This novel, the third installment in Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, depicts the protagonist Lyra Belacqua as she moves from innocence to experience, both sexually and mentally. The story picks up from the second book, with Lyra being held captive by her mother and needing to be saved by her friend Will. Lyra and Will then travel down to the Land of the Dead to save Lyra’s friend Roger and lead all of the dead to freedom. After saving Roger, Lyra realizes her love for Will, leading to a sexual awakening that also leads Lyra to a higher state of maturity; however, with this maturity comes the painful realization that she and her love must part in order to ensure the existence of free will in the world. Lyra’s morally ambiguous quest then becomes the painful decision either to remain with her love and risk the possible end of free will, or part from her love and possibly never be with him again.​



     Pullman’s story takes the well known Adam and Eve allegory and turns it on its head, with Lyra’s sexual awakening leading to the preservation of freewill rather than to the downfall of man. The story takes traditional themes and encourages young adult readers to question these themes and what they actually mean and represent. This story is thought provoking, dealing with subject matter that leaves even adults struggling to decide where they stand with it. It is mature material, and treats its readers, young or old, as mature readers.



Pullman, P. (2000). The Amber Spyglass. Oxford, Eng: David Flickling Books.



Reviews

For a great review on The Amber Spyglass, click ​here.

Also, check out this review in The Guardian's Children's Books: By Kids, for Kids section, which offers reviews of children's books written by actual children!

 

Extras​

This interview with Pullman sees the author give his thoughts on what “Dust” really is.

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And this interview, which is actually about another one of Pullman’s books, shows Pullman’s feelings on writing “controversial” books (and is one of my favourite interviews with Pullman of all time):