HIS DARK MATERIALS IS NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING DAFNE KEEN, RUTH WILSON, JAMES McAVOY, AND LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA!
The unforgettable His Dark Materials trilogy that began with The Golden Compass—the modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an "All-Time Greatest Novel" and Newsweek hailed as a "Top 100 Book of All Time"—and continued with The Subtle Knife, reaches its astonishing conclusion in The Amber Spyglass.
Throughout the worlds, the forces of both heaven and hell are mustering to take part in Lord Asriel's audacious rebellion. Each player in this epic drama has a role to play—and a sacrifice to make. Witches, angels, spies, assassins, tempters, and pretenders, no one will remain unscathed.
Lyra and Will have the most dangerous task of all. They must journey to a gray-lit world where no living soul has ever gone and from which there is no escape.
As war rages and Dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living—and the dead—comes to depend on Lyra and Will. On the choices they make in love, and for love, forevermore.
A #1 New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Whitbread Award Winner of the British Book Award (Children's) Published in 40 Countries
"Masterful.... This title confirms Pullman's inclusion in the company of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien." —Smithsonian Magazine
"Pullman has created the last great fantasy masterpiece of the twentieth century. An astounding achievement." —The Cincinnati Enquirer
"War, politics, magic, science, individual lives and cosmic destinies are all here . . . shaped and assembled into a narrative of tremendous pace by a man with a generous, precise intelligence. I am completely enchanted." —The New York Times Book Review
"Breathtaking adventure . . . a terrific story, eloquently told." —The Boston Globe
Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials! ** THE BOOK OF DUST ** La Belle Sauvage The Secret Commonwealth
This book was a strange experience. I was thoroughly bored the first 100 pages. As with The Subtle Knife, I failed to immerse myself in the universe of the book enough to appreciate what was essentially an elaboration on the politics between, and within, the races established in the previous books. I put most of the blame for this on myself, and I should have seen it coming after The Subtle Knife. I knew that the book was probably giving me good stuff, I just didn't appreciate what the book was giving me.
Then, after 100 pages, The Amber Spyglass started getting really interesting to me as well. Once Death turned up, I found myself getting on board. It then turned into quite an exploration of what Death is and isn't, and takes elements of religion and, completely without respect (in a good way), tears them up and employs them in its own story-telling. I can imagine that much of the treatment of religion would probably be quite controversial, especially in a children's book, but it got really entertaining.
The story also ties up very nicely, and sometimes it becomes properly emotional. While the mythology of the book might be subtle in places, there is nothing subtle about the plot. The emotion, the love, and the hard choices the characters have to make are all used for all they are worth - and then a little more for good measure. This works well, and the over-the-top'ness of elements of the plot kind of works well with the ambiguity (for me at least) of the universe it takes place in.
The Amber Spyglass is undoubtedly a good book, and I can really see how someone could love The Dark Materials trilogy. I didn't love it, but I'm glad to have read it, and given the amount of people who absolutely love these books I think everyone should probably give them a try to see if they might be one of them.
