Ugh. I enjoyed reading this story, because the trilogy needed closure and The Amber Spyglass wasn't entirely unsatisfying in that regard. The action was strong (until the climax and the last couple chapters...) and the telling engaging, so the experience was enjoyable and almost tempted three stars out of me. But the more I think about it afterwards, the worse it gets.

n  Rant + Spoilers Below!n

First, Pullman fell back on the too-convenient and the deus ex machina plot devices that almost pulled the first book under.

Second, he fails repeatedly to deliver on the promises of his earlier narrative. Lyra turns out to be nobody special after all, and the way in which she's supposed be a second incarnation of Eve (which I was really looking forward to!) is never made clear.

Killing the Authority (an angel who pretended to be the Creator, seized power and become the god of the corrupt Church) is an accident and is more like euthanasia than rebellion. It's so anticlimactic the protagonists don't even know they've done it.

Meanwhile, the actual villain is revealed to be Enoch (from early Genesis) who has become an angel, of sorts, and now goes by the name Metatron (really? Metatron? what did he do, get himself angel-ified by the All-Spark? I mean, yes, I know the muddled-up source material, but one shouldn't write middle-grade fiction in a pop-culture vacuum). Enoch/Metatron got himself appointed as the Authority's Regent and is poised to take over the Church and set up a permanent Inquisition. In the book, this exposition is "established" via rumor and hearsay; not nearly enough space is allowed for developing Metatron into a good villain. Does he stand to gain anything by these machinations? If so, his motivation wasn't memorable. In the end, he's killed by a simple deception and his own hubris, and as he plunges into the Abyss of Nothingness the reader is left thinking, "Well. So that's over." Nothing about his fate is even surprising, as the reader sees it coming pages ahead.

I should mention that by this time, Pullman has totally destroyed the series' best character, Mrs. Coulter, with a clumsily-handled change in central motivation that strips of her of all complexity and reduces her to simpering maternal bleh. Everybody in this series becomes obsessed with Lyra once they meet her - it's never apparent why - but Coulter is affected (or infected?) so strongly that she becomes a totally different person. Her transformation borders on archetypal, which could have been interesting had it not been handled so badly. In this book, stuff happens apparently just because the author wants it to.

There's this crazed assassin-zealot who treks doggedly after one of the side characters all book, only to be foiled at the last minute and given the death-scene equivalent of slipping on a bar of soap in the shower. Downstream of the drowning assassin, Will and Lyra are having sex, which somehow stops the flow of Dust from leaving the worlds. Pretty sure that middle-schoolers falling in love (which is, to give Pullman due credit, emotionally well described) and surrendering their virginity happens often enough that the worlds would have been saved before now, but Pullman implies no, something about these two at this time in this place is specially magical. He also implies that this particular act of sex is replicating the Original Sin, but here again Pullman's reach exceeds his grasp - either of Christian theology, which has never taught that sex is sin, or else of exposition, because the series never establishes what the Magisterium actually teaches on this point. (The Magisterium's theology is really very hazy throughout, except where Pullman seems to want the reader to infer some criticism or commentary on real-world Christianity, which he does not appear to actually know much about).

Pullman also contradicts (or at least further befuddles) his own mythology. Since practically the beginning of The Golden Compass the big question is "what is Dust?" and in The Subtle Knife it's revealed that Dust is angels, but by the end of The Amber Spyglass it's clear that Dust and angels are quite distinct, meaning that once again we are highly unclear about what Dust is - beyond than some kind of truth-telling mystical consciousness-particles, which we've pretty much known all along.

tl;dr - nothing came together, nothing made sense. A good series spoiled.

I haven't been this disappointed with a finale since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

AAAAAAAAND.... I've officially finished reading another great series.

Full review to come.

