the amber spyglass

The Amber Spyglass is the final book of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, published in 2000.

This book deals with Lyra and Will's quest into the Land of the Dead to overcome death, the overthrow of The Authority by a force lead by Lord Asriel, the sealing of the passageways between the worlds by the angels, and the destruction of the Subtle Knife. Other plotlines in the novel involve Mrs. Coulter, Lyra's mother, as she goes on a self-employed mission to find out about Metatron, The Authority's Regent, and at the same time do all she can to protect Lyra. Also, there is the story of the scientist, Mary Malone, who must play the serpent for Eve (Lyra), but in the meantime inhabits the world of the mulefa, a race of wheeled beings with a diamond-shaped spine. While there, she constructs the Amber Spyglass of the title, which allows anyone looking through it to see Dust, which to most beings is normally invisible to the naked eye. Further subplots include that of a priest who is trying to assassinate Lyra, and the story of Balthamos, an apparently homosexual angel who disappears early in the book but reappears and dies in the chapter "Over the Hills and Far Away". (Regarding Balthamos and Baruch's apparent homosexuality, Pullman has stated that since they are angels, they are in fact sexless, despite having chosen male human forms. Clearly, they love each other, but their love is entirely asexual). Having overcome death, and fallen in love, Lyra and Will discover that the cutting between universes with the Subtle Knife depletes the world of Dust, and are faced with some difficult choices; reversing their achievement by resealing the Land of the Dead to leave a way between their own worlds; one of them moving to the world of the other to be together, but severely cutting the lifespan of the one who moves; or abandoning each other by sealing themselves in their own separate worlds.

The Amber Spyglass

See also