If only i'd been able to read this as a kid..! (The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman)

Member Name: beedubblyer

Product:	The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
Date:	10/11/02 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a rip-roaring story, believable, fantastical characters, more mental meat to get your teeth into than most authors produce in their entire careers

Disadvantages: oh no, not a one

Yes, Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy is NOMINALLY children's fiction. But the ideas, conceits and imaginative leaps he makes are breath-taking, no matter what genre you might care to pigeonhole them in.

The Amber Spyglass is the triumphant completion of the trilogy, and Pullman has orchestrated the three books wonderfully. By the time you start this novel, the first fantastical world of Lyra Bellacqua has opened up, and splintered out into new and equally incredible worlds - one of which closely resembles our own. But enter into the world of The Amber Spyglass, and the trips you are taken on are mind-boggling.

It would be very easy to say too much, and i must be very careful not to. But how to describe the books many charms?

The worlds described in the series are fantastical, and there are a myriad amazing creatures and characters to meet, from the dazzling, ancient, and wise witches, to the armoured bear, Iorek, and the daring aviator Lee Scoresby. Not to mention the heroic Lyra herself, a child with the courage of, what, a king? And the imagination of a magician.

The narrative is compelling to the point of being physically gripping, it becomes impossible not to read on and on until the final breathless conclusion. But Pullman also raises some phenomenally intriguing concepts and questions for younger and older readers alike, and handles each subject with incredible judiciousness.

Harry Potter, this ain't!

Just a FEW of the topics covered are: religion, fate, and death. The meaning of life. Quantum physics and the many-worlds theories. Love, and i think genetics at one point. Inheritance. Duty. Pleasure and pain themselves. And i could go on - but i wouln't do it as well as Pullman.

Now, if you thought this review was a touch on the evangelical side, i should point out that i was truly sceptical until the trilogy was literally forced on me by a trus
ted friend. They were right. Read the trilogy - don't whatever you do start with the Amber Spyglass! - and see how long it is before you start urging people to read it. i took me just a few minutes.

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