I read the His Dark Materials trilogy and rate it below average. Like a lot of book trilogies, the first one was interesting, the second not so good and the third was poor. Yet these books show up on a lot of "must-read" and "best of the last 70 years" types of lists. What gives?

The "anti-religion" aspect some people complain about did not affect my rating or enjoyment of the books. The books are just not that good.