The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials) (Paperback)

The plot at the start is about four or fivefold with several storylines slowly running their course. As in many adventures the seperate 'subplots' eventually merge into a wonderful finale. Then for about seven chapters at the end there is the twist that every reader was waiting for...

This book will be brilliant forever. Its greatness lies in the 'subtlety' (a word frequently mentioned in His Dark Material's 2) of the web of characters, universes and relationships. Lord Asriel for instanceis a perfeect example. A complex, sometimes unruly individual with very centred ideas. Compelling stuff...

The paths of the many characters, new and old, are drawn together swiftly and naturally to reveal the destinies of Lyra and Will, God, Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter, and all the worlds along with everything in them.

As no book has ever done so completely, The Amber Spyglass engulfed me and involved me. It is not just emotive, but I unintentionally and indescribably experienced every emotion the characters were feeling, particularly Lyra's during the final chapters. As if I had ceased to be, I left any maryness behind and became absolutely Lyra Silvertongue. It was in a depth I knew a book could induce, yet had never found before.

The spell the book creates is amazing and irresistible. I have never read any other book that could convey apparently so easily an emotion in a sentence, an impression in an instant, a scene, a view, an atmosphere, a whole other world - several other worlds - within its pages so perfectly. It left me feeling almost numb, though also with such a mixture of sadness and awe and happiness and other elusive emotions that have no name.....to understand you will have to read it too.

After much internal debate I have decided that the ending is brilliant, the only conclusion that could finish such a work properly, the only way to reflect the trilogy's moods, ideas, even possibly its messages - again you will have to read it to discover for yourself. Although most of the setting for His Dark Materials is widely different from the world we live in, many of the themes and events are universal, or interworldal perhaps. Love, bereavement, friendship, confusion, trust, wonder, fear, betrayal, courage, greed, good and evil, right and wrong, all are portrayed by Philip Pullman with a knowledge of human character and perception that ensure that this book will be appreciated and valued as a unique and unforgettable work of art.

Philip Pullman has been compared justly to JRR Tolkien, was influenced by John Milton, William Blake, and, he claims, owes his ideas to every book he has ever read (thankfully if he has read 'The Famous Five', 'Noddy', or any other such greats, the ideas he took from them are not too apparent in his work). However the His Dark Materials trilogy contains ideas and places never written of before, and contains them in abundance.

There is no age category for this book; it is not specifically for adults or children, but for anyone who wants to read it. You should read books one and two first (Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife), as it is essential to know what has happened before. Some other reviewers have said that they had trouble keeping track of events, but I found it easy and had no need to make notes on the previous books beforehand - something I would have had plenty of time for during he awful wait for this one......I almost resorted to the squirrel treatment myself.....

The Amber Spyglass is definitely worthy of the first two books, in spite of some claims otherwise; it is certainly not an anti-climax. I was sometimes impatient for the end, sometimes wishing it would never come. It did, at 5 o'clock in the morning on the night I got it - my mum almost ate me when she discovered that.

I think this review is extensive enough now, and for those of you who skipped to the end, here's a basic summary: you should read this book.