Puntabulous

The Amber Spyglass – Review

Huzzah! I finished The Amber Spyglass! So now I’m officially done with His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. The fact that these books were published in 1995, 1997 and 2000 and I didn’t know about them until The Golden Compass was made into a movie in 2007 is just terrible. Did I ever tell you I was never much of a reader until I got to college? I don’t think I ever read a single book in high school. Anyway, while the movie was enjoyable, I was so entranced by the world that it took place in, I just knew the books would be incredible. And I was right.

The Amber Spyglass was an awesome read. In fact, I’d rate it better than The Subtle Knife, but not as good as The Golden Compass. Everything having to do with the World of the Dead, and the Angels, and the final battle was just genius. Loved Balthamos and Baruch. Loved Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. Loved Metatron (even though I kept wanting to call him Megatron). Mary Malone’s storyline with the Mulefa wasn’t as entertaining, but it was still enjoyable. Part of that might have to do with my disappointment that the Amber Spyglass itself wasn’t as essential to the storyline as the Alethiometer or the Subtle Knife were in their respective books. But that’s just a minor quibble I suppose.

Probably the aspect I liked least about it was the ending. Not the ending itself, just the fact that there was 100 or so pages after the major climax of the book. It reminded me so much of The Return of the King book in style, meaning that after the major climax, there was still a lot needing to be resolved, like the Scouring of the Shire, which — while essential — just isn’t as riveting as the rest of the book. The slow resolution of the dÃ¦mon storyline was particularly frustrating. But I understood the point of it, and I will probably be able to enjoy it more after multiple readings.

Moments that I just absolutely adored was in the World of the Dead where the children are talking about their dÃ¦mons, and all the things the dÃ¦mons did for them while they were alive. It was so incredibly touching I might have gotten a tad weepy. I also liked the Death characters and the whole “It’s time.” relationships they had with their owners. Lastly, I couldn’t have asked for a better resolution to the Lee Scoresby and John Parry storylines. It was perfect! And yes, I’m happy with the ending of the Lyra and Will storyline. I won’t go into details here, but we can talk about it in more spoilery detail in the comments section.

BOOKS, REVIEWS | Craig | October 1, 2008 5:20 am

39 Comments

By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 7:26 am

So I’m wandering around the second-hand store the other night (while my kid scours for Halloween crap) and I’m looking through the books and I see The Golden Compass. Hmmmm. “Well Craig raved about it so I better get it.” See the influence you have on my life? So that better be .99 well spent Craig or I’ll be lodging a formal complaint. Haven’t started it yet, have a library book on the go first.
By Craig, October 1, 2008 @ 7:34 am

Yes! My opinions might actually matter! Be sure to let me know what you think.
By Hayden, October 1, 2008 @ 9:05 am

Since we are talking about literature…the person I am named after died yesterday, Hayden Carruth. A sad day indeed for the written word…
By polt, October 1, 2008 @ 9:09 am

A sad day for the Carruth family as well, one presumes.

Didn’t read the book, Craiggers, sorry. I’m currently reading 31 Days. It’s about the 31 day period between Ford taking over as President and his pardon of Nixon. I find it riveting…but then, I AM a political junkie….

HUGS…
By Hayden, October 1, 2008 @ 9:13 am

Polt, 31 Days sounds good, will have to check it out. I am reading Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen. A true tale about the crazy world of orchid growers and collectors. Those people are insane…
By David from Brazil, October 1, 2008 @ 9:22 am

Hmmm my current read is Halting State by Charles Stross. A very interesting near-future sci-fi. As i’m lazy to argue in favor of my choice, here is Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_State .
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 9:45 am

Since we’re all confessing our reads, I’m reading Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison about a kick-ass witch bounty hunter who quits her job and her boss takes out a contract on her. Seems her roommate is a vampire who takes the contract but they work together to fight supernatural crime in Cincinnati. Oh and she has a pixie body guard. Yeah yeah, high brow lit it ain’t. But its really funny.
By Howard, October 1, 2008 @ 9:57 am

So you see why I love telling people about this “childrens’” series and then revealing what the entire series is about? Evil is all about perception.
By David from Brazil, October 1, 2008 @ 9:58 am

Tam, my boyfriend is currently writing urban fantasy and needs to read many books about this kind of stuff. I have piles of books on crime-fighting whatevers being read at home. His current favorite seems to be a fella called Jim Butcher.
By Craig, October 1, 2008 @ 9:59 am

Howard. Seriously. I have no idea how this got pegged as a Children’s or even Young Adult series.
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 10:09 am

David: Ohhhhh. Dresden Files. Really really funny. Good stuff. Urban Fantasy is great fun and Kim Harrison is compared to Jim Butcher. He might want to check her out. I like a good humor element. Another great series is the Smoke series by Tanya Huff. She’s Canadian and its lots of fun. The main characters are a gay guy and his ex lover who’s a vampire and they fight demons, ghosts, etc. through 3 books. Really really snarky and a great cast of characters. My fave. Am I gushing? It actually made me LOL for real on an airplane.

