Summary
Wonderfully engrossing and packed full of of explosive plot lines.
The final installment in the 'His Dark Material' trilogy brings together religion: original sin, the afterlife, God; and science: quantum physics, chaos theory; together with theology: man is the maker of his own destiny and ultimately therefore his destruction, in a cataclysmic finale that is as gripping as it is heart-wrenching. Lyra must travel to the Land of the Dead to once again rescue her friend Roger, whilst Will must first rescue her from the clutches of Mrs Coulter. It is during this rescue attempt that the subtle knife is broken and it is Iorek Byrnison that must repair it, but at what price? Lord Asriel continues to wage war on The Authority who it now appears is a senile old man, over thrown by his right hand angel Metatron. A great war is brewing and it is upon her arrest by the Magisterium, who have lost all faith in Mrs Coulter, that she aligns herself with with Lyra's father in the battle to overthrow the church and preserve the true purpose of Dust. Whilst these events unfold it is the character of Mary Malone, a scientist from Will's world that Lyra enlists to help in her continuing search for the meaning of Dust, who travels through the original window Will found in The Subtle Knife, and after a long journey finds herself in the land of the Mulefa.
It is here that she fashions a basic telescope from tree resin and bark and the Amber Spyglass is borne and she learns the Dust, which can be clearly seen though it, seems to be leaving not only the Mulefa's dying world, but all worlds.
"But a complex web of thoughts was weaving itself in the bear king's mind, with more strands in it than hunger and satisfaction. There was the memory of the little girl Lyra, whom he had named Silvertongue, and whom he had last seen crossing the fragile snow bridge across a crevasse in his own island of Svalbard. Then there was the agitation among the witches, the rumors of pacts and alliances and war; and then there was the surpassingly strange fact of this new world itself, and the witch's insistence that there were many more such worlds, and that the fate of them all hung somehow on the fate of the child."
Iorek Byrnison: The Amber Spyglass
A brilliant conclusion to the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy that kept me entertained throughout, except possibly I read it so greedily I missed the answer to some questions I felt certain would be given in this final book. What was the metallic smell emanating from Marissa Coulter whenever she was displeased? Was this Dust? Why was she able to be parted from her Daemon over longer than normal distances? Was she a witch? Is this why she looked so young for her years? Oh some of us are never happy. Please don't let my preoccupation with one character put you off, this is an excellent book and a worthy winner of the 2002 Whitbread Prize. The Land of the Dead makes for an extremely exciting story line as does the final battle with Metatron .I also love that Will gets to meet is own daemon and therefore it makes this a possibility that we all can. I did find it hard to click with the Mary Malone character and the Mulefa and must admit I read these chapters with a small degree of annoyance as I felt it took me away from the real action but as Mary Malone does actually create the Amber Spyglass I suppose her part is rather important, she just came across a little....well...wet. I must remember though that I am an adult reading a children's book and therefore my character assassination may be a tad unfair and again, I don't want to dwell on what are overall minor things on what was an altogether enjoyable read. The ending of the book, was bittersweet but so sensitive and true to the characters that it brought a tear to my eye. Wonderfully engrossing and so packed full of of explosive plot lines that you'll find it difficult to put down.
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