The Amber Spyglass

His Dark Materials, Book 3

By: Philip Pullman

Narrated by: Philip Pullman, full cast

Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Lyra and Will, the two ordinary children whose extraordinary adventures begin in The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, are in unspeakable danger. With help from Iorek Byrnison the armored bear and two tiny Gallivespian spies, they must journey to a dank and gray-lit world where no living soul has ever gone.

All the while, Dr. Mary Malone builds a magnificent amber spyglass. An assassin hunts her down. And Lord Asriel, with troops of shining angels, fights his mighty rebellion, a battle of strange allies and shocking sacrifice.

As war rages and dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living, and the dead, finally comes to depend on two children and the simple truth of one simple story. The Amber Spyglass reveals that story, bringing Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials to an astonishing conclusion.

Listen to the rest of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.

©2000 Philip Pullman (P)2001 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Absorbing...Like Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, [Pullman] invents a world filled with strange divinations and wordplays." (Newsweek)
"A literary masterpiece...[that] caps the most magnificent fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings and puts Harry Potter to shame...A page-turning story that builds to a powerful finish." (Oregonian)
"As the rich tale unfolds, Pullman's voice, elegant with a hint of both whisper and rasp, thoroughly enthralls, sounding by turns forceful and tender. The talented, extensive cast gives a dynamic, nearly flawless performance." (Publishers Weekly)

Music is distracting

The music was distracting and unnecessary. Iorek sounded dumb and slow instead of deep and wise like I imagined, but the rest was great. I especially liked Pan and Will.

The Amber Spyglass: His Dark Materials

I thoroughly enjoyed the character voices of the book. It made me feel as though I were watching a play!
However, there were several areas were it seemed to skip a few words???

Ah memories

When I first read this series I couldn't have been more than seven, but I inhaled it. It was so amazing, though I will admit, it wouldn't have been nearly as good without the wonderful full cast performance. Anyway, I reread this series recently and still loved it. I certainly got more out of it now than I did when I was younger, but I think it is amazing that this author can write books that appeal to readers of all ages. I'll admit that a few parts do drag a bit, but that's alright, and doesn't take away from the overall magic of the book.

Great story - so disappointed I finished it!

I loved this book. So well written and much to contemplate. Worth reading more than once

Entertaining and thought provoking.

I thought the story flowed well and had great character development. The voice actors were phenomenal.

Spectacular deconstruction of religion

Absolutely wonderful! This trilogy answered all of the questions from the previous books. The ending although sorrowful was necessary and spectacular. 😭

Better then I remember.

Listened to the trilogy many many times as a kid.
Loved them then, still love them now.

Great reader and cast

The multi cast was excellent. The character’s dialogue was very real. The story was unique and wonderful fantasy. Highly recommended!

Perfection.

I suggested to a client that we listen to an audio book instead of listening to random podcasts during our sessions. We were meeting for 9 hours a week, after all, so why not get INTO something? She suggested the His Dark Materials trilogy.

It was absolutely stunning. Is it a children's book? Adult? It doesn't matter. We got to listen to hours and hours of Philip Pullman's beautiful voice for days and days. I'd listen to the sports section of the newspaper if he were reading it. And I hate all sports.

Fantastic!

I loved this series years ago when I read it for the the first time. Hearing the Audible version brought it to life in ways I could have never imagined. Using a full cast made it so special.