THE AMBER SPYGLASS

By: Philip Pullman

Plot: This is the third and final book in the His Dark Materials series. The end of Lyra and Will's wild ride through worlds.

My Thoughts: I read the first two books in this series a loooong time ago. Years, even. I read somewhere online (Reddit, probably) that the ending to the series was sad, so I just kept putting it off. It's been hanging over my head though and I decided I was ready to finally find out how it ended, even if it was sad!

I really enjoyed reading this book, I like the worlds that he has created. The book was pretty long and there was probably some stuff that could have been left out, but I didn't mind it too much. Lyra's and Will's story was the best part of course, but I didn't hate the stories following everyone else. I thought Mrs. Coulter was interesting to read about. I never was really sure what she was up to, but I guess she was looking out for her daughter the whole time. Her baby daddy on the other hand, I didn't care for so much.

Honestly, I wasn't that depressed by the ending! It was sad, sure, but I was imagining worst case senario. They are so young anyways, like they said in the book, in ten years they'd barely be twenty! It'd be more unbelievable for them to plan to spend the rest of their lives together and live happy ever after. I thought they both got pretty good endings. I feel like Lyra's was a little more developed, than Will's. I wish there would have been more details on what he was going to do for the rest of his life. And how was his mom??

The whole big prophecy about Lyra and her "temptation" though, I admit I thought it'd be something more. All she had to do was realize she was in love? That seemed like kind of a let down after all the buildup to it. I guess it should have been obvious because that whole story line was Biblical but still I was expecting more, so I didn't catch on.

Favorite Quotes: “When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed.”

Rating: 4/5 I really enjoyed it but man, the author does NOT like religion, does he?

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

By: Jules Verne

Plot: A professor discovers a manuscript that has instructions on how to get the the center of the Earth by a man who claims to have made the journey before. The story is narrated by his nephew who he takes with him.

My Thoughts: At first I was really liking this book. I enjoyed the whole 'secret message' scenario, even with the wimpy narrator Axel. And then there came fifty (or so) pages of oh so boring travel. It's almost halfway through the book before they even start their decent into the Earth! It was so hard to get through and by now Axel has really started to bug me. He whines the whole time about how they're going to die and he wants to turn back. What boy isn't excited to go on an adventure like this? I wish his beloved Grauben would have come along and then maybe he wouldn't have been so whinny. Or, honestly I wish she would have come instead of him.

Once they finally start their real journey the story picks up, but by then I don't really care anymore. And honestly who doesn't bring water? Water! That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. And another thing, (while I'm on a roll here) they find a person (!) a seemingly HUMAN person (!!) and then they just leave!!! Like, nah, that's not interesting at all. Come on Jules, what are you thinking? That would have been so much cooler to read about than Axel getting lost in a tunnel.

This book is barely over two hundred pages and it took me nearly two weeks to get through. It would have been so much better without all that pointless travel in the beginning and gotten more into the whole center of the Earth thing. And then *spoiler alert* they don't even make it to the center!! What?! What was the point then? Oddly enough though, I would still pick up another Jules Vern book. I haven't given up on him yet.

Favorite Quote: "Ah, those women and young girls--female hearts--always incomprehensible. You are either the most timid or the bravest of beings. Reason has nothing to do with you."

Rating: 2/5 It was ok.