His Dark Materials trilogy (with massive spoilers)

So... here's what I thought. I read "The Golden Compass" and was totally taken in by this feisty, rough-and-tumble, courageous little girl, Lyra. I loved that she did what she thought was right, whether it was to bully some Gypsies into taking her on a mission or to befriend a fierce armored bear. She occasionally had bad judgment, but she made decisions for herself. The world that Pullman built around her was interesting, suspenseful, exciting.

Then there was "The Subtle Knife." This one sort of felt like a middle book. It introduced a new character, Will, and a couple different worlds, but in general it felt short and like a transition between the first book and some kind of conclusion. In fact, I was surprised when I came to the last page and remember thinking "Oh! That's it?" Still, I was engaged in the story and was looking forward to the concluding book.

And then there was "The Amber Spyglass." Which DRAGGED ASS. Here would be a touch of interesting, familiar stuff related to the plot, and then there'd be thirty pages of sentient wheeled sheep. And then there'd be some more back-to-the-action stuff, and then they'd decide to take an arguably pointless side trip into, say, the underworld. And then back to the sheep-with-wheels. And somewhere along the way, Lyra became dull and subservient. She had this machine that gave her answers called an alethiometer; she had the unusual ability to read it. But at some point, she decided she needed to follow Will on his big adventure and stop so much as consulting the alethiometer without asking him first. What happened to feisty? I guess it grew up and fell in love and turned into a pansy.

Worst, the whole series leads up to this big conclusion: There's going to be a new Adam and Eve, and Lyra's Eve, and she's going to be tempted by a temptress (this chick named Mary), and she's going to give into temptation. So what happens? She and Will end up hanging out with Mary, then go into a pretty forest setting, where Lyra gives him a piece of fruit and they fall madly in love and do it and it saves the world. But then they can't be together anymore, so they just, you know, are cool with that.

Wait, what? First of all, what's the temptation? The nookie? And how was Mary involved with that? The temptress isn't much of one, the temptation isn't much of one, and it's completely unclear why their horizontal bop saves the world (or, if you've read the books, causes Dust to flow normally instead of into the abyss).

Anyway, it was a bit of a let-down. I really had to slog through the last book, and when I got done, I didn't feel particularly rewarded. Well, the good news is that now I can go back to my magazines.