I was surprised in looking over the reviews for the final book of the trilogy--so much disappointment, anger, bitterness! While I don't believe the book is flawless, I felt a lot of reviewers took out their frustrations on Pullman's politics or his decision to twist the happy ending rather than on the storytelling itself. I thought, whatever problems you have with the book, the storytelling, magic, and emotional power of the book were absolutely riveting. I rarely rush through books so quickly, but I would find myself staying up to read "just one more" chapter and move through three or four because I just couldn't put it down. Because I don't really know where to start, I'll just address some of the main problems other people have mentioned.

1) The "there are too many main characters/worlds/ideas" thing. I respectfully disagree; I felt that he expanded on characters we had known previously (particularly Mary Malone, who I really came to love), while simultaneously introducing new, fully-fleshed out characters. I didn't need an entire book devoted to Balthamos or Baruch to understand them, or more exposition on Atal's life before Mary's visit to the mulefa's world. I loved watching the development of Tialys and the Lady Salmakia. Ultimately, I felt he wove these new lives in without ever losing the sense of Lyra and Will--who I think were even more smartly written and complex here than in either of the other two books. I think Pullman was surprisingly deft at weaving everything together while keeping a strong primary focus on Lyra and Will's coming-of-age (and "Fall").

2) Several people think his character choices were mere plot devices or cop-outs. For instance, Asriel and Mrs. Coulter, and their redemption through their love for Lyra and for one another. While I loved Mrs. Coulter as a deliciously cruel villainess, I think his decisions with her character in this were both surprising and wonderfully done. Mrs. Coulter explains it herself--she had saved Lyra twice before in the other books; that she did so again here really wasn't out-of-the-blue in this book, as so many people have said. Her love for Lyra may have seemed out-of-character to some, but for me, it made perfect sense. The thing I loved about Mrs. Coulter most was that I never really knew what she would do next. You come to assume she's going to make ridiculously cruel moves, but even then, what were her motives? Whose side was she on? Would she switch? Her changes and redemption in this, for me, just proved that Mrs. Coulter was the most superbly unpredictable character of the trilogy. I'll concede that Asriel was a bit more surprising to me in a less skillful way, but we did see a bit of a preface to the final scene between him, Coulter, and Metatron (Asriel/Marisa's union) at the end of the first book, when he offered his hand to her to work together. So I felt it still made sense and was really touching, at least for me. Someone mentioned the harpies--I found the whole bit in the Land of the Dead to be incredibly moving and invigorated. That the harpies came around resonated with me--yes, it does seem a bit silly that no one would have thought to tell the harpies stories beforehand, but I think themes of truth and storytelling (and stories as a way towards redemption or creative expression) were finally fulfilled here, after much leading up to them through Lyra.

3) The religious aspect. While I certainly agree with one review that called Pullman out on his inherently pantheistic world, I don't think that should necessarily be considered a flaw, simply because he identifies himself and the trilogy as anti-theistic. There is, of course, some Higher Power in Pullman's world(s)--but that power isn't God, it isn't his high angels, and it isn't the church. That in itself is a bold move for a "children's" author (or most any author) to make. While Dust certainly has some kind of mystical subtext to it, I think his decision to place religion in the hands of the natural universe is beautifully written and thought-out. Sure, they kill God (which has been called blasphemy by some reviewers--why read/review it, if you're going to give it an unwarranted one star on the sole basis of your divergence from his (and the book's) politics?)--but I think Pullman makes quite clear that the greater meaning of the war against God, etc. is that it is rather against the Kingdom of Heaven, which is corrupt and tyrannical, losing the meaning of the supposed "goodness" of religion altogether. I'm an atheist, but just as his rejection of orthodox religion didn't bother me, neither did his inability to fully narrate an atheist storyline/world/whathaveyou. So to bash the book on the basis of disagreeing with the underlying value system seems to me an injustice; it's not a theological polemical or academic essay--it's a book, and a terrific one, in my mind.

