琥珀の望遠鏡 (ライラの冒険シリーズ (3)) [単行本]

 『The Amber Spyglass』は、冒頭のシーンからいきなりスリリングな展開で読者の心をむんずとつかむ。差し障りのない範囲であらすじを紹介しよう。

   前作『The Subtle Knife』（邦題『神秘の短剣』）でライラを捕らえたのは誰かという謎はすぐに解き明かされる。だが、その人物のもくろみが善なのか悪なのか、それとも心を決めかねているのかは依然として謎のままだ。また、世界を分断するよう託された剣はまだウィルの手の中にある。そしてその彼をアスリエル卿がいる山頂の要塞まで導くように定められた、翼をもつ2人の天使が仲間に加わる。だが、この少年ウィルの目的はただひとつ。それは、友を救い、彼女に「真理計」（アレシオメーター）を返すことだった。アレシオメーターとは、彼女にとっても『The Golden Compass』（邦題『黄金の羅針盤』）と続編『The Subtle Knife』を読んだ読者にとっても、多くを明らかにしてきた道具である。セラフィナ・ペカーラが腹ぺこのイオレク・バーニソンを捜し出し、アスリエル卿の十字軍に入隊させるときには、読者も「瞬く星明かりのようにぞくぞくした感じ」を同時体験することとなる。

王の心の中でいくつもの思いがクモの糸のように絡まっていった。飢えや満足を超えた何かが膨れ上がっていく。あどけない少女ライラの記憶だ。王がシルバータンと名づけた女の子。スバールバルでいまにも崩れてしまいそうな雪の橋を通り、地表の裂け目の上を渡ったあのときに最後に見た女の子である。そのあと、魔女たちがいろいろなことを言いふらし、協定を結ぶとか同盟をくむとか戦争になるといった噂が広まったのだ。思えば、この新世界が誕生したこと自体が不思議な事実だ。しかも、魔女たちはこういう世界はほかにもたくさんあり、それらの運命がすべてあの子に託されていると言ってきかなかった。

   一方、教会は二派に分かれて、ライラを見つけようと躍起だった。そのうち片方は、恐ろしい計画を滞りなく実行できるよう、僧侶に「赦免の前貸し」さえした。こういった暴君たちは、この少女の抹殺を「聖なる仕事」と見なしていたのだ。

   3部作を締めくくる本書で、フィリップ・プルマンはこれまで以上に高いハードルを自らに課した。アクションと独創性の点でも前作に匹敵するものを作らなくてはならなかったし、前作で未解決だった謎もことごとく解決する必要があった。うれしいことに、本書には読者を落胆させるような最悪の展開はひとつとしてない。だからといって、息詰まる展開やまさに危機一髪というシーンに欠ける、ということではないのだが。（もし本書にそういった要素が不足しているというなら、十分だといえる本などほかにないだろう）

   しかし、プルマンは『Paradise Lost』を彼なりに大胆に改訂したとも思える、穏やかであると同時に悲劇的な結末を用意している。叙情的なSFではあるがわかりやすいこの散文作品の中で、著者は自らのテーマを徹底的に表現している。また本書でほかにもいくつかの世界をつけ加えて表現している。そのうちの1つの世界では、一見すると単純な生物の集まりに、メアリー・マローン博士が温かく迎え入れられる。「ミュレファ」の環境（ここでもこれ以上は明かせないのだが）によって彼らの意識は豊かになり、その生活はゆったりとした一定のリズムが保たれるのだ。ところが、この不思議な生き物たちは、必要とあらば俊足にもなれる（体のほかの部分も素早く動かせるようになる）。

   だが悲しいかな、その牧歌的な風景に「ダスト」が流れ込むと、彼らは全滅の危機に瀕する。オックスフォードの秘密研究者メアリーは、はたして彼らを救う方法を発見できるのか？ それとも我らが若きヒーローたちの助けが必要となるか？ メアリーが治療方法を解き明かそうと必死になっている一方で、ウィルとライラは最も残酷な形での犠牲、あるいは裏切り行為を強いられながらも、すべての光と希望が失われた王国への巡礼へと赴くのだった。

   この、衝撃の長編英雄小説を通じて、プルマンは鳥肌が立つほど美しく優しさに包まれた場面を絶やすことがない。またその中には、くすっと笑える息抜きの場面も加えている。ライラの母親が教会の下っぱを痛めつける一連の場面などは、よい例だ。「男はただただひたすら謝り続け、やっと彼女は去って行った。彼女の後ろにいた番人はほっとしたため、ほっぺたをぷくーっとふくらませた」。　コールター夫人が、相変わらず我々を楽しませてくれる目の離せないキャラクターであることは言うまでもない。物語の大詰め、絶望的なシーンで彼女がとる行動は、読者の心に彼女への畏敬の念を育むか？ この点でも『The Amber Spyglass』は、真の意味での啓示の書といえるだろう。目前の暗闇から光を放つ真実へと、我々を導いてくれるのだから。 --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

