His Dark Materials

I've never really understood what all the fuss was about The Golden Compass. I read it a few years back and while there an anti-religious undertone, I never understood why Christian groups were so upset about it.

Recently, I listened to a full cast recording of all three books in the series: Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Of the three, The Subtle Knife is by far my favorite. I love conflict and this book is where all the action is. That and I really like Will and I find Lyra kind of annoying. Lyra spends most of this book in a drugged sleep--thank you Mrs. Coulter.

Throughout all three books, Lyra's relationship with her parents is fascinating. Azriel and Mrs. Coulter are such awful parents. Mrs Coulter grows to love Lyra in a very Emily Gilmore type of way ( I love you, but I refuse to get to know you--I'll just use my mental picture instead) but I'm not sure that Azriel loves her at all. I know he doesn't like her. The closest thing to love he ever shows her is grudging admiration.

I wasn't really happy with the ending. I understand why it ended the way it did, but I think that after I invested over 20hrs listening, it should have ended happier. These two kids sacrifice everything throughout the course of the story (including body parts) and still manage to carve out a little bit of happiness for themselves only to have it snatched away in the end.

The religious/anti-religious themes are blatant and at times Pullman comes across as preachy. I think that there will be a lot more backlash once the movie version of the Subtle Knife is released. They ended the Golden Compass before the audience learned of Azreil's agenda. It will only add more fuel to the ridiculous "war on christianity" fire.