I can't possibly do justice to Philip Pullman's epic trilogy in a short posting but I will say that The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass are all captivating and worthwhile reads. His Dark Materials, albeit fantastical and other-worldly, manages to capture the raw human emotions of innocence, guilt, love, loss, and hope.
Pullman creatively combines ideas about God, consciousness, evolution and even contemporary physics to produce a brilliant and complex narrative. Some have criticized the trilogy for its anti-Church stance but, really, the story foregrounds the values of most religious institutions: freedom, responsibility and personal sacrifice in the name of "the greater good." Regardless of political undercurrents, the story remains exciting, touching, heartbreaking and thought-provoking.
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