'We're going to the land of the dead and we're going to come back' - Will and Lyra, whose fates are bound together by powers beyond their own worlds, have been violently separated. But they must find each other, for ahead of them lies the greatest war that has ever been - and a journey to a dark place from which no-one has ever returned... --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

不思議な力を持つ短剣で他の世界への窓を切り開き、羅針盤を頼りに旅を続けるライラとウィル。ライラの友だちと話しをするために、ふたりの旅は「死者の国」にまで及ぶ。ライラの担った役割とは一体?そして地上に楽園を求め、共和国建設を目指すアスリエル卿と「教会の権力」との、世界を二分する闘いが、今、はじまる。

羅針盤を頼りに旅を続けるライラとウィル。その旅は「死者の国」にまで及ぶ。ライラの担った役割とは? そして地上に楽園を求め、共和国建設を目指すアスリエル卿と「教会の権力」の闘いは? 傑作冒険ファンタジーの完結篇。

From the very start of its very first scene, The Amber Spyglass will set hearts fluttering and minds racing. All we'll say here is that we immediately discover who captured Lyra at the end of The Subtle Knife, though we've yet to discern whether this individual's intent is good, evil, or somewhere in between. We also learn that Will still possesses the blade that allows him to cut between worlds, and has been joined by two winged companions who are determined to escort him to Lord Asriel's mountain redoubt. The boy, however, has only one goal in mind--to rescue his friend and return to her the alethiometer, an instrument that has revealed so much to her and to readers of The Golden Compass and its follow-up. Within a short time, too, we get to experience the "tingle of the starlight" on Serafina Pekkala's skin as she seeks out a famished Iorek Byrnison and enlists him in Lord Asriel's crusade:

A complex web of thoughts was weaving itself in the bear king's mind, with more strands in it than hunger and satisfaction. There was the memory of the little girl Lyra, whom he had named Silvertongue, and whom he had last seen crossing the fragile snow bridge across a crevasse in his own island of Svalbard. Then there was the agitation among the witches, the rumors of pacts and alliances and war; and then there was the surpassingly strange fact of this new world itself, and the witch's insistence that there were many more such worlds, and that the fate of them all hung somehow on the fate of the child.

Meanwhile, two factions of the Church are vying to reach Lyra first. One is even prepared to give a priest "preemptive absolution" should he succeed in committing mortal sin. For these tyrants, killing this girl is no less than "a sacred task."

In the final installment of his trilogy, Philip Pullman has set himself the highest hurdles. He must match its predecessors in terms of sheer action and originality and resolve the enigmas he already created. The good news is that there is no critical bad news--not that The Amber Spyglass doesn't contain standoffs and close calls galore. (Who would have it otherwise?) But Pullman brings his audacious revision of Paradise Lost to a conclusion that is both serene and devastating. In prose that is transparent yet lyrical and 3-D, the author weaves in and out of his principals' thoughts. He also offers up several additional worlds. In one, Dr. Mary Malone is welcomed into an apparently simple society. The environment of the mulefa (again, we'll reveal nothing more) makes them rich in consciousness while their lives possess a slow and stately rhythm. These strange creatures can, however, be very fast on their feet (or on other things entirely) when necessary. Alas, they are on the verge of dying as Dust streams out of their idyllic landscape. Will the Oxford dark-matter researcher see her way to saving them, or does this require our young heroes? And while Mary is puzzling out a cure, Will and Lyra undertake a pilgrimage to a realm devoid of all light and hope, after having been forced into the cruelest of sacrifices--or betrayals.

Throughout his galvanizing epic, Pullman sustains scenes of fierce beauty and tenderness. He also allows us a moment or two of comic respite. At one point, for instance, Lyra's mother bullies a series of ecclesiastical underlings: "The man bowed helplessly and led her away. The guard behind her blew out his cheeks with relief." Needless to say, Mrs. Coulter is as intoxicating and fluid as ever. And can it be that we will come to admire her as she plays out her desperate endgame? In this respect, as in many others, The Amber Spyglass is truly a book of revelations, moving from darkness visible to radiant truth. --Kerry Fried
--このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

Philip Pullman brings The Amber Spyglass to the spellbinding His Dark Materials sequence, which dazzles everyone who reads it, children and adults alike. After the original Northern Lights, he kept up the quality in The Subtle Knife, the second title in the trilogy. Now he brings the series to an extraordinary conclusion. Will and Lyra, the two children at the heart of the books, have become separated amidst great dangers. Can they find each other, and their friends? Then complete their mysterious quest before it's too late? The great rebellion against the dark powers that hold Lyra's world, and many others, in thrall is nearing its climax. She and Will have crucial parts to play, but they don't know what it is that they must do, and terrible powers are hunting them down.

