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highly recommended |
good audio book 
interesting story with a full cast of voices. Pullman takes a long time to finish up the narrative, but it's probably necessary. no bad music in this volume, but the poetry at the beginning of each chapter is hard to get when read quickly out loud. it adds nothing to this audio version. that part would make more sense in print.
Good Read, Sad Ending
I confess I truly liked this trilogy. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to those people who liked books such as the Harry Potter series.
The three books together were compulsive reading with a tinge of sadness that it's now over, and the adventure has come to an end.
Having said that I do have a gripe and that is to do with the ending. I just don't buy the idea that Lyra & Will would simply walk away with the ending that we are presented. These kids were given some hefty challenges, faced some nasty characters and came out trumps. And then we get the ending we did. No sorry, to ask 12 & 13 year olds to calmly swallow, what I would call a cold, callous adult logic, didn't wash for me. If they were so wholly in love, then it would take mths, years if at all, for them to come to a conclusion that definitive. Most I think, in the absence of any other solution, would take the 10 years as a life time to enjoy and relish (and who knows what you can think of in 10 years). But still I'm not the author and I have the feeling the ending was conceived long before the last chapters were ever crafted.
I would agree with some as to the title of the 3rd book. The amber spy glass has little impact on the story. When compared to the 1st two books their titles were significant objects within the books themselves (on a scale of 1 to 10 they would be 10s). The amber spy glass as an object that impacts the story would rate at best as a 3 or 4.
But as I said I did enjoy the 3 books immensely, so if you are looking for a void to fill, I would recommend this trilogy. However if you are looking for a feel good, rosie `happy ever after' type ending, you in for a shock. The romantics may even require a tissue or two.
As a conclusion, I was interested to see that they didn't put the end of book one in the first film. Why I can only speculate. I'm now interested in seeing how they conclude the last film, and how true to the book they will remain.
I was not disappointed. 
Smitten: A Long Time Ago...in a Far Away Land... I finished the Amber Spyglass. With the first book, Golden Compass I was hooked. The action, adventure, and twists of the Golden Compass and then the Subtle Knife put me anxiously into the final book, The Amber Spyglass.
I loved the characters Lyra, Will, the witches, the bears, the Egyptians, the angels, the ghosts, the harpies, even Lyra's parents.
This book was filled with the same action as its predecessors. What a ride. I love the intrigue. I never knew or even suspected what would happen next.
This trilogy is a fantastic read. I don't recommend it for the under middle school. Some may think it challenges religion and Christian churches, but I thought it showed realistic choices we make. It shows how something good can really be bad. It shows we make our choices and then we assume responsibility for those choices.
Some may dislike the ending, but I thought it a perfect ending. Will and Lyra chose a path of understanding. The two youths sacrificed their love for the greater good. It showed two unselfish youths.
All I can say is read the trilogy. It is equal or in my belief, better than Harry Potter.
Heartbreakingly Lovely
I was enraptured, I practically drove around just for an excuse to keep listening. The theme of Lyra & Will's love is so beautiful, and so heartbreaking. And I was deeply touched by Pullman's portrayal of death -- it happened that I was listening to this as my dad was dying, so I'm sure that lent poignancy to my experience.
By the end of the story I was crying, even sobbing - could make for dangerous driving!
My kids & wife & I listened to the first 2 books together and I continued to this one myself. I'd read the books, but found the audiobooks to be far more compelling -- the story came alive, and the detail of the writing was so vivid (I guess I did a lot of "skimming" when i read the printed book). Amazing cast, excellent acting, and the production is so well done - usually I find audiobooks with a "cast" to be slow, this flowed.
I wish there was more!
reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
The Amber Spyglass brings the intrigue of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife to a heart-stopping end, marking the final volume of His Dark Materials as the most powerful of the trilogy.
Along with the return of Lyra, Will, Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Dr. Mary Malone, and Iorek Byrnison the armored bear, come a host of new characters: the Mulefa, mysterious wheeled creatures with the power to see Dust; Gallivespian Lord Roke, a hand-high spymaster to Lord Asriel; and Metatron, a fierce and mighty angel. So, too, come startling revelations: the painful price Lyra must pay to walk through the land of the dead, the haunting power of Dr. Malone's amber spyglass, and the names of who will live--and who will die--for love. And all the while, war rages with the Kingdom of Heaven, a brutal battle that--in its shocking outcome--will uncover the secret of Dust. Philip Pullman deftly brings the cliff-hangers and mysteries of His Dark Materials to an earthshattering conclusion--and confirms his fantasy trilogy as an undoubted and enduring classic.
From the Hardcover edition.
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amber spyglass, amber, spyglass
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