His message was unforced in the first book, occasionally clumsy in the second, and completely and utterly anvilicious in the third, to the point where it obliterated all pretense of narrative or character development.

I always feel a sense of what almost feels like betrayal when I read these kinds of books -- be it by Pullman, or Ursula LeGuin, or Neal Stephenson. Here is an author who obviously can write extremely well, based on his past works; and yet he chooses to write poorly as a tradeoff, in order to push his message... But there was no need for a tradeoff ! Writing is not a zero-sum game !