The pace of the book is compelling, the writing powerful. Pullman's plotting is intricate and cunning, surprising the reader again and again. Perhaps what is most striking of all, however, is the depth of the characterisation. Lord Asriel, Mrs Coulter, Iorek Byrnison the king of the armoured bears, a host of minor characters, most of all Will and Lyra themselves: the book is a library of beautifully drawn, remarkably convincing characters walking in worlds of marvels.

In this volume the cosmic dimensions of the story become more prominent, as a great conflict across many universes comes to a head--how well the narrative sustains such immensely weighty resonances is a question critics may well disagree on. The author's beliefs also come more into the open, and with them a polemic anti-religious theme that will please some readers and alienate others.

Philip Pullman's writing commands immense respect; more than that, it is raising the profile of the best children's books among adults, as demanding critics of all ages fall in love with this remarkable trilogy. --David Pickering --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

As the assured, silver-tongued narrator weaving amongst the excellent work of approximately 40 British actors, Pullman extends an impossible-to-refuse invitation to listening adventure on this splendid adaptation of the much-anticipated conclusion to the His Dark Materials trilogy. The author picks up the story of Lyra Belaqua where it left off in The Subtle Knife. In the most provocative installment yet, Lyra finds herself at the center of what is to be the final battle between good and evil she is a target for the Church, which sees her as a threat. But she is also happily re-teamed with Will Parry, the young hero who Lyra eventually recognizes is her soul mate/true love. Throughout, Pullman challenges Christianity and God (who is a craggy old man here, very different from the usual biblical depiction), asking readers to examine the ideas of organized religion. Favorite characters such as Iorek the bear and Lyra's parents, Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter, return, though the introduction of layers of new creatures and new worlds may require more careful listening. As the rich tale unfolds, Pullman's voice elegant with a hint of both whisper and rasp thoroughly enthralls, sounding by turns forceful and tender. The talented, extensive cast gives a dynamic, nearly flawless performance, with highlights that include the youthful and exuberant Lyra and Will (Alison Wyatt and Peter England) and the dramatic, emotional dialogue of angels/companions Baruch (Nigel Carrington) and Balthamos (Alec McCowen). Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

His Dark Materials • Book III

“IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, SO FIRMLY AND RELENTLESSLY DOES PULLMAN DRAW YOU INTO HIS TALE . . . [A] gripping saga pitting the magnetic young Lyra Belacqua and her friend Will Parry against the forces of both Heaven and Hell.”
–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“BREATHTAKING ADVENTURE . . . A TERRIFIC STORY, ELOQUENTLY TOLD.”
–The Boston Sunday Globe

“HEARTSTOPPING PACE . . . CRACKLING ACTION . . . Pullman has created the last great fantasy masterpiece of the 20th century.”
–Cincinnati Enquirer

“TRIUMPHANT . . . MASTERFUL . . . A THOUGHTFUL, METICULOUSLY CRAFTED ADVENTURE.”
–San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

--このテキストは、 マスマーケット 版に関連付けられています。

“Absorbing . . Like Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling, [Pullman] invents a world filled with strange divinations and wordplays.”
–Newsweek

“A LITERARY MASTERPIECE . . . [that] caps the most magnificent fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings and puts Harry Potter to shame. . . . A page-turning story that builds to a powerful finish.”
–Oregonian

“IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, SO FIRMLY AND RELENTLESSLY DOES PULLMAN DRAW YOU INTO HIS TALE . . . [A] gripping saga pitting the magnetic young Lyra Belacqua and her friend Will Parry against the forces of both Heaven and Hell.”
–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Breathtaking adventure . . . terrific story, eloquently told.”–The Boston Sunday Globe


--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

Philip Pullman has won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents' Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work. In 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Philip Pullman is the author of many books for young readers, including two volumes related to the His Dark Materials trilogy: Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North. He lives in Oxford, England. To learn more, please visit www.philip-pullman.com and www.hisdarkmaterials.com.


From the Hardcover edition. --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

プルマン,フィリップ
オックスフォード大学を卒業後、ウエストミンスター大学で英文学を教えるかたわら、小説、芝居の脚本、絵本などを発表。ビクトリア時代を背景とした小説『The Ruby in the Smoke』『Shadow in the North』『The Tiger in the Well』がベストセラーとなる。「ライラの冒険」シリーズは、’95年にイギリスで刊行されるや、大胆な発想と豊かな物語性で評判を呼び、ガーディアン賞、ザ・チルドレンズ・ブック・オブ・ザ・イヤー賞、他多くの賞を受賞。また世界最高の権威とされるカーネギー賞の栄冠に輝き、「20世紀最後の大ファンタジー」と賞された(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです)