Same here. I read them for a Young Adult Lit class. I got a real surprise. The end of the first book began to tilt anti-Christian, and by the third, I could barely read it. His writing even got bad. He wanted to hate the church more than write a good story. Those angels made me want to gag and the entire story in the third book was boring as well as disgusting.
I agree. I read the first book because I’d enjoyed some of Pullman’s other fiction: historical mysteries, “The Ruby in the Smoke” and so on. “Golden Compass” wasn’t bad, especially since I wasn’t looking for anti-Christian bias. I read “Subtle Knife” because I was curious about where the story went. By the end, I was tired of it and wished I’d spent the time watching “Magnum P.I.” reruns and doing cross-stitch.
Before the third book came out, I read an interview with Pullman, in which he said that his purpose in the series was to lead children to reject Christianity. Since then, I haven’t read any of his books, and have told my children not to (and why). They have plenty of better books to read. Then I heard the third book was a stinker, anyway!