Is your boyfriend published? Let me know if/when so I can check it out.
By David from Brazil, October 1, 2008 @ 10:18 am

Oh, he has a vampire story set in Rome published, i’d love to recommend it, but he (we) are Brazilian, it is published locally and in Portuguese. While I (we) DO work as a translator, and I might actually translate his entire book someday, it is a long-term project sadly. I’ll have to check that Smoke series out, and I love me some humor in my books too. Its a touchy subject, as Craig doesn’t like him for some weird reason, but last funny book I read was The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnies Nutter, the Witch (not sure thats exact name), by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet. Towards the end it tries to get a bit more serious but its a fun ride.
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 10:24 am

David: That is very cool. Its hard to get published. No can do Portugese, French yeah. Hopefully you’ll get it translated some day and we can read it.
By Hayden, October 1, 2008 @ 10:51 am

Puntabulous should have a book club…
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 10:56 am

Hayden: That would be fun. Fiction only for me though. And nothing depressing, I read to escape.
By Dave S., October 1, 2008 @ 2:38 pm

I read my daily Get Fuzzy calendar.

And Men’s Health.

And Men’s Health U.K Edition.

And Geek Monthly.

I love reading, but I have so little time to sit down and enjoy a book.
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 3:11 pm

Maybe if you spent less time reading geek mags you’d have more time Dave.

The condition of my house indicates my fervor for reading. One weekend I counted and I spent 18 hours reading. Oops. That getting a real life thing isn’t going so well for me.
By Brian, October 1, 2008 @ 3:16 pm

As much as I enjoyed the Golden Compass series, I actually didn’t seem to enjoy the last installment as much as you did Craig. I actually thought a lot of it was just… too much, over the top almost. And I thought the ending was anticlimactic.

That isn’t to say I didn’t like the series. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I also wanted to call Metatron Megatron, which I probably did.

I’m reading through Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series now and I’ll be honest, it is a lot less philosophical and with less insight and she’s not a good writer, but I am so invested in it. I highly recommend it if you’re going for a similar genre series next and havn’t read it.
By Craig, October 1, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

Thanks for the recommendation Brian. I’ve been thinking about reading the Twilight series for a while now. Hopefully I’ll get to it sooner rather than later.
By Dave S., October 1, 2008 @ 3:51 pm

I’ve been curious about the Twilight series too. They sound intriguing, but had the gumption to try it out.
By Dave S., October 1, 2008 @ 3:55 pm

I meant *haven’t* had the gumption…

Probably shouldn’t be driving and commenting at the same time.
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 4:03 pm

I haven’t read Twilight. We have all the books in our house but the fact that its mostly 13 year old girls fawning over Edward probably means its not quite what I’m looking for. I’m not saying its not good, and I know adults who’ve read it but I guess my tastes run a bit more …. umm, mature? Notwithstanding vampires and werewolves which are cool.

And put down the phone Dave before you kill yourself.
By Tiffany, October 1, 2008 @ 4:23 pm

I am 31 and I loved the Twilight series…maybe that is because it is 13 reversed.
By David from Brazil, October 1, 2008 @ 4:24 pm

Well, have you seen the pics for the movie-version of Edward? No plans on actually reading the book, but I’ll certainly check out the film. I’m a big supporter of eye candy. I mean, I want to be fully entertained, and that includes feasting the eyes right? Just the eyes or my bf will have my masculinity for dinner. What’s left of it. Which isn’t much. I’ll be quiet now.
By Tam, October 1, 2008 @ 4:41 pm

David: Oh yeah, I’ve seen Edward. I think he was slightly hotter as Cedric but I’ll check out the movie. Eye candy is good. And having your masculinity for dinner? Sounds kinky.

Tiffany: I know lots of adults who liked it but it just hasn’t tweaked my interest even though it seems like a fast read.
By john, October 1, 2008 @ 5:53 pm

I enjoyed the series as a whole, but thought Spyglass was the weakest. I definitely enjoyed major components of the story (the land of the dead, the relationships with the daemons, the switching of worlds, etc.) but I like it less as a whole.

I have similar criticism as you Craig. I didn’t like how long the story went on after the battle and I thought the “philosophy” was a little heavy at times. I loved the role Asriel and Mrs. Coulter played in the battle. I think what bothered me most is that they never resolved what happened to Will’s mother.
By john, October 1, 2008 @ 6:08 pm

Oh, and I have to say, I really liked the Gallivespians.
By Craig, October 1, 2008 @ 7:19 pm

John! I’ve been waiting for your comment all day! Don’t leave me hanging like that!

Yeah, I wasn’t too crazy about the heavy handedness of Mary Malone at the end of the book. Pullman stopped being subtle and went a bit overboard with his views.

I was also disappointed not knowing what happened to Will’s mom. I forgot to mention that in my review, but it really bugged me too. (But then again, maybe it didn’t if I forgot to mention it in my review?)

