***** Just announced! THE BOOK OF DUST, the long-awaited new work from Philip Pullman, set in the world of His Dark Materials, will be published as a work in three parts, with the first volume to arrive in October 2017! *****

The unforgettable His Dark Materials trilogy that began with The Golden Compass—the modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an "All-Time Greatest Novel" and Newsweek hailed as a "Top 100 Book of All Time"—and continued with The Subtle Knife, reaches its astonishing conclusion in The Amber Spyglass.

Throughout the worlds, the forces of both heaven and hell are mustering to take part in Lord Asriel's audacious rebellion. Each player in this epic drama has a role to play—and a sacrifice to make. Witches, angels, spies, assassins, tempters, and pretenders, no one will remain unscathed.

Lyra and Will have the most dangerous task of all. They must journey to a gray-lit world where no living soul has ever gone and from which there is no escape.

As war rages and Dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living—and the dead—comes to depend on Lyra and Will. On the choices they make in love, and for love, forevermore.

A #1 New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the Whitbread Award
Winner of the British Book Award (Children's)
Published in 40 Countries

"Masterful.... This title confirms Pullman's inclusion in the company of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien." —Smithsonian Magazine

"Pullman has created the last great fantasy masterpiece of the twentieth century. An astounding achievement." —The Cincinnati Enquirer

"War, politics, magic, science, individual lives and cosmic destinies are all here . . . shaped and assembled into a narrative of tremendous pace by a man with a generous, precise intelligence. I am completely enchanted." —The New York Times Book Review

"Breathtaking adventure . . . a terrific story, eloquently told." —The Boston Globe

Listening Length

14 hours and 53 minutes
Author

Philip Pullman
Narrator

Philip Pullman, see all
Audible release date

October 23, 2003
Language

English
Publisher

Listening Library
ASIN

B0000W6SPO
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
See all details

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible narration with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $9.99 after you buy the Kindle book.

Your audiobook is waiting!

Click above for unlimited listening to select audiobooks, Audible Originals, and podcasts.
One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection — yours to keep (you'll use your first credit now).
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.

Learn more about membership

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

List Price: $37.80

You Save: $4.81 (13%)

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who viewed this also viewed

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

People who bought this also bought

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Audio Collection
C. S. Lewis
15,531
in Fantasy Anthologies & Short Stories

Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Sandman
Neil Gaiman
1,727
in Horror Fiction

Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L'Engle
13,448
in Time Travel Science Fiction for Children

Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Fairy Tale
Stephen King
35,029
in Fantasy

Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Neverwhere
Neil Gaiman
14,456
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial

Related to this topic

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

The Naming: The First Book of Pellinor
Alison Croggon
741
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
A Shadow on the Glass: The View From the Mirror Quartet, Book 1
Ian Irvine
267
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Ninth Rain: The Winnowing Flame Trilogy, Book 1
Jen Williams
907
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Urth of the New Sun: The Book of the New Sun, Book 5
Gene Wolfe
419
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Shardik
Richard Adams
215
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial

Product details

Listening Length	14 hours and 53 minutes
Author	Philip Pullman
Narrator	Philip Pullman, full cast
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	October 23, 2003
Publisher	Listening Library
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0000W6SPO
Best Sellers Rank	#1,827 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #5 in Education (Audible Books & Originals) #12 in Fiction Classics for Children #15 in Action & Adventure Fantasy for Children

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

4,692 global ratings

5 star		72%
4 star		17%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Kindle Customer

A as great finish

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 21, 2023

Verified Purchase

All of His Dark Materials is fascinating. It's one of the best fantasy worlds without all the wordiness of other series. The subject is meaningful and not just a quest. The ending is painful and realistic in that we sometimes have to give up something for the greater good and be cheerful about it as well. Very creative and enjoyable.

