I am a big fan of well-written fantasy books, such as the Narnia books, the Inheritance trilogy, and the Harry Potter books, but this book crossed a morel line it never should have crossed. I think it is disgraceful how a nation that claims to be Christian can be so easily swayed by some pretty words, when those words demean and debase the Creator. Not regarding religion, the plot does get quite frantic and the focus becomes scattered. The battle towards the end of the book that is meant to determine the fate of the world and the "death" of God was rushed and not deep at all. Also, the romantic involvement between Lyra and Will also seemed odd, since they were only 12 years old, and even if they can have feelings for each other, how could 12 year old children have feelings so deep and mature? Morally, I was outraged, and intellectually, I was not impressed. This book is NOT a winner.