Rating: 
Summary: Blasphemy at its best
Review: I agree that Pullman pulled this series off with intricate plot and interesting creatures / characters. However, I cannot continue to finish book three when the story enfolds the so called dark side of God and the explicit condemnation of the name of God. The fabrication of events in heaven and the creation of man are misleading to young readers. I strongly recommend parents not to buy these books for their kids.
Rating: 
Summary: Parents of children under 16, beware
Review: Pullman is a master of story telling and imagery. The subject matter, however, is not appropriate for children despite the book's cover which recommends the book for ages 10 and up. My objections? The heroine, Lyra, sets off to rescue her dear friend who has been kidnapped and is horrified when she learns that he was kidnapped for a religious experiment in which children are surgically separated from their daemons (external manifestations of their souls) which either kills the children or leaves them in a perpetual zombie-like state. The experiment has been performed countless times under the direction of . . . Lyra's mother. Lyra views her father with a mixture of admiration and fear. This is a book that will teach children to be fearful, not hopeful. It will teach them that they are alone, not part of a family or community. It will teach them to distrust the adults in their lives, not turn to them for advice or assistance. Because the imagery is fabulous, the lessons are more readily learned.
Rating: 
Summary: Chill!
Review: Okay, having read this book, I will say this concerning the books:
I really enjoyed them. I felt the story was interesting and the characters believable.
Now, concerning the idea of "Is this book anti-christian or not." Mr. Pullman wrote the series as a counter-point to CS Lewis' Narnia series. The Narnia books are biblical allegory. They suppose that the bible is correct upon all points. In order to write a counter-point to them, Mr. Pullman must necessarily take up a contrary position. So in this, the book is "anti-christian," however the word christian is a little to broad.
It is quite obvious that the church that continually surfaces as the agent of evil during the course of the novels is a monolithic entity of authority. Now, we must ask ourselves if this represents Christianity as a whole or a specific branch. To cut things short, this book is a protest against the actions of the Catholic church. Once again, this is a little broad. He is not attacking St. Peter's down the street from your house, but the larger authority of the church in Rome. If you must read this book looking for how he attacks the church, then remember that the Catholic church has undeniably hurt many people (John Paul admits as much), and continues to do so. Thus, it requires exposing and lampooning. This is one such effort.
Please note, I do not believe Christianity or the Catholic Church to be evil. I believe there is much good in both, however they are human institutions of divine will, and as such there are flaws in both. Because I know some people cannot understand this, I have chosen to keep myself anonymous to avoid the flames of their anger.
Rating:
Summary: Violent and pointless
Review: While occasional passages were well-crafted and moving, on the whole the work is chaotic, violent, and confusingly told. Events just happen one after another without reason, and the characters seem to be completely dispensible, dying at every turn. This gives the book a choppy, discontinuous tone, since the high toll requires frequent introduction of new characters as the old ones are killed off. The rapid scene changes are remarkably predictable. The plot will settle down briefly just as the fight is over, the escape is successful, and so forth, at which point it becomes obvious that the characters are going to move to some new venue. And each transition requires some unusual mode of transportation, since after every dramatic rescue poor Lyra is taken off by some new and exotic conveyance. (She's in a houseboat! She's in a sled! She's in a balloon!) The book actually seems more like a made-for-television movie than a novel (and will probably become one before too long). But as literature it is a failure, with a crude, rambling plot and no emotional depth. True fantasy persuades the reader that the world being portrayed is real, that the characters matter. This work strains the reader's willing suspension of disbelief to the breaking point and even the author tosses his characters into the trash one after the other. I made it through the first book, only to find that it was not even really a book but just a very long first chapter. Given that by the time I finished "Northern Lights" I was already tired of pointless killing and random cruelty, I simply gave it and the rest of the boxed set of volumes away.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, but the anti-Christian bias is real
Review: I have been a SF fan for 40 years. I am an open-minded Christian who is not easily offended, but it is clear there is an agenda here. This is well above average young-adult SF but some of the most virulent anti-Christian propaganda I have ever read. Read it before introducing it to your kids. If you chose to, then read it with your older kids and discuss it with them. It may lead to some interesting discussions if they have reached the age to start questioning their faith. I hope that was the author's intent, but I think not.
Rating:
Summary: Young Adults? Please.
