A review by ruth24
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

4.0

If I put each book in order of how much I liked them, it would be:
- The Golden Compass (1)
- The Amber Spyglass (3)
- The Subtle Knife (2)

I see a lot of mixed reviews about the series, with most people loving The Golden Compass and then falling off after that. While I agree that the first book is definitely the best and that the second is a little tougher to get through, I enjoyed the third book and was anxious to keep reading to find out what happened next.

I had a few issues with how the book ended, which I've hidden below in the spoilers section. I would've liked to have known more about what happened after the book, but I guess that's the point of an ending, you can't know everything and you have to imagine for yourself. If the author kept writing, it would probably ruin it (cough Harry Potter cough) and if you want to know more, it's a sign that you were invested in the characters and enjoyed the book.

If you've already read the book or don't mind it being ruined then you can read the next little bit.

Spoiler

I really enjoyed the part when Mary was with the mulefa, learning about their culture. In the beginning, I was frustrated because I didn't see how it connected to her finding and tempting Lyra, but I was interested in the creatures and the wheels and oil, so I liked it anyway.

One thing I was reluctant about was when Lyra and Will decided to go to the world of the dead. I wasn't interested in that AT ALL and didn't see why they needed to go there. Roger's dying wasn't really a betrayal by Lyra, but if it was me that was in her place, I'd probably have blamed myself too. That being said, I was itching for them to go to Lord Asriel as had been the original plan. That was the part where it was most taxing to read on. In the end though, I liked how the dead could escape through the hole that Will cut and just evaporate into the world -the air and trees and whatnot - instead of being stuck in that 'nothing' world. I thought that was really beautiful.

I thought the ending was OK... and liked the part about Will and Lyra not being able to be together.
On the one hand I felt that their finding out they loved each other at the end was kind of rushed. But on the other hand, I think it felt that way for them too. All of sudden they realized they loved each other, then discovered they couldn't be together and felt angry and cheated out of time. So I'll let that one go.

I also thought the whole Metatron thing could have been expanded on. If he was the whole reason why the "Church" was evil and all this bad stuff was happening, the war and everything, then why did he seem so secondary? We met him and he was killed basically within like one or two scenes and that was it. It didn't seem to take much - Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter dying was like,
whatever, since they were both kind of crappy people, so it wasn't emotional - and then he was dead and it was over.

To sum up, I really liked the world(s) that Pullman created, all the characters and different and interesting creatures. The mulefa, Pantalaimon, and Iorek Burnison were my favourites. I haven't read much fantasy lately so it was really refreshing to be swept up into all these new and exciting and strange ideas. I liked the overall plot and thought there bits of really beautiful writing and interesting concepts throughout. There were some things I didn't like, which I've mentioned, but overall I really liked the series and rated each book 4/5.