RaveThe Guardian...The Amber Spyglass completes Pullman's radical three-volume reworking of Paradise Lost ... more intense than its predecessors. The climaxes are bigger; there is a fresh fire in the writing; and there is a wonderful new cast of characters — notably, a pair of gay angels. Above all, Pullman pursues his central philosophical theme with even greater passion ...Central to the story are Pullman's life-affirming belief in free will and the power of scientific rationalism and his deep dislike of hierarchical religion and the repression it sanctions ... portrayal of real people dealing with weighty moral issues within a mythic story and in a fantasy setting, Pullman has rearranged the landscape of writing for children.
