Dolgok, amire igényt tartok a trilógia elolvasása után:
1.) Egy páncélos jegesmedvére. Most merje átrúgni a szomszéd gyereke a labdát!
2.) Egy daimónra. Cuki legyen és szőrös, ha kérhetem.
3.) Mulefa szomszédságra.
4.) Jöhet az aletiométer is, politológusoknak jó pénzért bérbe adom.
5.) És hát akkor már a Titokzatos Kést is hoci, átjárókat vágok majd vele azokba az univerzumokba, ahol per pillanat olcsóbb a koktélparadicsom.

Mondták itt páran, hogy ez egy ateista könyv. Nem tudom. Viszont nem olvastam olyan könyvet, ami következetesebben támadná a tekintélyt minden formáját. És igen, ennek hozadéka, hogy támadja a vallási tekintélyt is: az egyházakat, Istent, no meg szószólóit. Meg merem kockáztatni, az egész egyetlen markáns etikai alaptételre épül: hogy az egyén egyedül, szabad individuumként felel döntéseiért, ha pedig ezt a felelősséget áttolja egy magasabb szintre, az katasztrofális következményekkel járhat. Hangsúlyozom: a szerző nem csak azt állítja ezzel, hogy felsőbb hatalom nélkül is lehetséges jó erkölcsi döntést hozni, hanem hogy kábé csak így lehet. Én azt gondolom, ez a szemlélet összeegyeztethető a kereszténységgel, de tény, Pullmannak esze ágában sincs összeegyeztetni, úgyhogy ha valaki a Magasságost nem akarja reszketeg, demens vén fószerként látni, az ne olvassa el a könyvet. Továbbá - félhivatalosan - gondolom még azt is, hogy ez a megközelítés teszi e sorozatot tökéletes ifjúsági irodalommá (a számos remek ötlet mellett, természetesen). Mert mi is lenne csábítóbb egy kiskamasznak, mint azt hallani, hogy a tekintély sucks, és igazából nem apád, anyád, Istened döntik el, milyen sors vár rád, hanem te. Mert te tudod megmenteni a világot, nem ők.

Azért egy kis feketeleves muszáj jöjjön a végére. Mert nálam sajnos a záró kötet a trilógia leggyengébb része. Pullman túl sokat akar beletömködni a kötetbe, ami ettől helyenként kapkodóvá, zűrzavarossá válik*. A mulefák világa persze pazar, de a túrázás a halottak földjén, vagy a végső eposzi összecsapás hiányérzetet hagyott bennem. Talán bölcsebb lett volna, ha az egészet szétszedi a szerző két kötetre, és még szöszöl velük egy kicsit. Azért ettől függetlenül nagy élmény volt a sorozat, és a mondanivaló filozófiai súlya mindenképpen kiemeli a mezőnyből. Olyan volt a végéhez közeledni, mint amikor az ember élete legjobb nyári táborában van, és tudja, holnap mehet vissza a szottyos mezővárosába unatkozni. Fáj neki, hogy nem tart örökké, de abban bízhat, az élmény már az övé, azt nem veszi el senki.

* SPOILER! A hárpiák pálfordulása például bántóan hiteltelen és logikailag sem konzisztens. Pedig ha a szerző több időt tesz bele, jobban előkészíti, baromi jól meg lehetett volna csinálni.

3-4 stars. This book completes the Dark Materials trilogy and I thought this is the most difficult to read. It seems to go on and on and although it ties up a lot of loose ends it did so in far greater depth than it needed to. This one is also told from several perspectives although it’s principally Will, Lyra and Mary Malone. In this one we find out just what Lord Asriel is doing, much more about the intriguing Mrs Coulter, more about Dust and why Will and Lyra are so important. They go on an incredible journey and have many dangerous encounters.


I really like the introduction of some of the new creatures such as the wonderful Mulefa - sort of elephants on wheels, who Mary meets and helps and in return they assist in the making of the amber spyglass though which she can view Dust. I also love the teeny tiny chevalier Gallivespians (think Lilliputians) with a sting in their spurs who ride on the backs of dragonflies. Wonderful.

There is no question the quality of the writing is exceptional and it’s so imaginative but I think the Northern Lights, Book One of the trilogy is by far the best. As the books progress it gets more complex and darker and it’s harder to engage in the storytelling.

