Mark Reads ‘The Amber Spyglass’: Chapter 20

In the twentieth chapter of The Amber Spyglass, Mary attempts to discover the reason why the trees that produce the seedpods that the mulefa need to survive are becoming sick. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Amber Spyglass.

CHAPTER TWENTY: CLIMBING

I surprised at how short chapter twenty was, especially since practically every chapter this week was significantly lengthy. But even in this brief journey through the mulefa world, we get a better idea of how the threat of the Authority in all words manifests itself.

I suppose I’m being a bit presumptuous with that, but I’m willing to take the risk and guess that I’m right. The Specters feed on Dust (or, at least, “adults” who begin to properly experience it) in Cittágazze. The Magisterium was trying to eliminate Dust through their experiments in Bolvangar. And I bet if we’d spent more time in Will and Mary’s world, we’d see how people were aiming to suppress just what Mary was doing. (Which makes me wonder…what the hell happened to the people who were pursuing Will? You know, the pale-haired man. I’m guessing he is an agent of the Authority in that world, since he seemed so desperate to do whatever he could to get John Parry’s letters.)

I don’t know. I’m not entirely positive, but since we’ve already learned that every world was tested by the Authority, I think it stands to reason that every world is also threatened by some force aiming to destroy Dust in some way.

Mary doesn’t know that this is what she’s bound to find at the top of these epic trees, but she knows that she needs to get up in the canopy if she’s going to discover why the trees are not producing seedpods as they used to before. Her initial challenge, though, is the sheer logistics of this. I’m glad that Pullman makes Mary so unsure about this, that despite having a little experience with rock climbing, she is not an expert, and she’s entirely aware of this at all moments. Yes, she does ultimately make it up into the tree, but it’s not a process that is easy and fearless. Hell, it takes her a full day to even begin to make an attempt to ascend the great trunk of one of these trees. Even then, she loses two hand-made arrows during the process, and even though she designs a method to possibly save herself if she fell, we know that it’s a slim chance, at that. The mulefa themselves are outright horrified at the entire display, being creatures of solid ground, as they can’t conceive of ever leaving the ground. It’s all that they know.

Thankfully, Mary does manage to reach the canopy as she desired, and she discovers that the thick bark on the tree is actually rather conducive to climbing. She continues to climb higher and higher into the tree, using what little knowledge of rock climbing she has to do so. I like that it’s also a mental journey as well; it seems that the higher she gets, the more comfortable she is with herself and for her safety. There’s a sense of clam and respect up in that tree, and she touches the leaves with grace and affection, examining the tiny flowers that produce the massive seedpods that keep the mulefa alive. She even gets the sensation that some “huge, dim benevolence” is holding her up in that tree, “like a pair of giant hands.”

As she lay in the fork of the great branches, she felt a kind of bliss she had only felt once before; and that was not when she made her vows as a nun.

Oh shit. I forgot Mary was once a nun! Sorry, Pullman, I get what you’re saying here, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this line. It’s a tad distracting? In the sense that you just said she felt this feeling before, but why tell us of the one moment she did not feel it? It’s just strange.

At the same time, I have to poke fun at myself for a bit, however. Ok, so Mary made an instrument. It uses glass. And it uses an amber-colored sap. And if you read my review of chapter seventeen, you’ll notice that there’s not a single mention of the fact that MARY JUST CREATED THE AMBER SPYGLASS. Oh my god, my brain is precious. That is probably the best example of me just not getting the obvious, so when I came to the part where Mary describes the amber spyglass that the mulefa made for her using bamboo, I just gently placed my head in my hands and groaned. Again, right in front of my face.

Using this wonderful instrument, Mary is able to observe the movement of the sraf, which drift slowly and randomly through the air, until she notices a very subtle movement of the sraf away from the land, and out towards the sea. For particles with a consciousness, she knows this movement has to be significant.

Returning to the solid ground of the mulefa, she’s pleased to discover the affection relief of her friends, most especially Atal. I know I’ve said it before, but I really adore this relationship, and I honestly can’t think of another one even close to this one. The two head down to Sattamax, with Mary on her friend’s back, so that she can report on her findings. Unfortunately, those findings are far from the joy she experiences with her friend.

