The Amber Spyglass book review

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Series: His Dark Materials #3
Published by Laurel Leaf on September 9, 2003
Pages: 467
Goodreads

Will is the bearer of the knife. Now, accompanied by angels, his task is to deliver that powerful, dangerous weapon to Lord Asriel - by the command of his dying father.
But how can he go looking for Lord Asriel when Lyra is gone? Only with her help can he fathom the myriad plots and intrigues that beset him.
The two great powers of the many worlds are lining up for war, and Will must find Lyra, for together they are on their way to battle, an inevitable journey that will even take them to the world of the dead...

The Amber Spyglass is the last book in His Dark Materials and I have to say I am glad to see the end of it if I’m being honest. I think I fell out of love with the series shortly after the first book and this was the final nail in the coffin. The problem with this book was that it tried to fit a lot within this story that wasn’t necessarily clear from the others, I was confused by a lot of the politics and also mythology throughout this book, and I kinda wish I had just stopped at the first one, back when Lyra was an interesting character in her own right not as part of a huge conspiracy.

This was the book where the characters start letting the story down, I think if I had felt a stronger connection with the characters then I would have enjoyed The Amber Spyglass just that little bit more and I think the ending would have been a better fit. This book with the characters felt as though they had lost all their steam, and they fell a little flat for me, I wanted there to be a big climax where it felt as though they had grown and were moving forward. This book did not do this for me, I felt as though where the characters ended up was weak and didn’t do anything for me or the characters.

I loved reading about the different animals within the world and learning about the society they created. I loved the thought that although they weren’t humans as we thought of them, they were still people. I enjoyed the fact Molly integrated herself into the society and became a part of the societal norms rather than having them change them to suit her. It was the best bit of The Amber Spyglass and it was an interesting concept to see in a book, and I would have loved to see more of that throughout the series rather than just having it thrown into this one.

Throughout this entire book I had the feeling that it was falling flat, the characters lost their interesting parts and the storyline had no real direction or urgency I was left with the sense that there was nothing really going on. There was an influx of new characters but there was no time to actually learn anything about them or figure out why they were who they were. The climax wasn’t what I was expecting and I also thought that it was too easy, the entire way this book ended bothered me, it was definitely lacking when compared to the ending of the first book and even the second to some extent.

After reading The Amber Spyglass and being able to evaluate the series as a whole I would have to say no I wouldn’t recommend this series, I think there are better out there and I think the message and focus got lost. This meant that the characters seemed to lose everything that originally made them interesting which left me more than disappointed.

Have you ever been let down by a well-hyped book or book series? Which one was it that left you wanting more? Let me know in the comments!