Review: It's not very easy to put this book in a category, or to describe the effect it had on me. However I have decided it can best be described as a represenation of the story of original sin (Adam, Eve, the serpent, the garden, you know) in our modern theories of physics. In other words: it is the story of Lyra, in another world, and Will, in our world, and how they change not only their worlds...but all worlds. It functions as both a book for children on the surface with Lyra, Will, and the absorbing story of the different worlds, as well as a deeper allegory appropriate for adults and even some advanced children. I don't think I would have fully understood it as a child, but it is a book appropriate for all ages. It explores morals and philosophy of all religions as well as telling a finely crafted story with a good/evil dynamic that brings Tolkien, Susan Cooper, and others to mind. I admit it: I cried at the end of this book. It was too good. You literally do not want it to end, but it does, with possibly the most satisfying conclusion I've ever read. Can't think of a better book. Don't let the possible meanings of the book scare you, if you decide to read it--it is first and foremost a story about two children, and if you can handle them, you can manage the rest of the book. I hope you all enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: A definite read for all callus anti-Christian bigots.
Review: A definite read for only the most callused anti-Christian bigot. It is unfortunate that this author's adequate skill at story telling is lost on such a blatant bigot. His intolerant views are forced into this story unnecessarily. The bigotry adds nothing needful to the plot. Even at the point when he kills God it is so anticlimactic you barely noticed that it has occured. The story could easily have been told without his trite narrow-minded views clouding an otherwise good story.
Rating:
Summary: I Wish I Could Give it Fewer Stars
Review: If there ever was a book (or trilogy, in this case) that deserved 0 stars, this is it. The Dark Materials trilogy are three of the most horrible books I have ever read. I am an avid science fiction and fantasy lover, but I wouldn't blame someone for reading this trilogy and hating fantasy/SF forever afterwards. These books blantantly state that there is no real God- He was just an angel who thought a lot of himself. In one of the books, He dies. The books also give a bad impression of angels and the Church, and state that there is no heaven, only a hellish afterlife for everyone. It is especially repellant that Phillip Pullman wrote these books for young adults, who have minds easily sculpted in the wrong direction. About the only good thing I can say about these is that Mr. Pullman is a so-so writer. If he had chosen to stay away from issues he apparently knows nothing about, the books possibly may have been much better.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy for Thinking People
Review: This epic trilogy is closer in tone to Tolkien's _Lord of the Rings_than the _Harry Potter_ books, but religion and philosophy take center stage. It's still a battle of Good versus Evil, where Pullman updates Milton and Blake by questioning a LOT of assumptions. With the Catholic Church scandal revealing painful new developments every day, Pullman's work becomes even more timely. Are institutions created to teach morality capable of staying moral? Can moral authorities resist authoritarianism? Which is more important, the integrity of the institution or protecting our most vulnerable citizens? All these issues come to fore in _His Dark Materials_. Written as a fantasy-adventure featuring 2 pre-teens, Lyra and Will, this three-volume set features an alternate Oxford (UK) where everyone has a animal-daemon who stays close at hand, intrigue in our own Oxford and the travel between the two, a dangerous Mediterranean world where soul-sucking wraiths only kill adults, and the underworld of the dead. Armored and intelligent polar bears figure, along with corrupt church adminisrators who kidnap and experiment on children. Pullman clearly detests the evil done in the name of religion, which is why the Good and Evil discussion gets intricate. He is not necessarily anti-Catholic or anti-Christian but anti-authoritarian. Anyone who has studied European history will recognize the characterization of a corrupt and overly powerful Church (denomination never specified in this book, btw). Lyra and Will are bringing The Enlightenment to several worlds who are as politically forward as pre-Reformation Europe, and must defeat powerful forces who have no interest in power-sharing. The books work both as a springboard to the Big Questions and as an allegory for growing up and finding one's own way. Literate, informed, evocative, and conceptually brilliant, this supposed Young Adult release will captivate adults as well.
Rating:
Summary: not about Religion, though it claims it is
Review: Pullman's thesis, that bad things are done in the name of religion, is harmless enough, but as Jewish person I can't help but feel completely annoyed that apparently some kind of High Anglican/Catholic theology is the only religion that exists for P. Sophomoric logic and an oversimplified approach-- yes the book asks difficult questions, but so does Ayn rand. If you like propaganda disguised as fiction, you'll love these. That said, books 1 & 2 are very exciting stories, with some wonderful characters in them. It's only in Book 3 that the preachiness becomes heavy-handed, boring, and near-sighted. For some of us, the pros/cons of historical Christianity are, believe it or not, irrelevant.
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