The only research I can claim is from looking over the reader comments on Amazon.com.
There are over a thousand reviews for “The Golden Compass.”
It drops off precipitously for “The Subtle Knife”
There is hardly anything for “The Amber Spyglass.”
From what I deduce the author starts injecting his rants in the second volume and plot and storytelling start to go out the window.
Plotlines and characters go all to pieces every which way in the Amber Spyglass and the author’s blatant, hectoring, christian-kicking take over completely. Few reviews of the 2nd book and none for the 3rd appear to be posted by web-savvy kids. Most people seem to quit reading partway into the 2nd book.
“From what I deduce the author starts injecting his rants in the second volume and plot and storytelling start to go out the window.”
I can quite believe that the militant atheism gets as overbearing as some of Richard Dawkins’ stuff.
But that’s what it is - militant atheism; not pro-Satanism, which is completely intellectually bankrupt.