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Jan 19, 2008

Paul rated it:

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23 comments like (70 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

Maciek rated it:

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
-T.S. Eliot

Warning: Contains spoilers.

The Amber Spyglass is the final volume in His Dark Materials trilogy.

I really enjoyed Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass as it is titled in the US), the first volume of the trilogy. Pullman introducted us to a fantastic world of great scope. It was suspenseful, the presented world was enchanting, and Northern Lights was pregnant with interesting id More...

40 comments like (21 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2008

Jim rated it:

Oooooof.

Too much. Way too much.

Pullman's series concludes like it started. Good but nothing great. And tiring. Very. The Amber Spyglass weighs as much as the other two books put together....and then some. Pullman pulls in still MORE main characters and still MORE beings and still MORE complications and still MORE unlikely, unbelievable turns-of-event. It just got to be too much. Between the witches and the angels and the cliff-ghasts, the shadows, the specters, the More...

5 comments like (35 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2011

mark rated it:

i just decided to copy-and-paste a response i wrote regarding this book in one of the GR groups. that is inexcusably lazy. so sue me! also, it is full of SPOILERS.

- i think one of the most unique things about this book is the fact that one protagonist is a liar and the other is a murderer. not only is that uncommon, particularly in YA lit, it is transgressive. i like how the tools that help these two in their amazing adventures are ones that are normally displayed by villains. and wi More...

12 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

Manny rated it:

- George, wake up!

- Ungh... what time is it?

- I think about four am. You were having a nightmare.

- Mmmn.

- Hey, you're shaking. Come over here. It's alright. Do you want to tell me about it?

- Ann Coulter and Satan jump into the void and pull him down with them. The evil archangel.

- I'm sorry?

- Ah, it doesn't make much sense, does it? But it did in the dream. It was even noble and tragic. I think.

- W More...

9 comments like (16 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2008

Chris rated it:

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1 comment like (16 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

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1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2009

Joe rated it:

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2 comments like (18 people liked it)

Mar 11, 2008

JoLee rated it:

First of all, I would not recommend these books to kids. I don't think that most kids would be able to navigate the intricacies of Pullman's ideas and separate the story from the rhetoric. I see this as a major problem since they are written for and marketed to children.

That being said, there are a lot things about the books that I found really interesting. For example, the people of this world have a creature that is part of them, their daemon. The daemons are a physical manifestati More...

6 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2007

Corie rated it:

If you haven’t read the ENTIRE three books, please don’t read any further. I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you because the ending is so endearing and…..lasting, that I would HATE to take it away from you.

I absolutely fell in love with Lyra. Didn’t you? She was the sister I wish I would have had growing up. She was myself as I played with all of my brothers in the mudfields, she was the daughter I’m sure every woman would yearn to have. In my opinion, Philip Pullman was brilliant in More...

7 comments like (29 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2007

Pige rated it:

I actually finished this book a couple weeks ago. But life outside of goodreads, my general frustrations with the book, and the sense that reading it and thinking about it was contributing to an extended bought of grumpiness kept me from putting any thought or effort towards commenting on it here.
I suppose I should get it over with now. I have to say that reading this book was at times overwhelmingly painful and my main motivation for actually finishing it was to be able to know for my More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Shannon rated it:

Heartbreaking, cynical, beautiful, potentially life-changing.

7 comments like (18 people liked it)

May 01, 2008

Susie rated it:

Considering all the recent controversy surrounding Pullman's Dark Materials, I was careful to avoid reading any articles or reviews that would taint my opportunity to judge this book on face value. I found it to be an incredible story. Pullman drew from history, religion and science to form his own unique creation. I can't say that it was remarkably uplifting, or inspiring, or even that it made me question my view of life and how my religion plays into that. In fact, it probably only solidif More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2007

Sammy rated it:

Okay, before I say what I need to say let me just say that I really loved this series, it was inventive and original, I've never really read anything like it. The only disappointment was that it seemed anti-climactic. I was expecting a little more to the ending, going out with a bang, not the relatively quiet exit that it actually had. It didn't kill the novel for me, but it did disappoint me a bit. I'm wondering if Pullman chickened out with a big ending he originally intended or someone st More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2011

Qt rated it:

The third and final book in the His Dark Materials trilogy (the first two being "The Golden Compass" and "The Subtle Knife") was as well-written as the first two. I listened to the audio version of it; Philip Pullman is a fantastic narrator, and the whole cast does an incredible job.

Before I started this trilogy, I thought it would be a very good, somewhat-dark-in-a-fun-way, children's fantasy. I didn't expect it to be so complex, tragic, and epic. I gave it 5 st More...