Of course, as I said, it's not perfect. The end was a bit disappointing, but for me, again, it made sense. I think I would prefer the realization that adults have to face hardships--like separation, lost-love, recognition of the self in the context of many others--than to have everything tied up in a pretty, romantic package. That Will and Lyra must be separated seems to me the most adult moment of the trilogy; as they move from childish selfishness into the hard realities of adult responsibility and decision-making, they make the hardest decision of their lives, and effectively seal the deal of their Fall from childhood to adulthood. So while it may not be the saccharinely satisfying union of the two in eternal love, it leaves the reader with a sense of loss and nostalgia, which everyone must face as they enter the real world. I would have preferred more of Serrafina Pekkala and Iorek (among a few other favorite characters), and I felt that the Fall itself wasn't as epic as it was built up to be, but I felt really satisfied with the book and the trilogy on the whole. I think it's more disheartening to see so many reviews bashing it for reasons I don't really understand, and many that seem, quite frankly, inessential to the book/trilogy itself. I still highly recommend it to anyone with an open mind and a love of great storytelling.

C.S. Lewis was better at putting Jesus in his books that Pullman is at putting atheism in his. Then again, religion is a better a story, it’s more seducing, it offers more comfort.
This last instalment of His Dark Materials failed to live up to the promise of the first book. It felt messy and was losing its magic. The world seemed thin and the characters started behaving at odds with their previously established personalities.

The biggest disappointment was Lyra, who turned into a right ‘save me’ screaming doormat. Story of the nun losing her religion because of some hunky Italian and marzipan cake was just like watching some Dawkins bro troll thinking he won a twitter argument but really he only defeated a strawman he built for himself.

Mrs Coulter’s transformation into a loving mother was as believable as Ann Coulter’s transformation into a decent person would be.

And last but not least, if you’re gonna make sexy times such an important, game-changing plot point, try to make your romance a little bit more believable.

The underworld adventures were interesting enough, and the whole thing was somewhat readable, so all in all three stars but this will be my final trip with Pullman.

Richly layered world and a beautiful conclusion to the series. I honestly feel empty, this world brought so much comfort and expanded my imagination to unfathomable heights, having no plan whatsoever to tackle this series I can’t even imagine why I took so long to read it but I am finally here.

Surprisingly this was so much deeper than I thought, how it tackles growth and self-identity whilst merging religion, science, myth, and lore into one really opened social issues that blew me away. It stripped down all these big labels to showcase the importance of community, friendship and the small connections that surpass social norms. Bringing me so much comfort as I got to know and see the characters grow.
I can’t even begin to tell you what or who or why in this book because of the scope of it so just go freaking read it you will not regret

This book was an experiment, and while there were moments that were clever and compelling and emotionally resonant, as a whole, the experiment failed. That experiment was to take a piece of complex, religious poetry intended for adults (Paradise Lost), turn it on its head, and make it into an anti-religion/coming-of-age allegory for children. Even though Pullman ultimately failed to create a believable, subtle, or controlled narrative universe, even The Amber Spyglass did have its good moments.

Pullman's writing is still as vivid and engaging as it was in the first two books, and he has a good sense of how to write exciting and suspenseful action scenes. He has a knack for describing landscapes richly (he tends to describe landscapes and nature a bit more than I care for, but that's just my personal preference as a reader), and he has a passion and respect for curiosity that I find admirable. The overall message of the series, as bluntly and childishly as it was delivered, is still a worthwhile and important message to build a book around: to approach the world with vigor and curiosity, to keep an open mind, to do no harm, and to seek the truth no matter how frightening it may be to do so. His vision and goals as an author are praiseworthy, and his skill with language is something that other children's authors can emulate.

However, Pullman fails one very important test of novel-writing: his characters are flat. Try as I might, I simply did not care about most of the characters in the story. Lyra was basically a broken record that said things like "I been thinkin'...let's save them!'" and "Let's do the right thing!" and "Oh, I got to do this, I got to!" and "I ain't the smartest, but by golly am I brave!" She sounded like a character from Winnie-the-Pooh. "Let's go lay down by the brambly bush and have some refreshment while we talk about what an ever so exciting and gay time we've had today, making new friends and learning a moral lesson here and there about doing The Right Thing!" That's not even taking into account the fact that she was a pig-headed brat throughout ¾ of the entire series. It wasn't until a flood of estrogen poured into her system when she spontaneously hit puberty that she finally stopped stamping her foot and listening seriously to the advice and wisdom that adults had to offer.

