The Amber Spyglass

The Amber Spyglass is the third and final novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Published in 2000, it won the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year award, the first children's novel to do so, and it was named Children's Book of the Year at the 2001 British Book Awards and was the first children's book to be longlisted for the Booker Prize. The journey takes Lyra and Will into a world of the dead, accompanied by an armoured bear and two Gallivespian spies.

The novel is set in a number of worlds dominated by the Magisterium, a theocracy that actively suppresses heresy. In some of those worlds, human souls exist outside the body as sentient dæmons in animal form, which is the device that allows the series to make questions about identity and conscience visible in the action rather than in discussion.

The plot brings several strands together. Dr Mary Malone builds the Amber Spyglass, an assassin hunts her, and Lord Asriel's rebellion against the authority of the worlds becomes a battle involving strange alliances and a sacrifice.