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Manny's Reviews > The Amber Spyglass

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
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really liked it
bookshelves: science-fiction, story-review, george-and-his-girlfriend

- George, wake up!

- Ungh... what time is it?

- I think about four am. You were having a nightmare.

- Mmmn.

- Hey, you're shaking. Come over here. It's alright. Do you want to tell me about it?

- Ann Coulter and Satan jump into the void and pull him down with them. The evil archangel.

- I'm sorry?

- Ah, it doesn't make much sense, does it? But it did in the dream. It was even noble and tragic. I think.

- What else happened?

- Well, I know I shouldn't have stayed up reading that physics book. There was something about dark matter and angels. I think angels were dark matter? But they weren't dark when you looked at them in the right way. I built a sort of telescope and I could see them.

- You should have come to bed with me. Remember that next time.

- I will! And, ah, let me see, God lived in a Calabi-Yau manifold...

- A what?

- One of those twisty six-dimensional shapes that string theorists like. I showed you a picture, right?

- Oh yes, now I know what you mean. So God's in his... whatever... and all is well with the world?

- No, he's tired and he has some kind of accident. That was a good thing though.

- You're still not making any sense.

- I know, I know! And they can't ever see each other again. They're in different branes. That was so sad.

- Different brains?

- Branes. B-R-A-N-E-S. You know, parallel universes floating in multi-dimensional space. Anyway, he has to return to his brane and he's lost her forever.

- George, try to go back to sleep. We'll be so tired tomorrow.

- I just want to write this down before I forget it. It was really good. I think I could turn it into a book.

- Tomorrow, George.

- Okay, it'll wait until the morning. And you know what?

- What?

- I'm so glad we're in the same space-time continuum.

- Oh George, that's the most romantic thing anyone's ever said to me!

- Heh. I thought you'd like it. Goodnight sweetheart.

- Goodnight George.

- Mm.

- Mm.
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Reading Progress

Started Reading
January 1, 2008 – Finished Reading
November 26, 2008 – Shelved
December 5, 2008 – Shelved as: science-fiction
June 21, 2011 – Shelved as: story-review
September 27, 2013 – Shelved as: george-and-his-girlfriend

Comments Showing 1-20 of 20 (20 new)

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Whitaker You don't need a spoiler alert Manny. There's no way any one could understand your review if they hadn't read the book first. :-)


Manny Whitaker wrote: "You don't need a spoiler alert Manny. There's no way any one could understand your review if they hadn't read the book first. :-)"

Ah, maybe you're right :) I've removed it then.


Whitaker I must say, I thought the Ann Coulter/Satan reference was inspired.


message 4: by Manny (last edited Jun 17, 2011 04:54AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Manny Thank you! But my take is that Lord Asriel pretty much has to be Satan, assuming the links to Paradise Lost. And given the coincidence of names...


Joel nice one!


Yllacaspia Four stars? This is my least favourite of the trilogy. I'd give it 2 and 3/4.


Manny Yllacaspia wrote: "Four stars? This is my least favourite of the trilogy. I'd give it 2 and 3/4."

Well, it is a bit of a mess, but I thought it concluded the story in a satisfying manner. My four stars were more for the trilogy as a whole...


Joel it would be a much better book without the sidebar with the wheeled-feet creatures. the rest is pretty good though. i thought the second book was a lot harder to get through.


Manny Yes, the creatures with the wheels were a clear mistake. They weren't even as good as the ones in E.E. Doc Smith's Galactic Patrol.


Spider the Doof Warrior I liked them. I want wheels.


message 11: by Manny (last edited Feb 07, 2013 08:34AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Manny I respect your (syn)esthetic preferences here, but I don't understand them. What was good about the wheeled ones? It just seemed so odd to introduce them at this late stage of the story...


Spider the Doof Warrior They were peaceful and nice. And I reckon it helped Mary build the titular Amber Spyglass.


Manny Well, I see where you're coming from. I also quite liked them as characters. It just seemed structurally odd.


Spider the Doof Warrior Yeah. Creatures riding on wheels from a tree is random. He probably smokes the same stuff people who direct Gotye videos smoke.


Stella This review and the following comments are beautiful. Just.......beautiful. Lol.


Manny Thank you Stella! I must create a shelf so that people can find the other reviews about George and his charming girlfriend...


Stella Hahaha! It was the perfect example of how all-over-the-place the story was! So much potential wasted, sigh....


Manny Alas, you are right.

I have created the shelf - it's here.


Stella Ahh, I can see from this shelf alone that you are a man of science. Purely commendable! I've added those to my to-read list, will look through the others later. You, my friend, are already proving to be a valuable friend indeed.


Manny Thank you Stella! When I am famous, academics will write long, dull papers about whether George should be viewed as a self-portrait, and who the unnamed girlfriend really was. She will be the Dark Lady of 欧宝娱乐.


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