Sure, she and Will were brave and strong and self-sacrificing. But neither of them really developed into anything beyond Pullman's simplistic notion of golden-hearted goodness. Despite all the fuss Pullman made about Lyra being "tempted," she was never really tempted at all. She never had to face a real moral choice about right and wrong: she always knew, with absolute certainty, what was right and what was wrong. Her personality was cloying and saccharine when she wasn't being abrasive and stubborn, and I couldn't stand her. Will was a bit better, but even he failed to live up to my expectations of character development. And if those two – the main characters – weren't adequately developed, who else in the series could be? One of the only characters who came anywhere near being interesting and unpredictable was Mrs. Coulter, who was basically a Snape figure, but less plausible and not as much fun to read about. Dr. Malone also had her moments as a developed character, but unfortunately she only made up a small part of the series as a whole.

Mrs. Coulter was interesting, but ultimately, no one was able to give a satisfactory reason to explain her change of heart. Maybe she still had the hots for Asriel, maybe her maternal instinct kicked in 12 years too late, maybe she genuinely thought Lyra was a good kid...or maybe Pullman just needed to create a series where the main character's mother loved her and was willing to stretch the reader's suspension of disbelief as much as he needed to in order to get there. Mrs. Coulter claimed to love Lyra, but she never had a real, honest conversation with her, never respected her rights, never apologized to her (and apologies are oh so very important in this series, because it's The Right Thing To Do), never had any real reason to change her mind about Lyra other than the fact that Lyra turned out to be "special." Throughout the whole book, the reader is wondering whether Mrs. Coulter is a double agent, or a triple agent, or just a plain wacked-out, twisted evil woman who works for herself and no one else. And in the end, even though she nobly sacrifices herself to bring about something or other good, I never really felt convinced of her goodness because there was no solid rationale for it. It just felt like Pullman pulling the puppet-strings and saying, "You're a good mother now!" Asriel, on the other hand, is never redeemed, as far as I'm concerned, not even through author-intervention. He's still as ruthless, pitiless, cold, and calculating as he was from the very beginning – so how are we supposed to root for Asriel's side when both he and Mrs. Coulter are no better than the enemy they're fighting?

Pullman was also bad at giving satisfying justifications for his other characters' motives. In this book, Lyra suddenly comes up with the idea that she wants to visit the Land of the Dead. Why didn't she think of this in the second book? Why haven't we heard more about her guilt if it really has been eating her up all this time? Why is an apology worth more than four people's lives? Why is there a Land of the Dead at all, since we've heard nothing about it until now and it doesn't really fit with the whole, you know, atheism thing? The more perilous and ridiculous the journey to the Land of the Dead seems, and the more people warn Lyra about the dangers of going there, the more stubborn she becomes. Will has an equally pathetic reason for wanting to visit his father. To do what? How can you possibly establish a connection with the ghost of a person you didn't know well even when they were alive? The entire enterprise of going to the Land of the Dead seemed to be Pullman's way of engineering an "end to death," because it fits with the whole disobeying-God theme in Paradise Lost. When I realized that Pullman was going to stick with the allegory even if it didn't make sense within the world he had created, I couldn't help but lose a lot of respect for the book.

Why was it forbidden for Will to think of his mother, which would distract him from his mission, but it was ok for Lyra to obssess about Roger and drag herself and others into peril just to assuage her own guilt? There never was a good reason given for why Will had to forget all about his mother in order to keep the knife intact, but Lyra's obsession with Roger was allowed to be a major driving force in the narrative. Is Roger more important than Will's mother? Certainly not from my perspective. Roger is even more flat than Will and Lyra as far as characters go. He wasn't even interesting when he was alive – why should I care about him now that he's dead? Because Roger was dead (which itself served no other purpose than to make Asriel look like a jerk), and because Pullman needed to force the characters to go to the Land of the Dead, he played up Lyra's part in Roger's death and tried to convince the reader that Roger was actually quite important, and ever so helpful and good and true. I got extremely tired of the whole "Huzzah, let's rescue him!" mentality of the characters. It's the same old epic, unrealistically high stakes, the same old Characters of Destiny who must fulfill a prophecy of some kind in order to save the world.

