Blatant? Not really. He subtly weaves a story of deciept and lies. The villians from the first book are out to take on God. You don’t find out the are the good guys (from his point of view) until the end of the third book. Until that time the “heroes” are twisted every which way and the reader doesn’t know for sure that this isn’t another big lie.
Sounds like you have actually read the books. If so, I would like to ask you...I purchased the trilogy to read to my 8 yr old daughter. Two years ago we read the full Narnia collection. Last year we read all of Lemeny Snicket. Both perfectly appropriate and my daughter loved them. But I am considering returning Pullmans books, not because I would not read them myself, but as a Christain, I dont want to encourage anti-Christain philosophies in my daughter. I have seen the recent publicity. Is it much to do over nothing, or are the books really bad examples for young minds?
It sounds like an excellent learning opportunity about deception and temptation. My view is that it is always better to teach my children to deal with adversity than to shield them from it (an impossibility)...