Again, to repeat what I said in the introduction, I willing to bet that the “current” that Mary observed that seems to carry only the sraf is something caused by the Authority. It’s not lost on me that the tualapi are also native to the sea, and are deadly enemies to the mulefa. But something did change three hundred years prior, and that something affected the way that the flowers on the seedpod trees collected pollen. Since the flowers are all upright, they’re missing pollination by sraf since it is no longer falling down.

It is a dire situation, but everyone–Mary and the mulefa–agree to work together to determine what it is that is causing this mysterious current that carries the sraf. One even helps Mary with designing a new way for her to climb the tree:

They knew the techniques of using pulleys and tackle, and presently one suggested a way of lifting Mary easily into the canopy so as to save her the dangerous labor of climbing.

Dear random mulefa: WHERE WERE YOU THE DAY BEFORE WHEN MARY WAS CLIMBING THE TREE ON HER OWN? Seriously, you would have been a massive help had you spoken up yesterday. GOSH.

Hey, are you feeling hope? Do you feel as if Mary has the right intentions, and are you excited to see the mulefa discover what is happening with their version of Dust? Then allow Pullman to ruin all of that with some Father Gomez!

But it would have taken him much longer if it hadn’t been for a difference in the weather. In the world he was in, it was hot and dry, and he was increasingly thirsty; and seeing a wet patch of rock at the top of a scree, he climbed up to see if there was a spring there. There wasn’t, but in the world of the wheel-pod trees, there had just been a shower of rain; and so it was that he discovered the window and found where Mary had gone.

OH, HELL NO. Oh, Father Gomez, if you ruin everything, I will command the world to open up and eat you. God DAMN IT.

———-

Remember to enter the BridgeToTheStars contest to win a copy of The Amber Spyglass, and to visit this week’s spoiler thread!

About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
This entry was posted in His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

128 Responses to Mark Reads ‘The Amber Spyglass’: Chapter 20

  1. Ryan Lohner says:

    So I'm assuming you didn't read the back of the book, which states outright that Mary makes the titular object. Thanks for spoiling, guys.

  2. Jaya says:

    Chapter 20 Epigraph! Another delightful extract from Emily Dickinson.

    <img src="http://www.bridgetothestars.net/misc_gallery/albums/Extras/TAS-Epigraphs/scan0053.jpg"&gt;

  3. bookworm67 says:

    Ahaha Mark. I was going to say something in the other chapter about the spyglass, but figured it would be better to let you figure it out yourself 😉

    Also, I am now in Kenya and get to read reviews right when they're posted! 😀 (At least I think so? Not sure when these update but I was almost first for this one…)

    • Rainicorn says:

      AS:DJHKJF JEALOUS Where in Kenya? I grew up in Nairobi…

      • Rainicorn says:

        aww, my keysmash made a smiley!

      • bookworm67 says:

        Oh awesome! Yeah, I'm in Nairobi for a year because of my mom's job – I'm going to a school called ISK?
        Ahaha random smiley 😉

        • Rainicorn says:

          We considered ISK – I remember going to look around it – because we lived in the States before Kenya, but my parents decided to send us to schools on the British system instead so we could move to the UK later. We went to Peponi and then Hillcrest Secondary. Happy days. My favorite places were the Sheldrick elephant orphanage and the giraffe feeding center, and the game park of course. If you like boats and/or camping, Lake Naivasha is a great place to go – we used to have a couple of sailing boats there.

          Aah, now I'm getting all nostalgic… even though I'm a week away from my own transcontinental migration…

          • bookworm67 says:

            OMG so cool I actually recognize some of those places :O

            I think we have a school trip to Lake Naivasha at some point…definitely been to elephant orphanage, game park and kissed giraffes at the feeding center though. *Squee* at meeting someone who's been to the same places I have! I feel like I'll be saying the exact same things to someone in twenty years or so xD

      • Cakemage says:

        I know this comment is a few days late (had some internet troubles over the weekend), but I just had to say that I spent two and a half years in Nairobi when I was a wee one, myself. I only remember bits and pieces of it, like the smells of the marketplace, playing in the backyard with the dogs and this AWESOME swing that they had at this restaurant called the Carnivore. Just little memories here and there, but I still miss it, you know? I'd really love to go back one day.

        • Rainicorn says:

          Arrrggh, the Carnivore! I went back to Nairobi for a visit about 5 years ago, and the Carnivore has stopped serving game meat! No ostrich, zebra, eland, or crocodile for you, hungry visitor… so sad…

  4. monkeybutter says:

    Hahahaha. Ubj ybat hagvy Znemvcna?