Which brings me to my annoyance with the end of the book. Pullman pulled out all the stops on this one. Will and Lyra are experiencing "true love," no matter that they're only twelve years old and have known each other for a few months! Did I mention that they're twelve years old? I balked at the dramatic and maudlin ending because I could not get over the fact that these were pre-teens in the most exaggerated throes of hormone-driven passion and Pullman wanted us to take this seriously, wanted us to believe this was "true love." Maybe my cynicism about the ending is just a symptom of the fact that I'm older than the target audience for this book. Still, there is clearly a subtext to the series that Pullman put in there for the benefit of adults. Why would he insult his adult readers by holding up this extremely young, inexperienced, twelve-year-old couple as the paragon of romantic love?

From a logistical point of view, it doesn't even seem plausible that Will and Lyra had to be separated at all. Pullman wanted a tragic, "coming-of-age" ending, so he invented plot hooks to get there. The fact is, if there's enough wonder and curiosity and open-mindedness and kindness in the world to keep one window open, then surely there's enough to keep two open. I'm not convinced that things would be just fine with a giant window open for the rest of time to let hordes of the dead escape, but the universe would erupt into nothingness if a small, person-sized hole was left open for the next 60 years or so, just until Will and Lyra died and no longer needed it. Pullman dangled out the possibility of a happy ending, but then, for a completely arbitrary and author-generated reason, he shut down that possibility so that Will and Lyra could "grow up" or "lose their innocence" or some other platitude. I understand that being separated from each other was Pullman's way of representing their exile from Paradise, but again, this is another case where he's letting the allegory dictate how the story will turn out rather than directing and crafting his own story according to what makes the most sense.

Oh, and for the record: nobody kills God in this book. Rather than railing against this book for the supposed death of God, why don't people instead rail against this book for being bad?

For a more in depth review, check out this video: https://youtu.be/-3aD5b4j5ro Plus meet my daemon (I mean cat)!

#1 Philip Pullman fan here! So how is Mr. Pullman going to pull together the entire His Dark Materials Trilogy? We will find out.

Some have said that the pacing is a bit off in this book; however, please keep in mind that Philip Pullman wrote this book back before the internet, before YouTube, before Smart phones. That being said the first 150 pages were a bit slow but definitely worth the wait. Lyra and team are simply delightful. Pullman should write a book about how an author can make you care about characters because I felt so personally invested in Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon. Please note that there is simply a DELIGHTFUL audiobook of Pullman reading The Amber Spyglass so make sure to check that out.

After reading The Last Battle by CS Lewis, I was thinking how that book could have been written better, and I immediately thought of The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. In a way, The Amber Spyglass is a retelling of The Last Battle, an epic good versus evil, only The Amber Spyglass is better and not racist nor sexist.

The Amber Spyglass felt like it came out of my dreams. Pullman is seriously the Mr. Miyagi of writing. Well done, Pullman! Next time I am in London, we should have a tea. My treat!

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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4****

“I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.”

Will is the knife bearer and the instructions from his father were clear: Find Lord Asriel. But before he can do this he must find Lyra.

Lyra has been taken by Mrs Coulter and is the sleeping prisoner of her and her vicious golden monkey daemon. Despite their great distance, Will and Lyra must reunite for their part in the war that neither of them can fully comprehend.

As their friends are scattered across worlds, Will and Lyra must travel to different parallels, some leading to the darkest of places. Their journey is one of braveness and endurance. During this journey they meet even more interesting people and creatures; ghosts, harpies, angels and many more, that can help or hinder their journey.

