It's a really great book. You religious folks who are angry about it, don't ban your kids from reading it. It gives them an alternate view, so they can choose what they think, personally. It is sort of violent, but not bad enough so that a tween can't handle it. It's a must read!

The Amber Spyglass is the finale to Pullman's His Dark Materials. I shan't delve on the review, because I'd simply be repeating synonyms of the word Incredible. The main issue with this book (and indeed the rest of the trilogy) are the themes that it deals with. It is an incredibly deep book, dealing with themes from love, growing up and religion. The main objection a parent would have with this book is its anti-religious messages. Simply put, the 'goodies' have the aim of killing God, and Christianity. This in itself may be enough reason for a parent to prevent their child from reading it. I'm not really sure how to counteract this. What I'd say though, is that for them to truly understand the themes, they'd have to have a specific level of maturity (i.e. do not give this to your 10 year old: they will not understand it). If your child has reached this level of maturity, they will be old enough to make their own decisions on the world and their lives, and in my opinion it would not be right to censor such material to a child of that level of maturity. In the end, however, it's your choice as a parent. I have to be completely honest, and it's true that the writing is incredibly powerful and could well have a life-changing impact on a reader. Apart from this aspect, this book has so many important messages and features such a deep and thoughtful storyline, it'd be a crime to stop your mature child from reading this. I cannot recommend it enough.

So there's a lot of stuff about religion... so who cares? #1, it's fiction. #2, if you are old enough to read this (12-13+) then you can tell the difference between fact and fiction. And besides, there is a God in this book if you think about it - Dust. Dust is not an old man who lives in the sky, it's actually closer to what a lot of people feel like God is - that he is kind of spread out throughout the world keeping the world alive. This book is not really against God or some supreme, good force, it's more against an establishment that's doing an injustice to people. It's obviously NOT based on the real-life Church, so why gripe about that? As for romance-related stuff, that is up to parents. It wasn't an issue for me. And they never actually said that the kids went beyond kissing, even if it was implied. I read the book when I was 13, and didn't realize that they could have gone that far until I was 14 or 15. So if you are old enough to realize how far they MIGHT have gone, you are old enough to know not to go that far yourself. I guess to boil this all down to one thing, you would have to say: if you're old enough to understand, you're old enough to know better. And when you get past all of that, this is simply a great book, entertaining to the last page. There are many beautiful aspects of the book.

WOW! This series isnt too bad or gory, wake-up with nightmares stuff. Its an amazing story and the ending of this book is amazing. Its "on" for ages 10+, although if you're highly sensitive to war and religion then wait till you're 11. I read these when I was nine and they are amazing!

I have read this book (and the whole trillogy for that matter)twice and this is the best of the series. So much action and adventure. I do however believe you should be 13 and up to truly understand it. There are a few curse words and violence is not much except for a few deaths and many explosions. For alot of you, you thought the main characters, and there is no sex in the book so to those of you who read all the Off adult reviews, it never says that lyra and will do that. They kiss, but I dont consider that to be sexuality. The adult reviews also say that they try to kill god. They dont kill god, but a false god called Metatron. There are instances where characters express that god does not exist but I know that is not true. It did not change my views on christianity at all. Truly a masterpeice. I think 13 and up can read this.

Great book, I loved it and all my friends have read it, my English professor at college loved it!

If you read the reviews on the back of the Golden Compass, you'll find the biggest names in magazines and newspapers calling it "a stunning work of genius" and "superb...all stops out thrilling." In my opinion, this book really wasn't worth the 50 pages I put into it. As the series goes on, the underlying theme of anti-Christianity becomes more and more apparent, and more and more arrogant. But the anti-Christianity message isn't the biggest problem here. The book drags on and on for pages with pointless scenes, over-descriptive descriptions, cliched, one-demensional characters, and so on. As far as offensive material goes, this book was really just about as "inappropriate" as Harry Potter, with a little kissing, lots of fantasy action violence, etc (disclaimer: Harry Potter really isn't anti-Christian, although some people may think it is). This book may have been decent if the author didn't try so hard to convey his message of anti-Christianity, which after a while turns from insulting to just downright annoying. Better options are Harry Potter, The Inheritence trilogy, The Septimus Heap trilogy, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

One of the best books I have ever read!

I looked up reviews on the "Goden Compass" movie, and was furious when the entire series was almost spoiled for me by one reviewer. Needless to say, I am disappointed in Common Sense Media for not screening these reviews carefully. But enough of that. This book is a very well done end to the series, though a couple of sections put me off. The ending was so moving. Loved the series. Thank you Mr. Pullman!