His Dark Materials

Pullman's novels, according to his fans, are better than J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. These people must be crossovers from the Flat Earth Society. Someone, please pass them the Kool-Aid. Pullman's anti-God trilogy doesn't even come close to LOTR. It is less enjoyable than the Harry Potter books and less literarily rich than Le Guin's Earthsea books, and neither of those can touch Tolkien's books for their majesty, profundity, and satisfaction. Not even close. Pullman's works are really not even fantasy; they are closer to science fiction. Even so, I won't ever go back to them, and the only reason I re-read Compass was because I was teaching it and using it for my fantasy lit conference paper. The first book (Compass) is the best, but it's downhill from there. By the time I hit Book 3, I just wanted it to be over. The characters were inconsistent between books, the plot holes more disturbing, the morality more overbearing and heavy-handed, the coincidences more ridiculous, and the conclusion completely over-the-top and unbelievable. Don't waste your time with anything beyond Book 1, if that.