Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

38 reviews

r_lumbrix's review

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

(This review is for the whole His Dark Materials series, because I read them back-to-back without pausing and can’t really separate them in my mind.)

The level of world building is absolutely phenomenal! To create not just one, but 4+ worlds, each with their own people, animals, landscapes, culture, and language—and then to have those worlds interact with each other, depend on each other—is astounding. Not only that, but each world is populated with fully-realized characters who grow and change throughout the series. And not only that, but the plot is incredibly complex, with a history spanning hundreds of years, and I couldn’t find a single plot hole. I’m not going to summarize, only praise. As fantasy series go, this has surpassed Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, and LOTR for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry and Blood

erynelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Please the way Pullman writes about love towards the end has captivated me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and War

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

orchidlilly's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have a lot of opinions on The Amber Spyglass, many of which aren't very popular.

First the good: when people said the books got too religious, I expected a thinly veiled Jesus metaphor like is found in Narnia, instead I was pleasantly surprised with the opposite. It's really quite refreshing to read a book whose religious themes are critical of the church as opposed to praising it. I found the whole 'kill god' basis of Asriel's motivation rather amusing and the commentary on the church is, as a Christian, very accurate and not without basis. The writing is, as always, impeccable, and I found myself becoming very attached to the minor characters of Dr. Mary Malone, the Galevespians, Balthamos, and Baruch.

The bad: It annoys me greatly that Lyra is once again reduced to nothing more than a damsel in distress for Will to moon over. For the majority of the book, Lyra is asleep and helpless, and once she wakes up, she becomes a nervous, clingy, mostly useless ingenue. The only time we get to see the old Lyra is in the land of the dead, and that fire is short-lived. For all Will loves to wax poetic about how strong and stubborn Lyra is, we get to see exactly none of it. There is also the matter of the character deaths. After Scoresby and Mr. Perry, the deaths of our beloved side characters begin to feel very forced and unnecessary very quickly. Asriel and Coulter's "redemption" is so short, abrupt, and seemingly out of character that it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Worst of all, is the romance between Will and Lyra. The entire book, the budding romance feels both painfully obvious and forced. The love conquers and fixes all theme is tired at this point, and it only works if the characters have any chemistry as lovers, these two are just about as ridiculous as Romeo and Juliet. So many questions are left unanswered that the story almost feels unfinished, which is a great disappointment given Pullman's in-depth worldbuilding from the two previous books.
 Three stars because up until the last seven or so chapters, the story is just as captivating as its predecessors.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Animal cruelty, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Genocide, Colonisation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Animal death, War, Violence, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

bi_n_large's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, and Gun violence

jonny_joe's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Death

pixxyhex's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I started off this book with big reservations. 
I loved the fist in the trilogy "Northern lights", and I hated the second " The Subtle Knife ". 
I think the big difference for me , was that in the first book I grew to love most of the characters , where in the second I found really disliking one of the main characters ( Lyra ) and not caring about any of the others. Also the story seemed to drag on for me . 

This time I was again transported into the wonderful multiple worlds with characters I could again care about and root for. 
The story for me, was much more fast passed ( which I prefer )  as well as engaging. 

It took my over a couple of months to get through the second book. This one took me 3 days. 

Over all I loved this book and I loved that the ending was

not all's well that ends well . Although I felt so sad for Lyra and Will , I think any other ending would not have highlighted  the meaning of the book as well.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

crykea's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Wonderful wonderful wonderful! Finishing this book made me go "well, what  the fuck."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Kidnapping, War, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicide, and Terminal illness

The minor content warnings are mentioned briefly in the

realm of death.

. Alcohol is drunk by characters throughout the book. Will's mother is mentioned in a few cases, hence the mental illness warnings. Animal cruelty happens throughout the book since the characters have daemons. The golden monkey especially likes to hurt animals. (Stalking)

will and lyra are stalked by father Gomez in the mulefa's world

Explicit content warnings: the book takes place during a religious war. There is a scene with a bomb (hence the fire warning). Confinement, kidnapping, death and grief warnings:

mrs coulier is kidnapped and confined by multiple people throughout the book, most often lord Asriel. Lyra begins the book in confinement after being kidnapped by Mrs Coulier as the end of the last book. The death of a parent tags refer to Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulier in the Metatron scene. The book has a through line theme of grief but it is especially poignant st the end in reference to will and lyra parting ways.

mandkips's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Religious bigotry, Confinement, Child death, and Kidnapping