His Dark Materials books

[DvChWi]

Was browsing Looking Closer, and came across this.  It's an article discussing the His Dark Materials book by Phillip Pullman.  Anyone read or heard of these?  From the sound of them, I'm sure will we be hearing much more about these in coming months, so I thought it would be interesting to sort them out ourselves before the big controversy hits.  I my self know nothing beyond what those articles say, but I don't like the looks of them.  What say you guys?

[Josh]

I don't know much more than you, Dv. I have heard that the books are basically allegory for atheism, but I have never read them myself.

[bethany]

I read them a year or two ago. They are essentially the "chronicles of narnia" for atheism.  The first book, even the second, is very well-written and engaging, but I thought the level of writing took a significant dive downhill into the third book.  

[Vlad!]

[Skrappybiskit]

I have all three.

The first book is really good. It's dark, but not too dark, and the ideas involved are very good, especially the idea of daemons.

The second book is also good, but gets bogged down by that Pullmanesque trait of preaching, not telling the story. It's like a damned Christian novel.

The third book is entirely pulled under by pedantics. It's boring, doesn't make much sense, and it entirely too clearly atheistic to be a good story.

In itself, the series is alright. Not too dangerous, unless given to kids that have no pre-existing sense of right and wrong. Most Christian kids should be able to pick out what's wrong with these. Which is exactly what's wrong with them. They're too obvious. By the third book it feels like you're reading a sermon, not a novel, showing the clear trumping of Pullman by Lewis: Narnia was a story first of all, and a parable second. And a darn good story at that.

One last thing: Narnia ends with a bang, and with an "everything is now better". Pullman's world ends with a fizzle and a "now we must make everything better." Which of course sucks.

[Josh]

Hmmm... these books are being adapted to the big screen, but the movies are going to alter the story so that they are less obviously anti-church.