The Amber Spyglass

The Amber Spyglass is the final book in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. I felt that it continued the trend away from the action of the first book, towards a Miltonesque saga, which leaves me even more confused as to who the readership of the books is supposed to be. Possibly Pullman expected his readers to grow up as the books were published, so the first is more (although not totally) suitable for children. That is all very well, but now that they are all available, it makes it hard to recommend the trilogy as a whole (which is how it needs to be read) to any particular readers.

The book is slower to get started than the previous two, with multiple threads to follow, but there's still plenty of Pullman's unique inventiveness, and his mixing of magic and science. Finishing off a trilogy like this is no easy task, and I thought that Pullman did pretty well, although I was a bit confused about Mary Malone and Lyra's temptation, which seemed to be what the book was leading up to. I would say that if you like a good story and don't mind Pullman's strange take on various subjects then you should give these books a try.