This book also had the points of view from Dr Mary Malone and while this was important, I didn't find her perspective as interesting as the others (maybe as they were enduring more of a dangerous adventure).

This was a superb literary adventure and I’m so sad to be at the end of this amazing trilogy.

What a confused and uninspiring end to the series. The story jumps from place to place, hardly more than set pieces and occasional big scenes interspersed with dull, rambling prose that added little to either the plot or the characters. As for our two protagonists, they are shadows of the people we met in books one and two, bland and unsatifyingly changeable.

I read these as a prelude to starting La Belle Sauvage but i'm not even sure I want to bother. Anyone fancy buying a signed special edition hardback????

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3), Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials is an epic trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of Northern Lights (1995, published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000).

It follows the coming of age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و چهارم ماه آگوست سال2008میلادی

عنوان: سری نیروی اهریمنی اش کتاب سوم دورب‍ی‍ن‌ ک‍ه‍رب‍ای‍ی‌؛ نویسنده: فلیپ پولمن؛ مترجم: فرزاد فرید؛ تهران، کتاب پنجره، سال1384 تا سال1385؛ در دو جلد؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م

ک‍ت‍اب‌ اول‌ سری شامل دو جلد ب‍خ‍ش‌ اول‌ و دوم: «س‍پ‍ی‍ده‌ ی‌ ش‍م‍ال‍ی»‌؛ جلد سوم ک‍ت‍اب‌ دوم‌: «خ‍ن‍ج‍ر ظری‍ف»‌؛ و جلد چهارم و پنجم «دورب‍ی‍ن‌ ک‍ه‍رب‍ای‍ی‌»؛

کتاب‌ها به ترتیب: کتاب نخست: سپیده شمالی (سال1995میلادی، در آمریکای شمالی با عنوان قطب نمای طلایی؛ منتشر شده است)، کتاب دوم: خنجر ظریف (سال1997میلادی)، و کتاب سوم: دوربین کهربایی (سال2000میلادی)، نام دارند؛ داستان در مورد دو نوجوان، به نام‌های «لایرا بلاکوا»، و «ویل پری» است؛ که در دو دنیای موازی زندگی می‌کنند، و وارد ماجراهایی حماسی می‌شوند؛

دکتر «مری مالون» به دنیای «مولفا»ها وارد شده، و با آنها دوست می‌شود؛ او با استفاده از نوعی روغن و چوب، دو آیینه می‌سازد، که با یک وجب فاصله دادن به آنها از هم، می‌تواند غبار را ببیند، و آنها را با استفاده از چوب بامبو، به هم می‌چسباند، و دوربین کهربایی ساخته می‌شود؛ «لایرا» و «ویل» به دنیای مردگان می‌روند، و از دنیای مردگان، پنجره ‌ای به بیرون باز می‌کنند، تا مردگان بتوانند جزئی از زندگی شوند؛ طی رویدادهایی «لرد عزریل» و «ماریسا کولتر»، برای نجات جان دخترشان «لایرا»، جان خود را از دست میدهند؛ و ...؛ «ویل» و «لایرا» عاشق یکدیگر می‌شوند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 29/01/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 07/11/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

- Possible spoilers - Fantastic ending to a brilliant trilogy, although I don't know how many times I have read these books this last one breaks my heart every time. Will and Lyra's relationship blossoms so well over the course of the three books and I'm almost tempted to stop reading before the end and try and trick myself into believing they lived happily ever after!

Why am I doing this to myself? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?

-----------

Why? Why would I finish listening to this audiobook in the car, stuck in traffic, and without tissue? On my way TO work, meaning my face is ruined for the rest of the day?

I wish I could say that I solemnly wiped a tear away and that was taht, but alas, no, I'm sure to the people passing by in their own cars, I looked more like this, shaking and sobbing and wondering why life has to go on, mascara smeared to holy hell:

n  n

Worth it, though. Always worth it. These books will forever remain favorites, and I can't wait for my daughter to get a little older so we can read them together, for her to experience all that love and pain and loss and all the questions that will inevitably come with the experience.