[.ca] The Amber Spyglass: His Dark Materials - Book III (ISBN 0679879269)

From Amazon.com:
From the very start of its very first scene, The Amber Spyglass will set hearts fluttering and minds racing. All we'll say here is that we immediately discover who captured Lyra at the end of The Subtle Knife, though we've yet to discern whether this individual's intent is good, evil, or somewhere in between. We also learn that Will still possesses the blade that allows him to cut between worlds, and has been joined by two winged companions who are determined to escort him to Lord Asriel's mountain redoubt. The boy, however, has only one goal in mind--to rescue his friend and return to her the alethiometer, an instrument that has revealed so much to her and to readers of The Golden Compass and its follow-up. Within a short time, too, we get to experience the "tingle of the starlight" on Serafina Pekkala's skin as she seeks out a famished Iorek Byrnison and enlists him in Lord Asriel's crusade: A complex web of thoughts was weaving itself in the bear king's mind, with more strands in it than hunger and satisfaction. There was the memory of the little girl Lyra, whom he had named Silvertongue, and whom he had last seen crossing the fragile snow bridge across a crevasse in his own island of Svalbard. Then there was the agitation among the witches, the rumors of pacts and alliances and war; and then there was the surpassingly strange fact of this new world itself, and the witch's insistence that there were many more such worlds, and that the fate of them all hung somehow on the fate of the child. Meanwhile, two factions of the Church are vying to reach Lyra first. One is even prepared to give a priest "preemptive absolution" should he succeed in committing mortal sin. For these tyrants, killing this girl is no less than "a sacred task." In the final installment of his trilogy, Philip Pullman has set himself the highest hurdles. He must match its predecessors in terms of sheer action and originality and resolve the enigmas he already created. The good news is that there is no critical bad news--not that The Amber Spyglass doesn't contain standoffs and close calls galore. (Who would have it otherwise?) But Pullman brings his audacious revision of Paradise Lost to a conclusion that is both serene and devastating. In prose that is transparent yet lyrical and 3-D, the author weaves in and out of his principals' thoughts. He also offers up several additional worlds. In one, Dr. Mary Malone is welcomed into an apparently simple society. The environment of the mulefa (again, we'll reveal nothing more) makes them rich in consciousness while their lives possess a slow and stately rhythm. These strange creatures can, however, be very fast on their feet (or on other things entirely) when necessary. Alas, they are on the verge of dying as Dust streams out of their idyllic landscape. Will the Oxford dark-matter researcher see her way to saving them, or does this require our young heroes? And while Mary is puzzling out a cure, Will and Lyra undertake a pilgrimage to a realm devoid of all light and hope, after having been forced into the cruelest of sacrifices--or betrayals. Throughout his galvanizing epic, Pullman sustains scenes of fierce beauty and tenderness. He also allows us a moment or two of comic respite. At one point, for instance, Lyra's mother bullies a series of ecclesiastical underlings: "The man bowed helplessly and led her away. The guard behind her blew out his cheeks with relief." Needless to say, Mrs. Coulter is as intoxicating and fluid as ever. And can it be that we will come to admire her as she plays out her desperate endgame? In this respect, as in many others, The Amber Spyglass is truly a book of revelations, moving from darkness visible to radiant truth. --Kerry Fried

The real value of this book is not to be found as a standalone, but rather as the conclusion of an outstanding triology...:
"The amber spyglass" is the third and last book in Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" triology. It is good, but not nearly as engaging as the previous two books in the series, "Northern lights" (or "The golden compass", the name given to that book in USA) and "The subtle knife". I must say that I didn't love "The amber spyglass", but I'm glad I read it. The books in "His Dark Materials" are the kind of books that make you happy someone taught you how to read. They are full of magic, interesting characters and weird events. In a nutshell, they make you dream, and awake your imagination, whether you are extremely young or already an adult. From my point of view, that is extremely important, and that is the reason why I recommend "The amber spyglass" to you, even though I only give it 3 stars. Truth to be told, the real value of this book is not to be found as a standalone, but rather as the conclusion of an outstanding triology that is already a classic. Recommended! Belen Alcat