Re-read 11/4/19:

I'm regularly astounded at how well-beloved this series is. I mean, let's look at this for a moment: we're surrounded by liars who are heroes, murderers who are the best of folks, drunkards who are the most noble, and a God who is feeble, the push of the devil is a rather positive thing, and we're meant to root for the big battle against Enoch, one of two of the only men in the Bible to ever have been raptured up to heaven. (Of course, he was promoted well beyond his ability and became the Metatron, the big bad false God-in-Standing, so we're not meant to feel like we're ACTUALLY satanists here as we read this book.)

What? Wait, WHAT?

Oh, that's okay, folks. It's fine because this was written by an agnostic atheist. He only believes in enjoying life on the material plane, in making heaven right here on Earth, not falling for the one-off and rather harmful joke we've always been told. After all, Heaven Doesn't Exist. Hello! Be good here and now while you're still alive, dummy!

But let's review this:

The series is one of the most well-beloved series by almost everyone for all time.

Why?

Because it's liberating? Because it puts a sharpened stick in the flaming pile of poo of an idea that says that sex in the idea of Original Sin is BAD? Or is it because most of us are sick to death about religion? Or because he manages to subvert everything and still manages to give everyone a bit of good in the tale and refuses to make the whole story about Atheists versus Deists?

I simply do not know.

I do know that the rolling elephants were f***ing stupid.

I didn't mind the whole trip down under, however. :)


Original Review:

I thought it was hilarious to have Enoch, my favorite, rare renegade man amongst angels play the villain. It was especially precious to have a reversal of roles for our favorite angels in heaven and a not so thin veiled christ figure in the shape of a lying little girl flying down to sheol to free all the purgatoried souls.

I giggled some more when those little wheeled beasties crushed the nuts of an otherwise smooth storyline.

Honestly, it wasn't my favorite book of all time; neither was the whole series; but I did really enjoy the whole Madeline L'Engle fantasy touch. As opposed to the painful C. S. Lewis touch, Pullman has an even lighter touch, with a generous dose of darkness to help us swallow a completely virtuous pre-teen serial murderer who loves his mom and an imagination-less serial liar who takes the role of christ.

This isn't to say I didn't like the novels, mind you very much. It makes me wonder what would happen if Chuck Palahniuk rewrote these novels. Hmmm.

Should I suggest it?

*2.5
hum kk

[3.5 Stars] I may change my rating as I think about this over the next few days. I'll add some thoughts then as well.

Ah, the disappointment! The disappointment of it all!

This book, this 3rd and final volume, is an incredible conclusion to this outstanding series. It has left me drained. It has left me heartbroken. But it has also left me in awe. I have followed Lyra Belacqua Silvertongue every step of the way on her amazing quest, and I could do it all again right now. This book is deserving of all the praise and awards it has received. It truly is a masterpiece of fantasy literature. Well done Philip Pullman, well done.

This is the third instalment in the His Dark Materials series.

Lyra has been captured, the worlds are tearing apart, and a new species has been discovered. This might the final book in a series but that sure doesn't mean Pullman is winding down his adventures any time soon!

It's hard for me to admit that I didn't fully love this. I used to adore this series as a young teen and have so many good memories of reading it, but this reread hasn't been as fulfilling. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for this entire series and really loved the latter half of this book, but the former portion felt like a bit of a slog. It was always a surprise to me, as I remember little from my childhood reads, to find so many new elements included in the series conclusion! I also found the religions undertones more and more prominent and while it made for fascinating philosophical discussions it also wasn't always what I wanted to read about.

The book closed at it opened, with Lyra at Oxford, which felt like a satisfying conclusion for me. Lyra was always the individual I read this series for and was always the protagonist I was keen to return to. The final pages left me eager to see how she will grow from her adventures and what new ones she will experience in the follow-on series.

“We shouldn't live as if [other worlds] mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.”



Re-reading a childhood favourite as an adult is always a gamble. Sometimes you get to experience those tender emotions all over again and the love you felt for the book stays untainted; sometimes you understand you've outgrown it and regret the idea you had of going back to it in the first place. With this series I had a mixed experience: on one hand, the love for the characters and their stories has remained intact; on the other, I realized this series is much more flawed than I thought when I was younger.



Reading other reviews online, I understood that many agree with me on the idea that the first book of this series is undoubtedly a masterpiece, while book two and three... not so much. And I don't mean that, like it happens in many series, this trilogy should have remained a standalone. I mean that the way the series was completed felt all over the place, that the tone changed dramatically in The Subtle Knife and even more so in this one; and if Northern Lights is a great fantasy novel, enjoyable on so many levels, the other two feel, at moments, more like a mere series of political, religious and moral ideas the author meant to engrave in young people's minds.



