The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials #3) by Philip Pullman

★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

If Philip Pullman himself hadn't said that he was trying to kill God with this trilogy, I really don't think it would have been so controversial. I'm not sure about the exact dates in history, but the "Church" described in this book reminds me of the oppressive Roman Catholic Church at the end of the Middle Ages / beginning of the Reformation - an authority that dominates every facet of society and tries to limit the general population's ability to think for themselves, e.g., by way of the Roman Inquisition (which denounced Galileo's scientific findings about the Earth revolving around the sun because they were deemed contrary to Scripture). I deny that such a description applies to modern Christianity, and so I approached this book as pure fiction (which it is), set in some other time and place, with some other "Church".

I think the book's ultimate message is a good one, and I don't think it is contrary to Christianity: The particles of consciousness called Dust that give the world beauty and balance can be replenished by "helping [others] to learn and understand about themselves and each other and the way everything works, and by showing them how to be kind instead of cruel." (pg. 492)

So, putting aside any controversy, what about the actual book? As with The Subtle Knife, I was left with too many questions. Why was intercision necessary to power the bomb when the President of the Consistorial Court said that a generating station would produce the power? When Metatron was fighting Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter in hand-to-hand combat, why didn't he make himself radiate light, thereby blinding his opponents and giving him an advantage? How does one kill a Specter? Why were the Specters afraid of Mary? When Mary talked of why she left the convent, she talks of how she wanted to experience life in ways a nun couldn't, but how does that lead to there being no God? What exactly stopped the flow of Dust in the mulefa's world? If it was simply Lyra and Will's love for each other, why was that enough? Why their love, and not anyone else's? Will presumably re-integrates into society when he returns to his world, but since he was wanted for murder at the time he left, how does he avoid getting caught upon his return?

The book likes to present the reader with suspenseful foreshadowing, but the events themselves don't live up to the expectations that were set. For example, in The Subtle Knife, Mary is told that she must "play the role of the serpent" for Lyra as she (Lyra) makes a big decision. In the end, I'm not even sure what that big decision was. If it was her and Will's decision to live separately, well that hardly fell on Lyra's shoulders alone, as Will was equally part of the decision. And all Mary did was introduce Lyra and Will to romantic love, something they eventually would realize on their own, not at all comparable to an evil-minded snake who persuades Eve to do something that was strictly forbidden.

Finally, there were so many different characters and story lines to follow that it all got quite jumbled every so often. I kept asking myself, "Who knows what, and why are they doing that?!"

With all these shortcomings, I still give this book 3 stars because it is entertaining, and Pullman continued to introduce fascinating new species and worlds, e.g., the Gallivespians and the mulefa. In fact, I think his books would have been a lot better if he had just come up with some other reason for Lyra and Will to travel through different worlds without weighing down the story with convoluted religious controversy.