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The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials)

Author: Philip Pullman
Publisher: Scholastic
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

328 reviews
Sales Rank: 3826

Media: Paperback
Edition: New Paperback Junior Ed
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 1.5

ISBN: 0439944686
EAN: 9780439944687
ASIN: 0439944686

Publication Date: March 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new copies, with fast U.K. delivery. Delivering to Europe in 3-7 workings days. Delivering to U.S.A. in 7-12 working days.

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 328

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A compelling end to the Trilogy February 15, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is by far the best of the three books. It kept me hooked from beginning to end, and at times in the book I really was emotionally engrossed in the book, feeling what the characters we're feeling, which is very rare for me when reading, and really is a credit to the writing.
As with other people I was a little disappointed with the last chapter, and felt the ending didnt really do the book justice. I would like to see another book (even a small one) just to tie up the ending properly and perhaps explain what happens next for Will and Lyra.

All in all, I'm at a loss now to find another book to read that even half matches this Trilogy.

5 out of 5 stars

A compelling end to the Trilogy February 15, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is by far the best of the three books. It kept me hooked from beginning to end, and at times in the book I really was emotionally engrossed in the book, feeling what the characters we're feeling, which is very rare for me when reading, and really is a credit to the writing.
As with other people I was a little disappointed with the last chapter, and felt the ending didnt really do the book justice. I would like to see another book (even a small one) just to tie up the ending properly and perhaps explain what happens next for Will and Lyra.

All in all, I'm at a loss now to find another book to read that even half matches this Trilogy.

5 out of 5 stars

The Perfect Ending January 28, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Some readers may be disappointed with the ending of the trilogy but I most certainly was not - starting from fairy tale of the first volume, an adolescent part two, this volume is the most mature and decidedly the best of the three. Pullman adds final touches to his invented universe and makes with true talent. The story which developed slowly and unravelled before our eyes finally makes sense.
It would be a crime to reveal any details of the plot - but get ready for twists you never expected and be prepared to have your preconceptions challenged. Pullman's vision does not necessarily have to be embraced as your own but you must give him credit for creating a world of great strength and integrity! Five stars!

4 out of 5 stars

Finishing before the end January 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I have enjoyed all three parts of Phillip Pullman's trilogy immensely, all until the last part of this book. I found the wrapping up of the story a letdown after a magnificent, splendid feat spread over three spellbinding books. My reasons for disappointment have to do with the vision that Pullman created, and then seemed, somehow, to get too tired to complete.

While the author must have put an incredible amount of care, effort and imagination into creating this massive epic, his vision seems to have dissipated when the time came to wrap it up. The fate of the protagonists just seemed to camouflage this fact and detract from it.

Was it sheer exhaustion after a Herculean feat on the part of the author, an exhaustion which would have been completely legitimate? Or, was it that he could focus all his talent on a story of "resistance", the way some people shine under adversity, but did not have the motivation any more to think of what happened next?

While the trilogy is a story about resistance, not about "what happened next", the last part of the book, describing the world that emerged in the end, should have, at least, displayed some important changes a result of all those multi-universe-battles against an oppressive Authority, and the defeat of it. And yet, the world that survived such an event did not display any significant change, as if the whole thing was a storm in a teacup.

While I could not blame the writer for being exhausted of the effort he put into that story, I just wish, if artistic-burnout was the reason, that he'd have had taken all the time in the world, until he was inspired to wrap up the story at the same heights. The new world that emerged after "killing the Authority" (no less), should have been given the same thought as the rest of the story. Instead, nothing much seems to have changed in that new world, but for some vague statements of the type found in a horoscope.

I do not wish to belittle the writing, it remains absolutely breathtaking nonetheless, with the world Pullman created so captiviting the reader may never want to part with it. Anyone who has read the first two books of the trilogy MUST read the third, I just wanted to prepare readers who followed that vision with passion for what is a disappointing finale. Ironically, it seemed that the light of the author's own vision dimmed after the "death of the Authority", as if he, too, had fallen in battle, exhausted, without the imaginative resources to take the story from there.

In one of the interviews with the author posted on his website, he said something to the effect that he knows exactly what problems there are in his writing, and doesn't need critics to point them out. If that is the case, I wonder if he knew the problems with this book, but had a date for its launching, so he decided to meet it anyway, sort of in the same way the managers of the Columbia Space Shuttle took their decision to launch, and with pretty much the same results?

How I wish he'd have kept the manuscript in his care a year longer, two, even three, until he could recharge his wondrous artistic batteries, in order to keep the last part of this magnificent story at the same level as the preceding ones!

5 out of 5 stars

This is a great ending to the triology! January 11, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

I've got to say this is the greatest trialogy I've EVER read. The ending to this book is the best Pullman could come up with. Each part of it makes sense and surprises the reader at the end. The ending actually nearly made me cry which, not many books of this sort can do. That just shows how Pullman can write doesn't it?
However, I can see why the Christian church might not like this, but why can't you just read it? Can't someone express a view? I mean Pullman isn't saying he actually hates the church, what he's saying is that the Church is taking to much out of life. Any who, theres my opinion, so buy it. Believe me it won't a mistake ;)