LCE 6th grade Electronic Book Review Form

1. Student Reviewer’s Name: Skyler J.
2. Date of review of book: February 24, 2008
3. Complete Book Title: His Dark Materials Series, Book III: The Amber Spyglass
4. Author of Book: Philip Pullman
5. Year the book was published: 2000
6. Genre: Fantasy
7. Student rating of the book (1 the highest, 5 the lowest): 1

Main conflict in the book:
The cosmic destiny of the main character is to travel to the land of the dead and free their souls. Along this journey, the fate of all the living and all the dead will be revealed.

Setting of the book: (place and time):
The book takes place in many parallel worlds and the characters can travel back and forth between them with a mythical tool, the subtle knife. The setting is a timeless age that has elements from the past, the present and the future, however the characters cannot travel back and forth in time.

10. Main Characters and part they play in the book:
(1) Lyra is a 12 year old who is gifted with the power to read the alethiometer, also called “the golden compass” and/or the “truth teller.” In this book Lyra teams up with Will to free the souls from the land of the dead. By embracing this mission, Lyra grows up, falls in love, makes hard choices, and when she loses her soul's innocence, she loses the basic instinct that empowered her to read the alethiometer.
(2) Will is a 12 year old boy who becomes the bearer of the subtle knife, which is a magic tool that has the power to cut portals into other worlds. In this book Will uses his power to full-fill Lyra's prophecy, which is to free the souls from the land of the dead. Later, Will learns that he must close all the windows between the worlds (except the one for the souls of the dead) which means he and Lyra will be separated forever….. until they die, when they will finally be reunited.

11. Are the characters believable and interesting?
The characters are very interesting and show great courage and intellect as they grow. All the amazing circumstances and fantastical events that occur in the story revolve around these two realistic characters. They are ordinary children who are dealing with regular growing pains, and they are thrown into extraordinary situations.

12. One excellent direct quotation from the book: (include who said it, page number, and
quotation marks!)
The boatman rowing Lyra and Will across the lake to the land of the dead (Charon-like) gives a lecture about all the dead people that have come before them, many vowing that they are not dead, insisting there has been a mistake, claiming they will return, or threatening him with harm, or offering him bribes of power or gold to turn back the boat. Approaching the shoreline, he closes with this quote on page 288:
“So if you don't know if you are dead or not, and the little girl swears blind that she will come out again to the living, I say nothing to contradict you. What you are, you will know soon enough in time.”

13. Good reasons to read the book:
This is an exciting, adventurous tale that combines mythology, religion, warfare, science fiction, history, and politics, to tell a story about life, love, and death. No matter how fantastical the events of the story, the characters are realistic and the reader will not be able to put down the book until they have finished it. The storytelling is completely exhilarating.

14. Any reasons not to read the book?
There are no reasons NOT to read this book.
Did you like this book or not? And why….
I absolutely loved this book, and the whole series. It has an amazingly ingenious plot that is wildly imaginative, and characters that are completely believable. Every page and story line weaves in common elements of mythology, science, religion, and literature. So it gives you a lot to think about, but at the same time you are very entertained.