Customer Reviews
Mary is the serpent - By: Mary Poppins, 04 Oct 2008 
"A good example is Mary's prophesied (but never quite fulfilled) role as a temptress comparable to the serpentin the Garden of Eden."
I was transfixed listening (yes, it was like I was presentin their company) to Mary's tale of her apostasy & 'seduction by marzipan'. It was obvious that Lyra's presentation of the Mulefa fruit to Willin the glade was directly influenced by Mary's story.
Eve was told "you will not die" & Lyra felt like all the doorsin a previously unknown mansion were opening up to her. The introduction of new possibilities...
And yes, I had tearsin my eyes throughout the final chapters.
Excellent beyond expectations - By: Chris Palmer, 23 Sep 2008 The final bookin the trilogy really deliversin terms of story & emotion.
What started off as a reasonably standard young-adult fantasy saga reaches an epic conclusion. Despite the fantasy aspect, the characters are all believable & the reader has a real emotional response to what happens to each of them.
The plot is gripping & presents big, challenging issues to the reader on the nature of religion, god & mortality. I was genuinely surprised at the strength of this book.
Can't recommend enough!
Overrated - By: K. Vickers, 10 Jun 2008 
Although I generally enjoyed the trilogy there was a steady decline as you read each book. Whereas the first book is excellent the reader may get sidetracked by Pullman's strong atheist views which start to get on your nerves. I feel he should have concentrated more on the story rather than his viewpoint. Saying that there are some nice partsin this last book & the ending is a good one for the trilogy.
eventual satisfaction - By: David F, 19 May 2008 Some of the reviews of 'His Dark Materials' seem to show disappointment that a promising Potter-esque fairytale concludes with a fractured essay on existence. For me, it has the opposite effect. 'Northern Lights' was OK, but it never really grabbed me. I kept going because I trusted that the series would eventually say something, & it did.
'The Amber Spyglass' is a wonderful meditation on the nature of life. It is healthily anti-theist without ever making its message obvious & preachy. The chapters concerning Mary Malone's stayin a bizarre parallel world could have been an irritating diversion, but they're the most beautiful, convincing passages of the whole trilogy. If they ever get round to filming it, they'll have a tough job converting it into a family-friendly Christmas movie.
Easily the most satisfying book of the three.
A great disappointment - By: Cats whiskers, 06 Apr 2008 
I have just finished reading this final bookin the trilogy & frankly I feel cheated at the abrupt & unsuprising ending! I enjoyed the first book & agree with other comments that it is best read as a stand alone novel. The second book is merely a middle section, but unfortunately this final novel does not really draw a satisfactory conclusion after the build up of the 3 books! I do not agree with others that the love between Lyra & Will was a suprise as it had been obvious to me since their meeting. However after the entire story had been built around these two pivotal characters I had at least expected a spectacular conclusion which tied together the many threads of the story. Unfortunately it appears that the author simply ran out of ideas & after fighting many insurmountable obstacles our hero & heroine simply bow out like little lambs. It seems a shame that after all the complex themes of the book the ending was such an anti-climax