The Temptation of Lyra *SPOILER*:
I thought I agreed with everyone that this last book in the series was a complete disappointment. BUT....hear me out, I'm sure I'm not the only one that put down the book in order to really think for a moment(or threw it, as seems to be the case in many reviews since it seems to abrubtly stop without a hint of resolution). Perhaps the last book is so subtle compared to the first two and Pullman actually has a point that isn't spelled out and repeated over and over as many of his ideas in the writing are (the diamond shaped bodice of the mulefa....seriously, did any of you NOT miss that point? ). So, here is what I have deciphered as a coherent meaning to the end of The Amber Spyglass: Mary Malone's role with the Mulefa IS important because it helps her to regain that feeling that she once had as a child falling in love (through her experimentation and understanding of Dust). She is led to the opening for the dead and is reminded to "tell them stories" which leads her to share this notion with Lyra. Lyra in turn has a "door open inside of her that she never knew existed" which causes her to acknowledge her love for will. That moment becomes the pebble that changes the course of the river (or whatever metaphor you prefer) and Dust, as a concious substance, uses that moment in time as a foothold to save itself. Shaky, yea...but it works. As for the whole "fall" comparison....Just as Adam and Eve are cast out of Eden at the realization of themselves to a life committed to finding a way back into Heaven, Will and Lyra are unable to stay in their "Eden" (being together) after their realization of love and are cast back into their worlds to a life committed to building the Republic of Heaven. Now, I must say that this is by far a disappointment when compared to the other two books, but only in the sense that where Pullman has been anything but vague or subtle anywhere in the first two books; all of a sudden when you are expecting this amazing battle and armageddon, the death of the creator, resolution, etc. There's silence. Instead, he gives us a moment. One moment that this entire trilogy builds to. Over and over we are reminded that the different worlds exist because at one time when something happened in one, chances caused something different to happen in another and by that moment, caused another world to come into existence. The moment where Will and Lyra fall in love seems like a complete disappointment when in fact it is the only act that changes the course of everything. Anticlimatic, you bet. Annoying, to me at least. Pullman, however, does manage to end things and not leave you hanging you just have to read a little deeper than you had been. So, I still think the book was a complete disappointment, but only because I desperately wanted a different ending. I wanted more of the characters I had grown to love, I wanted an amazing battle, resolution between Lyra and her parents, Will and his mother, etc. The book itself could never stand alone, yet you need to read it to come to your own terms about the trilogy.

Enjoyable.:
This is the third and last book in the His Dark Materials trilogy (after Northern Lights, or The Golden Compass in the US, and The Subtle Knife). This volume starts just where the previous left off: after the conflagration on the hills near Cittàgazze, Lyra is nowhere to be found. Looking for her, Will meets two Angels, Balthamos and Baruch, who urge him to bring the Subtle Knife to Lord Asriel. He promises to help them, as soon as he's recued Lyra. Lyra is actually in another world, where Mrs. Coulter is keeping her asleep with drugs, and telling the local population that she's a holy woman and that she's trying to heal Lyra, so as to be left alone and unquestioned. Soon though, with the help of a little village girl named Ama and of two tiny spies in the service of Lord Asriel, Gallivespians known as the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, Will finds her again and saves her. But now the most dangerous part of the journey begins, because both children want to go to the Land of the Dead, to make amends and try to rescue Roger and Will's father. As for Dr. Mary Malone, who crossed into Cittàgazze and then in yet another world, she meets a strange people called the Mulefa. Living with them for some time, she finally learns their language, make friends and discover they also know about sraf, the Shadow particles she was studying in her laboratory, or what Lyra calls Dust. She'll build a spyglass to see sraf and understansd its purpose. Meanwhile, Father Gomez, an emissary of the Church, is on a Holy mission to kill Lyra, to prevent her from committing the original sin again. I still don't know what to think of these books. The story is sometimes very moving, with some heart-wrenching passages, but the rest is sometimes dull and not very believable. I didn't think this final book tied up all loose ends either. It was enjoyable, but I wouldn't call hid Dark Materials my favourite series.

Brilliant and disappointing:
This book, the last of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, was disappointing in that it didn't, to me, show the big picture clearly. However, the smaller stuff - Mary's back story, Will meeting Iorek - was excellent and just having finished the book, I can say that I will remember the characters for a long time.

A huge disappointment:
I loved the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife but this book disappointed me terribly. I was outraged. To much ranting about Dust, 'we have to seal all the holes' 'oh but then we cant see each other any more' really, who cares!? Lyra and Will falling in love was terrible, ruined the plot with nonsense