{"id":457,"date":"2011-07-28T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=457"},"modified":"2011-07-24T22:31:42","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T05:31:42","slug":"mark-reads-the-amber-spyglass-chapter-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/07\/mark-reads-the-amber-spyglass-chapter-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Amber Spyglass’: Chapter 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the ninth chapter of The Amber Spyglass<\/em>, Will travels with the panserbj\u00c3\u00b8rne<\/em> to their new habitat, and we learn just how many people are set to converge on the cave where Lyra is being held. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Amber Spyglass<\/em>.<\/p>\n

CHAPTER NINE: UPRIVER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pullman is able to accomplish something here that reminds me of a sensation I had during my read of Harry Potter<\/em>. This world is so intensely imagined and the characters fleshed out so well that I just want to spend entire novels on just one<\/em> thing. I would not complain if J.K. Rowling wrote an entire book about one mundane day at the Ministry of Magic just so I could learn more about the place. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t turn down a description of everything inside Azkaban. I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT CENTAUR CULTURE. In this sense, reading the His Dark Materials<\/em> trilogy has been a real treat because Pullman takes so many opportunities to allow us these insightful windows into worlds that are completely new to us. (Literally so, since this is<\/em> a series about parallel universes.)<\/p>\n

Never would I have imagined that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get the bulk of a chapter devoted to Will and Iorek spending time with one another. I mean, I am<\/em> a bit anxious to return to Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, especially since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so integral to this story, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m enjoying this surprising detour on to other characters. For Iorek, though, this situation is particularly interesting to experience as a reader. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d learned that sky metal is impenetrable, except when hit by the claws of another panserbj\u00c3\u00b8rne<\/em>. This is an immutable fact for Iorek Byrnison, and now this strange child just presented a knife that sawed through the armor as if it was a stick of butter at room temperature.<\/p>\n

But on top of that, all of the armored bears\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives have changed drastically, too. The introduction of the subtle knife is just one part of it. Lord Asriel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bridge has continued to ruin the north, so much so that the bears are forced to seek out a new habitat to live in that actually has snow. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rather fitting that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re heading for the Himilayas, since that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Lyra is being held captive, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s yet again a chance for more of this universe to be explored. The bears must find a land of frigid air and snow to survive, and there, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll face new enemies. I was intrigued by Iorek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistence, though, that while he would fight for the side in the great war that gave the bears the best advantage, he still had other standards for what the bears themselves would fight for. Personally, Iorek has attachments to avenging Lee Scoresby, or serving Serafina Pekkala, or rescuing Lyra Silvertongue. But Iorek knows that his personal attachments to these humans are only his own, and the armored bears will not have the same goals as he.<\/p>\n

I mean, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even imagine how jarring this all is anyway. The physical landscape is drastically changing, and now the bears of the north have to travel to the biggest mountain range in the world in order to survive. The rivers are running in the wrong direction. The weather is changing. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore the similar parallel to Lee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey to find Grumman in The Subtle Knife <\/em>when he discovered how the world was falling apart. (Oh god, Lee. ENDESS SADNESS.) But with Iorek leading these bears, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a commander with purpose and determination:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We shall be comfortable. And there are wild creatures there in plenty. Our lives will be different for a while. But we shall survive, and when things return to what they should be, and the Arctic frezes once more, we shall still be alive to go back and claim it. If we had stayed there, we would have starved. Be prepared for strangeness and for new ways, my bears.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My bears.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Oh, my heart. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that bears need<\/em> comfort because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.they are armored bears<\/em>. But I am comforted until the end of time<\/em>. Could Iorek just be my eternal protector? Oh, shit, WHAT IF IOREK WAS MY D\u00c3\u2020MON<\/em>. All right, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m ridiculous.<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that using the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fear\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is right when describing Iorek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to being shown what the subtle knife actually does, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first time in the series that Iorek gives off a new vibe during this display. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largely done through silence: Iorek merely stares through a window into a new world, a jungle atmosphere that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hot and muggy, full of frightening new animals. He examines the knife for long periods of time, and only says one thing to Will:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was right: I could not have fought this.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Why does that unsettle me so much? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a simple statement, but I feel like Iorek has finally been disturbed by the changes all around him.<\/p>\n
Ugh.<\/p>\n
Pullman switches gears in an interesting way to show us just how we are fully and completely unprepared for what is about to happen. I mean that in the sense that we are given so many variables in such a short span of time. Lord Asriel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s group is headed for Lyra, and while they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re further away, they can travel at a much faster pace. But the Society of the Work of the Holy Spirit has an alethiometer, while the Consistorial Court has sent a fleet of zeppelins to go after her. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just as simple as that:<\/p>\n
And there was another consideration: whoever seized Lyra first would have to fight their way out against the other force. It would be easier for the Consistorial Court, because they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to consider getting Lyra away safely. They were flying there to kill her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
GOD DAMN IT. Seriously, Lyra can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t die, right? RIGHT???<\/p>\n
But those two variables aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough for Pullman. The Gallivespians are on board one of the Consistorial zeppelins. Chevalier Tialys and Lady Salmakia are acting as spies for Lord Asriel. We learn that Gallivespians breed larvae that can \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hatch\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in thirty six hours and be used in the inevitable battle that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll face when rescuing Lyra. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of a fascinating idea actually, because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that there are any species we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re familiar with that are similar to this. Breeding more of your own kind for battle? Plus, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re creatures who can speak and they look like dragonflies and can I just have one as a friend? They can spy on my enemies for me. Do I have enemies? I should look into that.<\/p>\n
Hey, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great way to end chapter nine to fill me with dread and terror? Oh, right.<\/p>\n
But there was one thing they couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t learn any more about on the zeppelin, because the President never spoke of it: and that was the matter of the assassin, Father Gomez, who had been absolved already of the sin he was going to commit if the Consistorial Court failed in their mission. Father Gomez was somewhere else, and no one was tracking him at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
CHRIST. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lend any credence to the idea that the Consistorial Court will succeed in beating Lord Asriel to Lyra. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re slower and less prepared, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think they have the advantage in this situation. But something about Father Gomez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s state of grace perturbs me. I think Father Gomez is the biggest threat to everything because he has his own beliefs on his side, and that sort of conviction can be dangerous. The man believes he is on a mission for the Authority to save EVERYTHING<\/em> by murdering Lyra Belacqua.<\/p>\n
If no one knows that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming, how is he going to be stopped? The only thing I can think of is the variable of Will and the subtle knife, to be honest. Will has a knife that can harm anything or anyone. If Will makes it to Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cave at the same time as Lord Asriel and the Magisterium, are we going to witness the most ridiculous battle yet, even more chaotic than Bolvangar or the fight between Iorek and Iofur?<\/p>\n
Oh god COULD WE????<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the ninth chapter of The Amber Spyglass, Will travels with the panserbj\u00c3\u00b8rne to their new habitat, and we learn just how many people are set to converge on the cave where Lyra is being held. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,79],"tags":[23,81,62,80],"class_list":["post-457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-his-dark-materials","category-the-amber-spyglass","tag-mark-reads","tag-mark-reads-the-amber-spyglass","tag-philip-pullman","tag-the-amber-spyglass-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}