16 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

Blair rated it:

I got quite far into this (more than halfway through) but still didn't feel particularly bothered about it - a disappointment after I enjoyed The Subtle Knife so much. My interest in the story just completely petered out, for some reason.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Clare rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2011

Penny-anna rated it:

My God, this book is confusing. I have read it several times, and I couldn't explain the plot to anyone. I just don't get it. There's too much going on.

The relationship between Will and Lyra, I think, becomes less interesting as they become closer, so, obviously, by the time they're professing their love for each other, I just don't care any more. I don't care that they're split up forever - by the end of the book, Lyra has lost everything that made her interesting.
And, well... t More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 20, 2008

Jamie rated it:

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3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2007

Lori rated it:

I am so glad I'm done reading this series. It's languished on my bookshelf for ages before I finally decided to read it.

I'm sorry I did.

First, I hated how the first book was written -- so many references to things that weren't explained -- I felt like maybe I'd missed a book or something, but no, this was the FIRST one. I hated the main character, Lyra. It just wasn't grabbing me. I slogged on.

The second book got better with the introduction of Will. More...

34 comments like (8 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2007

Erinina Marie rated it:

Okay, so I'm being especially harsh on these books, because I think I'm trying to figure something out about my own young adult novel. My criticisms are harsh I think because the books are actually so powerful and wonderful and tell a story with three of my strongest beliefs contained within them. But, I can't shake my annoyance at 1) the condemnation of the church (surprising coming from me, I know) 2) the central significance of sex and now 3) the trite and naive purity with which 'native' More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Steve rated it:

Holy Moley! We go from "Ripping Yarn" in the first two volumes to "Ripping Yarn + Theology" in The Amber Spyglass. That, plus tying up all the loose ends and touching base with just about every character from the first two volumes (even the dead ones... the whole middle third of the book, makes this a looooong goodread. It's got that basic LOTR Fantasy structure... little people doing heroic deeds and saving the universe (not one world, not a few, but all of them everywher More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2008

Antonio rated it:

A satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, this instalment is by far the most complex and fast-paced out of the three. The many threads that make the parable intriguing and twined together very well, though sometimes it goes beyond well into either redundancy or beating, if not a dead horse, then at least one in agony.

No trilogy could really hope to be perfect, and as such this one loses steam at the end, but it still did not disappoint. Should I ever have the misfortune of reproducing, More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Megara rated it:

I found the first half of the book tedious but it picked up at the end. The battle was particularly interesting... and how Lyra and Will go into the after life. I liked how the book ended; I was almost anticipating a Harry Potter conclusion where they fast-forward into the future and Lyra and Will live happily ever after but that wasn't the case. I think the ending was a lot more realistic and in turn a lot more satisfying; however depressing.

There were a few bits of the story that More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2009

Porter rated it:

When I was in high school, the local video arcade passed out fliers that that evening, after a $2 admission, you could play all the video games for free. I and several of my friends went and enjoyed ourselves.

And then suddenly they closed the doors, turned off all the games, and a preacher got up and proceeded to try to "save" us.

True, we had already gotten our money's worth, and we we could have gotten up and left (even though all of us wanted to but none of u More...

1 comment like (13 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Peter rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 03, 2008

Jlawrence rated it:

Definitely my favorite of the trilogy. The story was gripping throughout, Pullman's imagination was working at its highest pitch, and he balanced characterization with a complicated plot very well (which is where I felt The Subtle Knife faltered). The world Mary enters and its creatures alone would have made a fine short story or novella, the trip to the underworld/afterlife was vivid and truly unnerving, Mrs. Coulter's character arc was fascinating, there were dramatic moments that literally More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2008

Rebecca rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 21, 2010

Brad rated it:

My entire review could be this: Phillip Pullman's "The Amber Spyglass" is one of the poorest closing books of a trilogy ever written.

But I feel compelled to continue. At one point, I actually stopped reading "The Amber Spyglass," put it down and vowed not to finish, but I wanted to be able to slag off the book with authority, so finishing became a must. And I even had a slight hope that Pullman could save his series

I did finish, but it never got any b More...

7 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2011

Michael rated it:

Took me more than one try to get through this fat, tedious climax to His Dark Materials, and god was I relieved when I finally turned the last page.

Yes, it won the Whitbread (now Costa), and yes, everyone fell all over themselves praising it, but it is a weak, weak book in comparison to the other two, mostly becuase it isn't any fun at all.

There is terror and Big Ideas and heavy stuff in the previous two books, but that is always married to the sort of thrilling adventure th More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)