His Dark Materials III: The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman > Reviews > Book of the year

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Absolutely
Story	Outstanding
Characters	Outstanding
Listenability	Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!

Advantages:	riveting story and characters
Disadvantages:	rampant anti - catholicism with no justification

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Amber Spyglass is my favourite modern book. The entire trilogy is a fantastic work that captures the imagination of the reader and never lets go. It was a long wait for this book to be published, but it was more than worth it. The ending is completely unpredictable, as is most of the story line. The reader will find themselves attached to each character as if they were a close friend. Every up and down for Lyra and Will is felt with real emotion. The ideas and novelty behind the book is also breathtaking. The stage of fantasy and miracles was set by Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife, and it keeps on coming right through to the end of the trilogy. This book is brilliant for its all round originality and suspense. There is one possible criticism: Pullman's incessant atttempts to make the Catholic Church into a hate figure. There needs to be some kind of evil authority figure for the book to work, but it shouldn't be as specific as it is. Finally this work should not have been relegated to the childrens section of this website, it is far better than that.