Book Review "The Golden Compass"

Over the holidays I finished reading "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. This is the first book in "His Dark Materials" trilogy for YA readers. I guess I decided to read it because my girlfriend had read it and lent it to me, plus the trailers for the movie had big, talking, armored bears in it and thats pretty cool. So I casually read this one. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It was a refreshing fantasy novel. Most fantasy novels seem rather cliche with their characters and settings, but this one a bit different. There weren't any "Gandalf" wizards (don't get me wrong, I like Gandalf, but am frustrated sometimes with how all trilogies have their "Gandalf" character), or master swordsmen, stubborn dwarves or anything like that. I liked the uniqueness of the world that Pullman created with its resemblance to our real life except with everyone's talking soul-like animal daemons, different cultures/magic, and big, talking, armored bears. It is a YA novel, but I was surprised with how intense some parts of the book seemed and how much I was enjoying parts of it. Now perhaps you have heard about this book since it attracted a bit of attention for the author's atheist leanings. To my knowledge he has come right out and stated that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief" and that "His Dark Materials" trilogy is almost like an anti-Narnia and all its seemingly pro Christian symbolism. Knowing that the controversy exists it is hard not to notice the anti-religious themes in the novel (the bad guys are all church members who are out to enforce some sort of lack of choice or take people's freewill and soul), but I am not sure that I would really pick them out if I did not previously know that they are suppose to be there. I have heard that these themes become much more obvious and central in the other books of the trilogy. I am reading the second one now so we'll see. All in all I liked this book and would recommend it. The central character is not too appealing, but there are several side characters that I like including one big, talking, armored bear. There are other characters that I am still unsure about. My favorite thing about the novel is it's unique world and story and the big, talking, armored bears. My least favorite thing is probably the main girl , but she is really not that bad.