    Seriously, where was that zalif when Mary was making her complicated rope ladder? Your civilization is on the line, guys!

    • Tilja says:

      Too long.

      Knowing the mulefa are creatures of the ground, I can see they had no idea a pulley would work for lifting a person up a tree. Besides, even if it had been mentioned before, how to put it up, if they didn't even know how the branches were located? Only after Mary climbed and placed the holds along the tree trunk can someone place a lift in the right place. I think they saw the tree as fixed for holds as the sky.

      Do I even make sense?

      • monkeybutter says:

        Yeah, you make sense. But I would think that pulleys are second nature to them because you know, wheels. They would just have to shoot an arrow with a thin rope over a branch like Mary did to get everything in place. Trial and error. Like, I assume they would have some lying around somewhere and they just forgot to tell Mary. But if they're just figuring out how the tree works in relation to the ground and sky because they have no natural ability to go up there, it would be kind of neat.

        • Tilja says:

          How do they even work to shoot an arrow? I don't remember, but did it say that they know what an arrow is, or was it Mary who introduced the concept to them? I can't see them using arrows with only their one trunk, even working in pairs like they do for making nets.

          • monkeybutter says:

            Mary makes the arrows and bows and shoots them on her own, so yeah, she introduced that concept, but I figured they could use their trunks to sling ropes since they already have them.

            • Tilja says:

              The problem will still be that they can't see beyond the first branches, so all they can do from where they are is minimal. In order to know where to secure the ropes, they need to see and reach the branches. You're right, Mary will have to climb more than once in order to attach the lift but I see no other way to do it. Naq gur cyngsbez jvyy or nyy ure bja jbex hc gurer fvapr fur'f gur bayl bar jub pna ernpu gur cynpr. Vg'q fgvyy erdhver sbe ure gb pyvzo zber guna gjvpr jvgubhg rkgen uryc.

              • monkeybutter says:

                Ohg pbhyqa'g fur frg hc gur chyyrl flfgrz naq envfr obneqf gb ohvyq gur cyngsbez nsgre fur jrag hc gurer whfg gur bapr?

                lol I never imagined a discussion like this would arise from my pathetic joke of a comment.

                • Tilja says:

                  It's an entertaining discussion. We're trying to imagine the best way for the mulefa to figure out how to use a pulley system to climb trees, something beyond their imagination up until the moment Mary showed them it can be done. xD

                  I wonder if she could actually settle the pulley system with just one go up the tree, after the first climb for reconnaissance, of course. Do you have any idea how long would that take? Nyfb, jul qvq gurl unir gb ohvyq gur cyngsbez orsber trggvat vg hc gur gerr? Jbhyqa'g vg or rnfvre sbe Znel gb ohvyq vg bapr fur gbbx gur cynaxf hc gurer?

        • Kelly says:

          They could do that for the first branch, but like Tilja said, someone has to first climb in order to establish a rope system for the mulefa to attach the pulley system to.

    • Laurel says:

      V xabj! Znemvcna vf dhvgr cbffvoyl zl snibevgr puncgre va nyy gur obbxf va nyy gur jbeyq. V pna'g jnvg sbe Znex gb trg gurer.

  5. Jenny_M says:

    I remember the first time I read this chapter (or, rather, turned the page to see it), I was like "A MARY CHAPTER, RIGHT NOW? WHAT THE HELL PULLMAN!"

    Now that I'm older and wiser, I can begrudgingly accept it, but I'm still rather glad it's short.

    Also, I will be going on vacation next week and won't be able to travel with TAS. I can't decide if I should read ahead or wait until I get back and have a five-day deluge.

  6. Hellen says:

    I never really read the parallel "Eve" stories as all worlds being tested by the Authority. I thought it was various creature evolving conciousness (or being given it by the rebel angels, I guess), and thus starting to attract Dust/sraf/etc.. And then that expresses itself as various stories about discovery or temptation.

    I love Mary and her love for the world. She is the best scientist.

    • xpanasonicyouthx says:

      Hmm, that's a good point. I think that is entirely valid, ahahaha. I dunno, I was just thinking about how every world seems to follow the same pattern, so I am just making a guess!

    • Raenef says:

      As the Mulefa have made no mention of an Authority figure and still have this story, I figure that the Eve make-likes was a good occurrence that happened to every world whose meaning the Authority later corrupted or something.

