The Amber Spyglass

This was less than enjoyable. The layout of the story did not make much sense and was just frustrating. I understand that the author was trying to be creative in how he did the end of the chapter italics-inside-Lyra's-head thing, but it just bit. In a Kindle it was even more frustrating than if it was in a hard copy, but I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed it just as little if I had read it in paperback or hard cover copy. Cutting someone off in mid-sentence and then starting it up again at the end of the next chapter only to cut someone off mid-sentence again was pointless and aggravating! At first I thought it had downloaded improperly when I ordered it on my Kindle. Then I just realized that was how it was meant to be.

The only good part was when that stopped happening. But even then, the plot lines were frustrating to follow as well. There were too many to follow to the point where I couldn't remember there were other characters until they were randomly brought to the front again. Some of the plot lines ended poorly as well. It was as if there was all this build up to have a lame ending because the author couldn't think of anything more creative to do with that segment.

I cannot express how deeply disappointed I was in this end of the trilogy. And the "amber spyglass" wasn't even mentioned by that name until 70% of the way through the book. And the other times it was mentioned before then it didn't seem to have that important of an implication; it certainly didn't seem as life-changing as the "golden compass" and the "subtle knife". Those objects were the sole attention in the previous books by those names. The amber spyglass did not even fit into the greater scheme of things when it came to what was going to happen at the end of the story. It basically turned out not to matter if it was made at all. The one character who used it was able to see "Dust" but she still couldn't tell what she was supposed to do through that. It could only confirm that Dust actually existed and that there was a disturbance with its flow.

All-in-all, The Amber Spyglass was my least favorite book in the series, which is why it took me so long to read. It got to be frustrating how long it was taking me just because my heart wasn't really in it. When I started the book, I was excited because it was the finale of the series, and for the most part, those are the best books because it wraps everything up so well that you can't help but applaud the author in the ingenious of it all. But that did not happen here. I would recommend the first two books, but certainly not the last. Even though you want to know how it ends. It was too painfully executed to enjoy.