Throughout the Dark Materials trilogy you can see Pullman gradually moving away from great character development and plot, to a virtual manifesto for Atheism. This in itself can't be faulted too much, except these books are generally "marketed" toward a young audience, however the books characters, events and overall story are sacrificed on the altar of his personal anti-religious agenda.As others have stated, there are many plot devices and character traits that are simply abandoned: one wonders why they were in the book in the first place (one example: the species the mulafa are warring with).If you are a "free-thinking" new-age left-winger, this book is perfect for you. If you are a typical, mainstream, religion-respecting person who enjoys good storytelling, you can do better elsewhwere, and I would not recommend this book to anyone under the age of 15.