The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3) in Overdue Podcast

Sep 03, 2009 Olivia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, childhood-or-old-favorites, read-again-and-again, nostalgia-fest, got-lost-in-the-world, middle-grade, fantasy, audiobook

I loved this so so much. I think it's definitely my favorite of the series, which apparently isn't popular. And I don't even want to bother justifying why it's just lovely and exciting and beautiful to me because I don't exactly know, but some things (contains SPOILERS):

Yes, I love the mulefa, mostly because of how interesting they are from a scientific standpoint (but seriously, how many parallel universe sagas tackle evolutionary differences between worlds?). I love Mary a lot. I think Mrs. Co I loved this so so much. I think it's definitely my favorite of the series, which apparently isn't popular. And I don't even want to bother justifying why it's just lovely and exciting and beautiful to me because I don't exactly know, but some things (contains SPOILERS):

Yes, I love the mulefa, mostly because of how interesting they are from a scientific standpoint (but seriously, how many parallel universe sagas tackle evolutionary differences between worlds?). I love Mary a lot. I think Mrs. Coulter can have her redemption, because people are complex! I love Will's devotion to his mother. I love Lyra's curiosity and awakening and how she really does take the initiative at the end in regard to that, although I'll admit she's a bit too uncharacteristically attached to will for most of the book and I found that frustrating. I love the Land of the Dead parts and the emphasis on storytelling. I love the Adam and Eve parallels and that it's growing up that saves the world, which is really just consistent if you're aware of the Narnia and Biblical references. I think the writing style is lovely. I even love the little spy people. And yeah, I think it's a logical conclusion to keep Will and Lyra in their separate worlds, because part of growing up, in addition to trials and tribulations and sexuality, is that things just don't work out the way you want them to. I do think that some bits are overly melodramatic (though who isn't at that age?), but that fits if you think of it as a mythological tale.

I've been pondering the religious aspects as I've been rereading, and I think that ultimately, it's more about characters who are atheistic for reasons mostly related to this fictional world, rather than making a statement about atheism/religion itself...maybe? Yes, it's pro-evolution (the mulefa) and makes a case for a lovely afterlife in the form of redistributed atoms and that you should live a long and happy life instead of keeping stock in heven, but the Authority is clearly not what we think of as God (not the creator) and overall, the message seems to be that we might not understand anything, but there's a beauty in the mystery and connectedness of the universe, symbolized by Dust. (Apparently this is either too atheistic or not atheistic enough, depending on who you are.) I particularly like how it doesn't discount that magic and mystery.

BRING ON THE BBC ADAPTATION!! ...more

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Aug 28, 2008 Sarah rated it really liked it

The end of this book has some gorgeous moments - the last Will/ Lyra scene in particular is absolutely heartbreaking. However, to me this book suffered in comparison to Subtle Knife. Particularly, I thought the Mary Malone storyline was far too drawn out and interrupted the more exciting parts in an exasperating way. I was also expecting the story to be building to finally finding out more about Lord Asriel - but Pullman for me never delivered on what I thought was exciting mystique, and Asriel' ...more

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