This series has an incredibly detailed and amazing world-building; the "magic system" is stunning, the creatures absolutely amazing (I personally think that the idea of daemons is one of the greatest inventions in the history of fantasy), the plot intricate and the characters believable and lovable. I only wish that the author would have kept his political and religious ideas a little bit more private. I'm not saying that one's moral and ideological system should stay out of their art - the will to spread one's way of seeing the world is one of the reasons art exists in the first place - but while re-reading this trilogy I couldn't help but thinking that this is, after all, for a young adult public and some ideas on God, religion and politics felt a little too extreme for a younger public. Even for an adult, they felt definitely too heavy; and in some passages the last two books where just too explanatory and it really made the whole experience much heavier and less magical than it could have been. On the other hand, this series remains, in my eyes, one of the greatest pieces of fantasy ever written.

What a journey! This book was very epic in scale and I think that slightly decreased me enjoyment of it because what makes the first and second books so good is how close you feel to Lyra, and then to Will. I definitely felt more of a distance from the characters as I was reading this one since Pullman is using this story to explore deeper and darker themes and tie up loose ends.

I think this book could have been edited down some. It lost the plot for a while in the middle and felt more bloated and meandering than the first two books. I still thoroughly enjoyed this read and I think the ending makes sense for the series, but it didn't have as strong of an emotional impact for me. It was more logical and 'realistic' than impactful, if that makes sense.

I'm so glad that I finally picked up and finished this series! I will definitely be eager to check out the other series in this world soon.

Not my favourite of the series. The story was more fragmented than its predecessors, and for me parts did drag rather (particularly Mary's arc). There were certainly some memorable moments and interesting ideas, however, possibly it felt a little too ambitious. I did also personally think that Lyra's character was lacking in spirit compared to the first two books. I did enjoy the bitter-sweet ending though.

As I’ve stated in my reviews on the previous two instalments of Philip Pullman’s trilogy of high fantasy meets theology, it’s been a decade since I’ve first read His Dark Materials and with the announcement of the trilogy being adapted into a BBC TV series for next year, now would be the perfect time to revisit the series. From July to September of 2016, my re-visitation has been completed by the conclusion of the third and final book The Amber Spyglass.

Following the disappearance of Lyra who is at the hands of her mother, Mrs Coulter in a remote cave hidden from the Magisterium, Will, the bearer of the subtle knife, is determined to rescue her, much to the accompanied reluctance of two angels who are under the command of Lord Asriel who himself is preparing for an impending war.

After the exploration of three universes during The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass – with its extensive ensemble of characters – makes a trip to several universes that are both dazzling and dizzying. Overly ambitious in its multiversity with an exotic range of locations and creatures (the elephant-like Mulefa are a highlight), there is a lot to take in and you might lose track at what universe we’re on, and yet it is credited to Pullman for treating his readers (no matter who he is aiming at) with respect and intelligence, and wanting them to delve into the labyrinthine narrative.

Although this trilogy has been primarily marketed to a young adult readership, Pullman is interested in telling mature themes in what many would consider a simple adventure of escapism. Throughout the series, both Lyra and Will’s journey has been about growing up and learning what will define them in their future, as through the physical metaphor of what their dæmon will take their final form. This book, in particular, has gained controversy over the North American edition censoring passages describing Lyra's sexual awakening. These particular passages of love and sexuality represent of every child goes through at a certain point, something which is good and important, and Pullman does use this to criticise the hypocritical beliefs of the numerous churches.

With each chapter beginning with a quotation from one of his favourite authors, including John Milton and William Blake, etc. Pullman goes even deeper with the theology, such as Lord Asriel leading an army known as the “Republic of Heaven”, a religion run by humans as oppose to the Authority, worshipped as God. Although Asriel’s war against the tyrannical angels led by Metatron can be seen as Pullman’s fantastical approach to criticising organised religion, Pullman doesn’t entirely make the conflict simply black-and-white with a number of angels who don’t abide to Metatron’s dominance, as well as Mary Malone who despite her scientific status, was a nun who once fell in love which caused her to question her faith.

As the final part of His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass – with all its overly ambitious world-building and a deeper dive into theology – ends on a wonderful note, not through epic grandeur, but on an intimate note of love and maturity and how this magical journey shapes the two young protagonists, one introduced as a liar, the other a murderer.