Helpful

E M Dalton

Disappointing and unfocused

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 21, 2000

Verified Purchase

I loved "The Golden Compass." I was intrigued by "The Subtle Knife." And I tried to prepare myself to be a little disappointed by "The Amber Spyglass"-- trilogy conclusions are rarely as good as the first book. But I had hopes. The first two were so good....
This was nowhere near as good.
The various plot threads are all wrapped up, more or less. But the ending is forced. Other reviewers have pointed out the flat and inconsistent characterizations, the scattered plot, the valueless sub-threads (like Father Gomez). The useless spyglass. And even those who loved the book found the ending of the romance disappointing.
Ultimately, the book fails to deliver on the themes that were begun in "The Golden Compass," including one of the most important. Am I simply not getting it? How was Lyra's position anything comparable to Eve's? She finds love (with almost no character build up), she gives it up for the sake of the world(s). As other readers have noted, she's arguably a Christ character. But not much like Eve. Unless you count the temptation to sex (in a world with giant apple trees that contain the essence of sentience), and frankly, I don't think that was especially plausable. Eve, according to Judeo-Christian theology, succumbs to temptation (for knowledge, not sex) and gets everyone kicked out of Eden. I suppose Lyra resists temptation (to continue a relationship) to help everyone build a new Eden. But it's a tenuous connection at best, because the "only one window, not two" argument is so weak and last-minute, and she and Will can only affect one world each at best, with no way to travel between them. (And if Pullman wanted to redefine Eve to mean something else, a lot more work was needed.)
Aother of the great disappointments was the hesitant flirting with Wisdom. Evidently Pullman has come across feminist spirituality interpretations of gnostic gospels and eastern church references to a female Wisdom character (Sophia) who predates Yaweh (in some traditions). I kept waiting for him to develop this theme. Instead she (Xaphania, the only female angel) merely appears as a "Deus ex machina" and answers the kids' questions before sending them on home. I suppose Pullman realized he was getting too close to replacing a God with a Goddess, and backed down rather than give up his anti-theistic theme. I suppose that's forgivable, if all he wanted to do was write entertaining fiction. But if he wanted to actually make a point about theism, it's an act of cowardice.
Unlike most other reviewers who panned this book, I don't mind the anti-organized-religion slant. As a Quaker, I'm not much on organized religion myself. I didn't think the book is as inherently anti-Christian as some of the reviewers seemed to think, either. To my mind, Lucretia Mott had it right when she encouraged us to "doubt more, in order that we might believe more." Looking at other possible theologies can help us get at the root of what we really believe. But I think Pullman ran out of steam --or maybe even courage-- before he finished developing his ideas. This book needed at least one more major rewrite before publishing, to shake out the loose pieces and add the richness to the characters and themes that was so evident in his earlier books. Maybe Pullman was just too tired to do the necessary work. Or maybe the publisher was impatient. Or maybe Pullman himself started to lose faith in his anti-theism, and didn't have the courage to write details that would force him to acknowledge his dependency on divine powers in the story (Xaphenia, the angels, and most of all, Dust).
I gave it three stars, because it's worth reading, if you liked the first two, just to tie up the loose threads. But it's not on par with them.

104 people found this helpful

Helpful

Tomasthanes

The Tower of Babel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

The book itself is well written. The story and characters are good. The world building is superb but I'm giving it 4 stars rather than 5 because it seems like the entire trilogy is intended to criticize Christianity except that the author gets it wrong.

When you get quotes like:

"I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn't any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." (Location 6025)

You get the real reason that the author is writing. Not to tell a story but to criticize a caricature of Christianity. Unfortunately, what he's attacking isn't Christian (or even Biblical). The Magisterium is not the Catholic church, his angels aren't the angels of the Bible, and his "God" isn't the God that Christians worship.

"The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty -- those were all names he gave himself. He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves -- the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are..." (Location 580)

The author isn't describing God but a convenient straw man that he can criticize.

The theology of the book (series), like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, is a highly skewed exaggeration of "Christianity" that is then very easy for the story to criticize. This is basically the Tower of Babel except that that the "god" and the "church" of the books isn't at all like Christianity (well, it may resemble certain aspects of *medieval* Roman Catholicism like the Inquisition but not historical Christianity as a whole) and therefore just falls apart. It almost sounds like wishful thinking on the part of the author of an otherwise entertaining set of books.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Andy

A wonderfully written journey and a conclusion that will stay with you afterwards

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

An excellent read and conclusion to Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' series.

After the cliffhanger ending from the previous book, 'The Amber Spyglass' picks up the pieces with Mrs Coulter holed up in a cave 'looking after' a sedated Lyra, and Will, still smarting from the death of his father and the disappearance of Lyra, is now accompanied by a pair of angels in his search for her, and with the Subtle Knife still in his possession, Will must travel through other worlds in order to rescue Lyra before the Magisterium can get to her.

As Pullman's trilogy has progressed, so the tone of the story has gotten that little bit darker with each subsequent book (Not least because we visit the land of the dead here, which also happened to be one of my favourite sequences in the book), but so much so, that 'The Amber Spyglass' feels so far removed and more sedate than the beginning of Lyra's journey in the more action packed and faster paced 'Northern Lights / The Golden Compass'. The pace here was a lot slower and as a result I felt the story was given more time to grow and flesh out the details more. As such, it felt like the story matured alongside Lyra as she became of age. The slower momentum of the story isn't a complaint, far from it, but just an observation, as it certainly drew me more into narrative and into the characters of Will and Lyra.

We also meet some familiar faces that we've gotten to know over the course of the trilogy, which was very welcome, as well as some new ones too. Pullman gives his characters very human qualities, not completely black and white, good or bad, but somewhere in between that it sometimes twists your expectations of what to expect from certain characters, adding many layers of depth to his characterizations. Even with Will and Lyra, the 'young and innocent' protagonists, they have to do what it takes to fulfil their quest, even if it means lying, threaten and even kill!

There is also more of Pullman's theological exploration, as Lord Asriel's war on the Magisterium and The Authority gathers pace to its conclusion. Although I lean towards the atheist aspect, and agree with Lord Asriel's point of view of enlightenment over blind obedience, he still comes across as a most unlikeable character, very cold and calculated, even towards his wife and daughter. Whereas my assumptions of Marisa Coulter were turned on it's head completely and I had more empathy for her by the end. A mother doing what she must to protect her daughter.