  7. Tilja says:

    I’m not entirely positive, but since we’ve already learned that every world was tested by the Authority, I think it stands to reason that every world is also threatened by some force aiming to destroy Dust in some way.

    I think differently. I consider the temptation might've been given by the rebel angels to free the creatures from the control of the Authority and that's why the agents of the Authority are so set against it. They feel they failed and want to atone for being deceived by the other side.

    This also gives me another idea. It means that those who want to go back to his grace feel love for him, long for him to feel complete, to feel loved. It means both sides do it for love, at least some part of it. How do you decide which love is worthier than the other to win? How do you decide one side doesn't love and the other does? Let me give you an example: Lord Asriel; he doesn't do it for love, he does it out of spite. How do you decide it's good to remove the source of good feelings for some people because others use it to harm?

    I'm on the side of the rebel angels, but I wonder about these things as well.

  8. cait0716 says:

    I don't have much to add, but I'm always happy to see a Mary chapter!

  9. TreasureCat says:

    There’s a sense of clam and respect up in that tree
    a sense of clam

    Your typos are my very favourite, havent giggled so much since waterfalls of win XD <3

  10. sarahjane45 says:

    That's exactly how I interpreted it. As if Pullman was going "nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more!"

  11. Hanah_banana says:

    "Oh shit. I forgot Mary was once a nun! Sorry, Pullman, I get what you’re saying here, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this line. It’s a tad distracting? In the sense that you just said she felt this feeling before, but why tell us of the one moment she did not feel it? It’s just strange."

    Maybe my mind goes to all the wrong places, but I always took this to be one of Pullman's 'nudge nudge wink wink I'm talking about sex here adult people' references. Like when Ruta got it on with Asriel in Subtle Knife. But it's a book written for children so Pullman obviously didn't want to just say 'a feeling she'd only had when having sex before' so he used another way to refer to it. And then it becomes even MORE awesome because he's contrasting Mary's (presumably) chaste life as a nun with when she was having sex, and saying that the better feeling comes from NOT being a nun and we get our greatest experiences in life from natural pleasures like sitting high in a tree on your own and having sex, and so he gets to slip in another sly 'one up for atheism' line 😉

    But perhaps I read too much into these things, I am a notorious English student!

    • knut_knut says:

      that's what I thought too!

    • hazelwillow says:

      Yup yup.

    • Oh, yes. All that talk of the tree like gentle giant hands holding her up, and her in a blissful daze — it's so very post-coital.

    • marshmallow_man says:

      Nope that's exactly how I read it… then again, I'm also an English student.

    • George says:

      Okay I got really confused when I first read this, I was like wait-having sex in a tree? On your own? Huh?

      And then I facepalmed…

    • Many Rainbows says:

      To me, that passage was more like… many people when they "accept Jesus into their life" or take their vows to become a nun (or a priest) say that they feel like God was holding them/they feel that sense of benevolence that comes from God/whatever. and this passage is saying that, while Mary *has* felt that before, it was *not* when she became a nun. it could also be a nudge nudge, wink wink at sex, but that wasn't my first thought when i read this.

    • Danielle says:

      This is what I got from it too.

    • Tilja says:

      My first thought was simpler. He used the reference to say once again how good it is to be an atheist and how not good the church is because it's empty. Then you add the sex into it and you've got another reason not to become a nun.

    • t09yavors says:

      I only thought of this when Mark pointed the passage out.

    • Pixie says:

      See, maybe all our minds are in the gutter, but there are enough of us to make it a pretty funny coincidence if that’s the case! I really don’t think the explicitly-stated “NOT when she was a nun” but only makes sense with that interpretation, though; otherwise, as Mark pointed out, it look really random (to me, at least).

      Unrelated: I appear to have misread my work schedule and showed up an hour early, so I’m now trapped in a parking lot waiting for someone to let me in the building. D:

      • theanagrace says:

        See, that's why I always carry a book with me, so I can sit around reading instead of waiting. 😀

  12. BradSmith5 says:

    Well, I feel bliss when I open the book and see a five-page, concise chapter. Then MORE bliss when I see that Mark called out Pullman's preachy line. Seriously, that nun bit would have worked if Mary had said it off-hand to the mulefa or something. With ample nudging and winking, as the commenters here are suggesting, of course. 😉

  13. Hello Mark and other Readers of Books!

    I arrived at Mark Reads Twilight 1 month ago from Reasoning With Vampires and since then I have consumed every-single-review of books I've read including The Hunger Games trilogy, The Harry Potter Series and the Twilight books (one of these is not like the rest). I loved reliving some of my favourite stories and now really glad you're reading another favourite series! The only problem is, now that I've caught up with your reviews, instead of inhaling them in bulk through my computer when I should be working, I have to actually wait for the next one! Although it's painful to do so, I enjoy reading them so much it's worth it!

