The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

"The Amber Spyglass" is the third and final book in the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman. I was a little nervous going into this book about the direction that the series was taking, but I was curious enough to want to read it anyway!

Let me first say that Philip Pullman is a highly imaginative author. He has vivid descriptions and does a great job of creating his own universe that he sets his characters in. For that reason, I appreciate his authorship. 

My main concern with this book was that I knew from the previous book that Lord Asriel intended to take on the Authority, or God, and kill Him. A large portion of the book had nothing to do with that, and I really enjoyed that portion of the book because it was simply fascinating! Like I said, Pullman has a very inventive mind.

I didn't really like the conclusion of the book though. I can ignore a lot in books, but it did bother me the way God was portrayed in the book. Mainly, that He is displayed as a weak and out of touch fool. I suppose even that wasn't what bothered me as much, as that it was written with an obvious agenda. The author was pounding it into your head that he does NOT like the concept of God, and I don't really like books that are written with such obvious agenda's. Despite the inventiveness of this author I don't think I'll be reading any more of his books. 

Having said that, since this series has received so much acclaim and created so much controversy, I am glad that I read it. I now understand why there is so much controversy over the series, and if someone brings it up I have an educated opion and not just some vague "well I heard..." 

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

"The Subtle Knife" is book 2 in the "His Dark Materials" series. I found myself a little more captivated by this book than I did the first book in the series, "The Golden Compass," but I think that's because this story was entirely new to me whereas I had seen the movie for the first book.

In book two we meet Will, a boy from our earth, who's despretely trying to find his father. He's a tough kid, he actually murders someone at the beginning of the book, and he needs every ounce of strength he has to face the challenges on his journey! He discovers a hole between worlds and travels to another one, where he runs into Lara, the heroine from book one. The two of them team up to learn more about dust and to find Will's Dad.

As they search they encounter a mysterious knife with strange powers. They have no idea just how powerful the knife is, and we only learn morea about that towards the end of the book. Will becomes the barrer of this knife, a role that does eventually lead to a tragic reunion with his father.

While Will and Lara go about their own adventures we also follow the adventures of our old frends Serefina Pekkala and Lee Scoresby. Each has their own adventures in this book and each person will play an important role in helping Lara and Will. I really liked both their characters in the last book so I was excited to see them play prominant roles in this one!

I mentioned in my review of the first book that I know the Christian community was up in arms when the "The Golden Compass" was made into a movie. After reading the first book I really didn't understand it. It wasn't really any different than many other fantasy books I've read. Now that I've read the second book I'm beginning to see the issue that many Christians have with the series. 

Lord Asriel is attempting to take on the ultimate force of good, or, God. Now, it didn't really bother me that the church is portrayed as corrupt in this series because I'm well aware that many church's ARE corrupt, but taking on God? I don't see this as going great places. I enjoyed the fast majority of this book, but I'll admit I'm a bit leery to read the end of the trilogy, where the big battle is supposed to happen.

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

Whenever I see a movie that's based on a book my first instinct is to go out and get the book! If it's a good movie at least. I can be slow getting around to it, but usually the books are better than the movies, so I try to get to it eventually!

"The Golden Compass" is book 1 in the series "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman, and yes, it was made into a movie just over a year ago. If you've seen the movie, you've got a pretty good idea of what the book is about! There are some differences though. Mainly, the book goes into a lot more detail in some places than the movie does. The story is more fleshed out.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie - "The Golden Compass" is the story of a girl named Lyra who finds herself caught up in a grand adventure! She never was your typical girl, raised by scholars instead of a family, and because of this she was allowed to run a little wild. Children have started disappearing, much to her concern, and she starts to try to figure it out. Next thing she knows she's caught up in a twisted plot by the grown ups, and setting out on a dangerous journey to save the other children.

One thing that sets this series apart from other fantasy series is the concepts of daemons. Daemons are thought to be the "soul" of the person as personified by an animal companion. They add a fun element to the story that I really enjoyed, but that I also understand has been the subject of an uproar by the Christian community. While I would agree that maybe the choice of the word "daemon" is a bit unfortunate, I don't really see this as being that much different from any of the other fantasy books out there and I really enjoyed reading it!