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Summary and Reviews of The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass

His Dark Materials - Book III

by Philip Pullman
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Readers' Rating (28):
  • First Published:
  • Oct 1, 2000, 400 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2001, 480 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Brings the intrigue of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife to a heart-stopping end, marking the final volume of His Dark Materials as the most powerful of the trilogy.

The Amber Spyglass brings the intrigue of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife to a heart-stopping end, marking the final volume of His Dark Materials as the most powerful of the trilogy.

Along with the return of Lyra, Will, Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Dr. Mary Malone, and Iorek Byrnison the armored bear, come a host of new characters: the Mulefa, mysterious wheeled creatures with the power to see Dust; Gallivespian Lord Roke, a hand-high spymaster to Lord Asriel; and Metatron, a fierce and mighty angel. So, too, come startling revelations: the painful price Lyra must pay to walk through the land of the dead, the haunting power of Dr. Malone's amber spyglass, and the names of who will live--and who will die--for love. And all the while, war rages with the Kingdom of Heaven, a brutal battle that--in its shocking outcome--will uncover the secret of Dust. Philip Pullman deftly brings the cliff-hangers and mysteries of His Dark Materials to an earthshattering conclusion--and confirms his fantasy trilogy as an undoubted and enduring classic.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Newsweek
Pullman [is] a big deal, and so is this final volume of the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.

Salon.com - Polly Shulman
.... while Pullman may have become caught up in adult theology -- and while he has won more grown-up readers with each Dark Materials book -- he keeps the swooping plots and passionate characters that make his earlier books so appealing to young readers. With fantasies, as with mysteries, the hardest part to get right is the end, where everything is revealed. The magical objects and unexplained forces that flourish in the genre easily lend themselves to anticlimax, disintegrating into mere mechanics or bluster once the author attempts to explain them or tie them together in the traditional apocalyptic battle at the end. Given the delicious promise of the first two Dark Materials books, some disappointment was almost inevitable. But The Amber Spyglass delivers surprisingly little of it; the latest novel is nearly as satisfying as the first two.

USA Today
One of the most anticipated books [this fall].

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Read-Alikes

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