. I recommend this book to anyone who is still seaching for the meaning in life, as we all are, and what it truly means to be a person.
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