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So I read them and they are, mediocre. Not great, but they could have been much better without the intended message. The message, in fact, takes so much precedence, that anyone completely unfamiliar with any religion, would know that it was written with an agenda. While the Chronicles of Narnia have a strong Christian undertone, they do not dominate the story itself. In other words, a person wholly ignorant of Christianity would simply notice themes of good and evil, and would not notice the Christian metaphors. Indeed, the story in the His Dark Meterials books often seems forced, and the plot comes across as contrived.

The best way I can explain it is in comparing it to my own feeble writings. Sometimes as you write a character grows in front of you and changes in ways you did not initially expect. You can see this happen to some of the characters in the books, but then they are jolted back to the path necessitated by Pullman's agenda. The ironic thing is that the overall message is that Religion is against thought and is solely meant to control everyone. Yet, IMHO, control without thought is exactly the formula Pullman had to use in order for the characters he created to continue down the Message's path, making some of the scenes feel awkward at best, and uncomfortable at worst.

As a result, I cannot say that I recommend the trilogy. I cannot claim to be an accomplished writer because it will likely never be more than a hobby, which is perhaps why there are certain things which I find more difficult to accept in published books. One of them is waste. Pullman's Universe is very creative, his characters have great depth to them, and his descriptions are an excellent balance of information and imagination: all of which fails to come together because he sacrifices all of these strengthes to further his "Message." A sin which, for me at least, is not readily forgivable.