Philip Pullman brings The Amber Spyglass to the spellbinding His Dark Materials sequence, which dazzles everyone who reads it, children and adults alike. After the original Northern Lights, he kept up the quality in The Subtle Knife, the second title in the trilogy. Now he brings the series to an extraordinary conclusion. Will and Lyra, the two children at the heart of the books, have become separated amidst great dangers. Can they find each other, and their friends? Then complete their mysterious quest before it's too late? The great rebellion against the dark powers that hold Lyra's world, and many others, in thrall is nearing its climax. She and Will have crucial parts to play, but they don't know what it is that they must do, and terrible powers are hunting them down.

Final part of His Dark Materials.

Now the final part is going out as an international ring too
Please try not to keep book longer than 6 weeks or if you do need more time, please send me a quick PM so I can update the journal. Cheers a mill and enjoy the final part of the trilogy !!


So far we have :


1. cheriepie, USA
2. still-legbamel, USA
3. RoryG, Finland


--> back to kinedi

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way now to cheripie in the US

Received today. Silly grrl... you had the BCID wrong on the inside cover. (I changed the first 3 digits from 667 to 677 and managed to figure out the right # myself so I'll update it in the front of the book.) Thank you so much for the cute holiday card you enclosed with the book. Of course it had a bunny leading the pack so I had to show it to Rudy and Sasia (my 2 buns) and Sasia wanted to nibble it, but I wouldn't let her. :)

But oh yeah, the book... it's here, and I should be able to start on it after my current read. :) Happy Holidays Kirsten (and anyone else who happens to read this later on)! xoxoxo

I liked it, though not quite as much as the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, which was my favorite of the three.

The Amber Spyglass picked up right where The Subtle Knife left off, and having been a couple months since I read that, and 15 other books in between, I kind of forgot some of the finer points of the previous story. I kind of wish I'd had that copy handy for a quick refresher before starting on this one. I was able to get back up to speed quickly enough, but there were still some references to previous minor events that happened, and I found myself having to work back through memory or hoping that they'd expand if it was really important to the story. An example that kept being referred to is how Will was arguing with his father at the time he died in book 2. Well, unfortunately, I couldn't recall the circumstances surrounding Will's father's death clearly enough in my head to know if what they were arguing about at the time was significant to the story, and I didn't even know how he'd died until that detail was eluded to in a later conversation.

I don't think this was as much of an issue between the first and second books because more of the minor plots and events were wrapped up before the end, while of course the big plot that spans the entire trilogy is left open... but you don't usually forget the major plotline anyway, just some of the details of the minor ones.

So I always like to give an objective statement or review about the book as well as my opinions on it. And that said, I thought the entire trilogy overall was very good and well written. Though I was both pleased and disappointed in the way everything was resolved. How can that be?

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT.
You must highlight the text below in order to read it.

Well, I didn't like that Lord Asriel died, and I didn't like that Lyra and Will couldn't be together after all they'd went through. I guess both those points added a note of sadness to the ending. Of course, all the events that had transpired thus far lead up to the final resolution, and I enjoyed seeing the way everything fit together nicely.

I've send a PM to still-legbamel and will put this in the mail to her just as soon as she gives me the green light.

UPDATE 28-Dec-2005: Sent to still-legbamel in Fargo, ND on 28-Dec-2005 via Media Mail with Delivery Confirmation # 9102010521297917525598. (According to the USPS, this package was delivered on Jan. 9, 2006.)

I didn't actually get my hands on this book until this past weekend, when I don't have decent internet access, but it did arrive safe and sound and I've already made a good start reading it. I agree with CheriePie - I'm having trouble remembering what happened when Will's father was killed. I think I'll have to get a set and read them straight through sometime. That said, I am enjoying the book! I have been wondering what the wrap-up would bring and things are just getting exciting.

Update 1/20/06: I finished this last night and I am glad I didn't read CheriePie's spoiler above until now. Which is not to say that I disagree at all! While I felt that the ending was very satisfying in terms of wrapping up loose ends, it wasn't what I wanted to happen and wasn't what I expected. I didn't think this was as absorbing as the second book (The Subtle Knife) but I did like it, especially after it got past what I felt was a rather choppy opening. I'll PM the next person on the list today and hopefully it will be on its way to Finland next week!

RELEASE NOTES:

Off via surface mail to Finland this evening. [Repeat after me: "It's only been 6 weeks...it's only been 6 weeks...it's only been 6 weeks..."]

I'm so sorry, I really thought that I had journaled this as it arrived 3 weeks ago. Well, now I have read it.

This was harder to get into than the 2 previous parts mainly because I had forgotten a lot. But a little revision in the internet and I got back to the story. Somehow it still wasn't as gripping as I remembered the other ones. I felt it was a bit long.

But there was good parts to it too. I really likesd Mary Malone and the mulefa. Classic example of adjusting to another culture. And I loved the ending, although it was a bit sad.

Well this book is ready to move forward. I will send it on as soon as I get mellowdaisy's address.

Edit: mellowdaisy doesn't need the book anymore, so I will be sending this back to kinedi.

Thank You. The book made it safely back to the UK. Thank you all who particapted.

Reserved for milliejinx for her Secret Santa mission.

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Milliejinx now - postal strike permitting she should have it in a few days....

Received last week, thanks very much. Going in a secret santa book box :-)

RELEASE NOTES:

Secret santa