    Oh no! I've discovered 'Mark Watches Doctor Who'! Must catch up before the new episodes begin!

  14. Becky_J_ says:

    Mark, yesterday when I was looking at this chapter I laughed out loud and thought "This chapter is only five pages. Just when you are getting to the good stuff, Lyra's got a death and all that, he sends us back to Mary so she can climb a tree and think about sex. " You know why he does this, Mark?

    Because he likes to fuck with us, that's why. He's sitting…well, wherever he's sitting…. and laughing at our frustration.

    • rumantic says:

      And we have an entire weekend now as well 🙁 Clearly he designed this book for maximum Mark readers frustration.

    • t09yavors says:

      I certainly hope he is sitting in his study writing…something/anything. Though I can imagine him (or any of the Mark Reads authors really) spontaneously bursting out in laughter and not knowing why, because of we who are unprepared.

    • Lauren says:

      I bet Pullman is reading this review at his desk right now and has such an evil grin on his face. "Ha ha, now they all have to wait until after the weekend to get back to Lyra and Will and their deaths and MUAHAHAHA!!!" Really, I think all good authors are like that.

  15. stellaaaaakris says:

    I'm only posting this because one of the comments on Facebook said, "This is some Golden Compass nonsense!" or something like that and obviously I had to share. So one of my Facebook friends has these instructions in his status and I followed because of that comment above: Go to Google maps and search 47.110579, 9.2275683. Then click on the green arrow and then Street View. Click up twice and then left twice.

    Did you do it?





    You guys, I think it's the way into Lyra's world! That's a person and a, I don't know, flamingo daemon. Let's go! Who has a plane to get us all to Switzerland? And maybe a really tall ladder or a balloon like Lee Scoresby's. I think they'd notice our plane wasn't from their world.

    • xpanasonicyouthx says:

      OH MY FUCKING GOD.

    • breakingmyprogramming says:

      If you mix up your lefts and rights (as I do) it's up twice and left six 😉

      Does that world necessarily have to be level with ours? Perhaps you could take a ladder (or a very bouncy pogo-stick) and just step (bounce) onto the mountain path on the other side? Although it's probably well hidden, such in a cave, or we'd have otherwordly visitors dropping into Switzerland all the time.
      Wait … MAYBE WE HAVE!

    • Becky_J_ says:

      OH. Ohmygod. That. I. NO WORDS.

    • ldwy says:

      I had already seen this but not in this context. And this context makes it AWESOME.

    • elusivebreath says:

      O.o

    • What the hell is that?

    • Tilja says:

      NEAT!

      You can see it better with only one left, it doesn't distort it that much. But I still don't know what that is.

    • notemily says:

      WHAT IS GOING ON

    • meguca says:

      what the everloving fuck is that

      no, really

      Can someone who knows more about how they make the google street view composites tell me what on earth could make that image appear? o____0

      • Vikinhaw says:

        I don't know much about street view composites but If you keep clicking and going along the map, the thing stays the same size. If you go along far enough you can see it on top of of the trees and you can see the trees through it blurrily so it's not actually in the sky. The road splits at one point and you can still see it on side but not the other.
        I'm explaining this really badly. Basically I think it's something on the camera. Dirt or, based on my own experience with cameras, bird shit.

        I much prefer to think it's s doorway to another world though.

  16. ChronicReader91 says:

    Ah, it’s great to be back after almost a week without internet. I've missed you, Mark Verbs! I’ve been playing post catch-up and seeing all the fun I've missed. 🙁

    When Mary put the two amber pieces together to look through them in chapter seventeen, I thought that MIGHT have been what the title referred to, but I didn’t see how it could be considered a “spyglass”. It was here that I realized all three titles refer to an object that gives one character a unique ability: a connection to the parallel worlds, communication with the angels/dust/shadows, and now with Mary, the ability to see the sraf.

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