#85 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I liked it, though not quite as much as the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, which was my favorite of the three.

The Amber Spyglass picked up right where The Subtle Knife left off, and having been a couple months since I read that, and 15 other books in between, I kind of forgot some of the finer points of the previous story. I kind of wish I’d had that copy handy for a quick refresher before starting on this one. I was able to get back up to speed quickly enough, but there were still some references to previous minor events that happened, and I found myself having to work back through memory or hoping that they’d expand if it was really important to the story. An example that kept being referred to is how Will was arguing with his father at the time he died in book 2. Well, unfortunately, I couldn’t recall the circumstances surrounding Will’s father’s death clearly enough in my head to know if what they were arguing about at the time was significant to the story, and I didn’t even know how he’d died until that detail was eluded to in a later conversation.

I don’t think this was as much of an issue between the first and second books because more of the minor plots and events were wrapped up before the end, while of course the big plot that spans the entire trilogy is left open… but you don’t usually forget the major plotline anyway, just some of the details of the minor ones.

So I always like to give an objective statement or review about the book as well as my opinions on it. And that said, I thought the entire trilogy overall was very good and well written. Though I was both pleased and disappointed in the way everything was resolved. How can that be?

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT.
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Well, I didn’t like that Lord Asriel died, and I didn’t like that Lyra and Will couldn’t be together after all they’d went through. I guess both those points added a note of sadness to the ending. Of course, all the events that had transpired thus far lead up to the final resolution, and I enjoyed seeing the way everything fit together nicely.

See the the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more reviews and information. See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.