And yes, the Gallivespians were total awesome badasses. Loved the image of them riding their dragonflies and killing people with their spurs.
By john, October 1, 2008 @ 8:19 pm

Um, WOW. I’m going to tell you what I tell a good friend of mine. There’s a ring on my finger, but that doesn’t make me *your* bitch. KIDDING. I’m totally a dancing monkey in your troupe and it’s nice to be wanted (*blush*). I’m on vacation (just not working, not traveling) so I haven’t been on line as much today as I usually am.

What bothered me about Will’s mom was that I got the impression she wasn’t mentally ill, but that she could see the Spectres. Her actions in the grocery store or in public seemed to mimic the actions of adults who had been caught by the Spectres. I really wanted some resolution to her story line and would have liked to see Will have a chance to have a more normal relationship with his actual parent as he lost his father so quickly. I’m fine he and Mary ended up maintaining a connection, but still was disappointed.

Chevalier Tialys and Lady Salmakia were awesome! I loved everything about them. I was a little annoyed by them at first as they seemed to treat Lyra and Will as immature children rather than capable young adults. As the story went on I really became attached to them and their dragonflies. I was sad when the dragonflies died and even sadder later…
By Joe G, October 5, 2008 @ 11:59 am

Yay! I’m glad you finally finished the series. Despite all the craziness that Mrs. Coulter caused I did feel bad for her. She had her moments of likableness. The whole Mary storyline irked me the entire time. The rest of the book moved at a decent pace and then her part came up to a halt.
By Bill, October 20, 2008 @ 2:21 pm

Amber Spyglass was the culmination of the other two books. Ill let you in on some of the thoughts myself and other avid Pullman fans have come up with:

The idea of Mary Malone is conceived as the “serpent” when compared to the original Adam and Eve story in the Bible. She is the one who must introduce Lyra (tempt) her to sexuality. Her story of her meeting that man stirs these feelings on Lyra, and of course in Will as well.

The mulefa are us. Or rather, what we would be had circumstances been different in our world. Remember, parallel “universes”. This is basically a solidification of the relationship between environment and life, the symbiotic give and take for balance. The balance is broken in all universes, again, showing the parallel difficulties facing all of them.

The Amber spyglass is important to understand the flow if dust. Until that point, Pullman had never specifically told us how dust is flowing, or in what direction…think about this scene in A.S….where is the dust flowing? It will hit you…

Will’s mom’s story IS finalized. I cant remember off hand the line that correctly identifies the fine line between her and the Specters in our world, but those of you who noticed this are correct. Pullman had stated that the psychosis she experiences is her relationship with being able to “see” the specters that have escaped or are apparent in our world. They cannot harm her, but they are there. Part of the story IS that if WIll and Lyra fail, Specters will then be able to turn our world into Citagazze. AGain, parallel. As well, Mary had stated that Will’s mom would come live with them/all live happily ever after.

Man, so much more, but I have not studied this book in a couple of years. The last read through I was content to just let my mind go and not focus on the reasons for each, but they are there. THis is a very in depth book, with a lot of layers that at first seem minor, but for those who are into agnostic/atheist beliefs, or just theologians, will find many threaded layers.

I suggest going to hisdarkmaterials.org if you really want some analysis and questions answered. This is where I lived a few years ago when I was breaking the book down.

And PS…All that came after the Mount Doom in LotR was awesome! I even read through all appendices every time I have read this series (about 10 since around 1980)
By Bill, October 20, 2008 @ 2:24 pm

Oh by the way, sorry, my name is Bill, I stumbled across this site while searching/google “the subtle knife” to see if it was greenlit yet for a movie. Read through, cool site, and seemingly cool people, for dorks
By Craig, October 20, 2008 @ 2:32 pm

Thank you Bill! I’m glad you found my blog! We talk about lots of dorky things, so I hope you pop in for a chat!

Thanks for explaining some of the finer plot points. I’m sure it’ll take a few more readings before I can pick up on them myself. It’s been alot of fun going through the internet and reading theories and explanations. I did that after I watched “The Fountain” and it made the movie so much more enjoyable. It’s one of my favorites these days.

I don’t think TSK movie has been greenlit yet.
By Bill, October 20, 2008 @ 2:46 pm

Glad to have found it. Ill definitely pop in once in a while to discuss items of interest. Im sure when I have some more time later ill go through and read around a bit.

Definitely check out hisdarkmaterials.org, and go to the discussion boards (citagazze). There are many theories, and many links to Pullman’s interviews and such that go into great detail about the books. I pulled out a few I remember off hand, but there is much more.

Great books, among my top 10 for the lifetime.
By Bill, October 20, 2008 @ 3:17 pm

Oh and one more PS…how do I get my blog posted on your blogroll?

http://www.twaht.blogspot.com

It is our ice hockey team blog which I write.
By Craig, October 20, 2008 @ 3:38 pm

All you have to do is ask nicely.

Done.
By Bill, October 20, 2008 @ 3:43 pm

Please?

And thank you…all in the same post!!!
By Johnny, November 24, 2008 @ 5:51 pm

This book is awesome I got a little confused some times but it rocks socks!
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