And the ending is such a bittersweet one. After all that Lyra and Will have gone through, and with it being classed as a younger readers book, you might have at least expected some kind of happy ever after. Almost but not quite, as what we got was heartbreaking. I closed the book glassy eyed but still with a smile on my face, as two of my favourite book characters, Lyra Balacqua and Will Parry, came to the end of their quest on that park bench in Oxford's Botanical Gardens.

All credit to Philip Pullman for a wonderfully written journey, with such memorable characters. And with his new 'The Book Of Dust' trilogy, we get to see Lyra and revisit this world again. I can't wait.

8 people found this helpful

M. Dowden

Paradise Regained?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

And so we come to the final novel in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. After the exciting events that were left up in the air somewhat, from The Subtle Knife, so we follow the characters we already know, and some new ones on more adventure and excitement. What is really good about this series is that it works just as well for us adults, as it does for children, although of course we can pick up on certain nuances and themes that will probably be overlooked by younger minds.

Here then Lyra and Will have become separated, but Will is determined to find Lyra and assist her. But with others trying to influence and manipulate Lyra into doing what they want done, what path will she choose? We know that there is one thing that she wants to try and sort out, but will that be successful or not? And as the Church on Lyra’s world are involved so we can see here how church politics work, with more than one faction trying to gain power and decide the best course of action, something which we know happens from looking at church history.

Taking in metaphysics, theoretical and real maths and physics, so of course theology appears as another theme, along with the more down to earth themes of friendship, love and compassion, along with empathy. As the two main sides match up for a fight over Heaven, so we find out more about the person calling himself God, and what he really is. Mirroring our own world, so we can see how lies, propaganda and manipulation always goes on, and of course we can quite clearly see this at the moment with Brexit, and with this story as a whole, so we can wonder over why so many people can believe lies even when the truth is staring them in the face.

It has been some years since I last read these books, which I originally had in paperback and passed onto someone else, so it was good to get reacquainted with this story with the kindle editions. Really there isn’t anything to dislike with any of the books in the trilogy, and if they make more people interested for instance in both Milton’s wonderful Paradise Lost, and Blake’s poetry they are doing a service, but also they could encourage younger minds to take more seriously maths and physics, plus philosophy, and hopefully they will be able to build a brighter future than unfortunately we are leaving them currently with.

8 people found this helpful

Keith

Frustrating and overlong

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 6, 2020

Verified Purchase

I found this third volume of the trilogy disappointing. The first two were well paced and thought provoking and The Amber Spyglass started in the same way
However my view is that it is about 100 pages too long. The plot starts to meander when Lyra and Will travel to the realm of the dead and two subplots confuse the story even more, the Mary Molloy sequences are tedious and difficult to see their relevance and the long drawn out attempts to assassinate Lyra are implausible. It takes an incredible bomb, a highly trained priest assassin and various other nasties all operating independently and they all fail in the end! I skipped large chunks towards the end and only felt on sure ground with the final parting of Wiil and Lyra.

5 people found this helpful

Mr T Jones

Phillip Pullman Must read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 11, 2022

Verified Purchase

Clearly this should be read after the Northern Lights and Subtle Knife, books 1 and 2 in the trilogy.

As an adult, recently retired from work, I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to get round to reading these novels. I suppose the inspiration came from the recent BBC showing of His Dark Materials, which enthralled me and I'm so glad I finally decided to read this trilogy.

This was also my first read on a Kindle and again was pleased to find how enjoyable the experience was. I will say that because I'd seen the TV series first, the images and personalities of the main characters staid with me throughout the books. I do not believe this detracted from my reading experience, far from it. Phillip Pullman is a consummate storey teller, his characters and scenes are beautifully portrayed and evocatively described. It's gripping and believable start to finish.
This is a storey for young and old alike, working on so many levels from learning how we develop personally, to helping us understand the world around us and question people's beliefs. Suitable for those with an enquiring mind!

Tony B

A lot to think about.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Forget the Golden Compass film,or even the new BBC adaption. You NEED to read the book. It is a very dark tale, with the light in the distance. Having heard the Author's views on CS Lewis' Narnia, this is the complete opposite There is a lot that will make you think. If you haven't read the books before I'd suggest you read the First book La Belle Sauvage of the 'The story of Dust' trilogy first. It is a prequel (Horrible word) but the story will make more sense. Don't expect to spoon feed the plot, you will have to work at it, nothing is as expected.

2 people found this helpful

See all reviews

The Amber Spyglass: His Dark Materials, Book 3 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Read & Listen

Enjoy a free trial on us $0.00$0.00

Buy with 1-Click $32.99$32.99

People who viewed this also viewed

People who bought this also bought

Related to this topic

Product details

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Enjoy a free trial on us

$0.00

Buy with 1-Click

$32.99