Book Review #12

[callistahogan]

Book: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 418 pp.
Grade: A

Amazon Summary: In concluding the spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy, Pullman produces what may well be the most controversial children's book of recent years. The witch Serafina Pekkala, quoting an angel, sums up the central theme: "All the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity. The rebel angels, the followers of wisdom, have always tried to open minds; the Authority and his churches have always tried to keep them closed." Early on, this "Authority" is explicitly identified as the Judeo-Christian God, and he is far from omnipotent: his Kingdom is ruled by a regent. The cosmic battle to overthrow the Kingdom is only one of the many epic sequences in this novelAso much happens, and the action is split among so many different imagined worlds, that readers will have to work hard to keep up with Pullman. In the opening, for example, Lyra is being hidden and kept in a drugged sleep in a Himalayan cave by her mother, the beautiful and treacherous Mrs. Coulter. Will is guided by two angels across different worlds to find Lyra. The physicist and former nun, Mary Malone, sojourns in an alternatively evolved world. In yet another universe, Lord Asriel has assembled a great horde of otherworldly beings-including the vividly imagined race of haughty, hand-high warriors called GallivespiansAto bring down the Kingdom. Along the way, Pullman riffs on the elemental chords of classical myth and fairy tale. While some sections seem rushed and the prose is not always as brightly polished as fans might expect, Pullman's exuberant work stays rigorously true to its own internal structure. Stirring and highly provocative. 

My Thoughts: There's only one thing preventing this book from being a perfect A+, and that is the message. I really found trouble suspending my Christian belief long enough to be able to immerse myself into the story of Dust/dark matter/Shadows/sraf, but other than that, this book was, by far, one of my all-time favorite books ever and the series perhaps one of my all-time favorites as well.

I found myself connecting even more to all the characters, even the ones that I absolutely hated at the beginning of the series. Mrs. Coulter was one of those characters that I thought I would never be able to like, but she was able to achieve so much depth that I couldn't help feeling proud of how her story finally ended. Lyra and Will have a huge place in my heart as one of my favorite book couples, and Pantalaimon is so cute—I feel like picking him up and cuddling him (even though I would never do so, because if I did, I'd be breaking the great taboo).

But anyway, the action in this book was so suspenseful. From beginning to end, I could hardly put this book down. All the plot lines, from Mrs. Coulter to Lord Asriel to the Church to Lyra and Will and so many other characters, came together amazingly. None of them were boring, because I felt involved in each of their plot lines, even though there were many of them.

Pullman introduced an awesome species in this book—they're called mulefa, and they were so vividly drawn out that I couldn't help adoring them. I mean, how could you not like a creature that rides around on wheels? That idea was so original that I had to blink a few times. I mean, how could Pullman possibly think of something that interesting? It was absolutely amazing in my eyes—I certainly would not have thought of it.

In the middle of the story, though, it nearly made me cry, and in the middle of Social Studies class too. Those who read the series probably know what I'm talking about, but I won't spoil it for the rest of you. I'll just say that what Lyra had to do was so absolutely heartbreaking—I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and I very rarely cry because of books. It was so sad, and the way Pullman wrote it... it was wow.

I don't think I'll ever run out of things to say about this book, since I adored it so much. For some reason, the "killing God" bit didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, and I definitely enjoyed this series. I am so glad that I decided to read this series. 

I have to go now, but I'll just close and say: Despite the message, I recommend this book to anyone. Even for those Christians who feel they shouldn't read it because it's "anti-Christian," I still feel like you should read this book. Yes, it was that good.

Believe me, I don't recommend books that go against my beliefs so blatantly as this all the time, so...

Go. Buy. Read now.

Comments

[greatalexanders.livejournal.com]

/me smiles happily and is just that little bit glad you enjoyed it

I loved the books - not as much as you did, I don't think, but I did love them when I first read them. Amazing pieces of work, especially for religious dogmatism (Pullman's antireligion being dogmatic enough to be religious of itself)...

[greatalexanders.livejournal.com]

Um, just to clarify, they're amazing pieces of work especially in the context of being religious dogmatism, which - with exceptions - tends not to be good

[reixedyri.livejournal.com]

Pullman's mulefa are not original--I know that creatures that travelled on wheels were seen in an OZ book and I'm pretty sure the book predates Pullman's trilogy.

Don't they kill God in this?

[callistahogan.livejournal.com]

Oh.

Well, even if they're not original, I still loved them, and Pullman put his own spin on them.

But, yes, they killed God in the book.

[wheatear.livejournal.com]

Mrs. Coulter was one of those characters that I thought I would never be able to like, but she was able to achieve so much depth that I couldn't help feeling proud of how her story finally ended.

Oh, I completely agree. She's a fantastic character.

Perhaps the killing God bit didn't bother you because it wasn't really God? The 'God' in HDM is really just an angel, not the creator. I remember reading somewhere an interpretation of the books that cast Dust as the true God, which was quite interesting.